Terry Hall, the singer of iconic ska band The Specials, has revealed details of how he was kidnapped by a pedophile ring when he was just 12 years old.

Born and raised in Coventry, Hall left school at the age of 14 and attempted a host of temporary jobs such as bricklaying, apprentice hairdresser and more. Trying to find his place, Hall eventually ended up playing in a number of locals bands and became an active member of the local music scene of the late 1970s before eventually joining The Specials in 1977.

However, Hall has now explained how his decision to leave school at age 14 was an effect of dealing with the sexual abuse he suffered two years prior. Speaking on Richard Herring’s Leicester Square Theatre Podcast, Hall stated that he was sexually abused by a group of men over multiple days in the 1970s.

Hall also admitted that he struggled to deal with the effects of what had happened to him as he turned to adulthood. When speaking on Herring’s podcast, the 59-year-old said: “I can laugh about it now,” before adding that the experience was a “real eye-opener”.

Terry Hall, Horace Panter and Lynval Golding.

Hall added: “It sort of switched something in my head and it’s like I don’t have to do that and that’s when I started like not listening to anyone.”

The effects of the incident meant that he required medical assistance. The decision was made to offer the child medication, and the results meant he struggled for the year prior to his decision to leave education. “I was sort of drugged up then on Valium for about a year,” he said before adding “and I didn’t go to school.”

“I find it quite easy to forgive and forget,” Hall detailed. “It’s like you can let that eat away at you but then well you know it’s pedophilia and it’s like part of life really. It’s unfortunate it happened to me but you can’t just let it destroy your life, it’s not good.”



Later in the conversation, Hall admitted that depression and trauma can help influence the creative aspect of his life: “It helps, I mean I suffer from manic depression and avoided all sorts of medication for a long time, then 10 years ago I started taking Lithium and stuff and I’m still on these drugs. And it sort of helps, it sort of helps.”

