Dave Wakeling of The Beat draws himself
1 min read
Dave Wakeling was front man of ska combo The Beat alongside the late and great Ranking Roger.
I have a huge, towering stack of music papers from the 1980s in my study including the NME, Record Mirror, Sounds, Melody Maker, Smash Hits, Fab 208, etc, etc, etc.
And in one edition of Fab 208, the editor had asked famous popstars of the day to draw themselves.
Most noteworthy for me was Dave Wakeling of The Beat who was the only pop star to depict himself in profile. The magazine noted that he feels strong about world problems.
Must say I prefer his music to his art!
The Beat were a very political combo and I had the honour of interviewing the late Ranking Roger for the biography I co-wrote of Neville Staple of The Specials – “Original Rude Boy”. His real name was Roger Charlery and he had some amazing stories to tell about hanging out with punks and skinheads in Birmingham in the late 1970s.
There was something of a falling out between Dave Wakeling and Ranking Roger, which I found quite sad. The Beat were often too quickly tough the two of them did continue to collaborate for a while with an MTV-friendly group called General Public that also included ex-members of Dexys Midnight Runners.
