In an emotional tribute, Horace Panter talks about Terry Hall's final days

Legendary musician, Terry Hall, was diagnosed weeks before passing away on December 18, 2022. Hall died at the age of 63. Now, Hall’s bandmate Horace Panter, the frontman of ‘The Specials’ band, has given an emotional statement about the late artist's last days while battling cancer.

Panter told how the iconic musician had intended to record a new album with the band last month before being unwell with a suspected stomach problem.

Although the first round of therapy for Terry's pancreatic cancer, which had progressed to his liver, went well, the music legend was very frail earlier this month before passing away. On Sunday, October 2, Horace recalled how "everything turned to sh**" after he received a call from their manager informing him that Terry's condition was "a lot worse" than they had anticipated.




In Terry's hometown of Coventry, Jerry Dammers, Lynval Golding, and Horace founded The Specials band. Later that year, Terry Hall, Neville Staple, Roddy Byers, and John Bradbury joined. The band's initial name was ‘The Automatics', but in 1978 they switched to ‘The Specials’. The group released a series of successful singles during their time together, including the number one singles "Ghost Town," "A Message To You," "Rudy," and "Rat Race". The special band split further in 1981.

Horace also disclosed to the public that the recording of their upcoming music album was all set for the shoot in Los Angeles in November. He said they had reserved the studio, their travel expenses were covered, and had arranged lodging.
But in September, Terry emailed everyone to let them know he's sick with a stomach ailment and won't be able to make it to the first week of pre-production meeting. In October, Terry was diagnosed with pancreatic cancer, which also affected his liver and pancreas resulting in diabetes. It was a life and death scenario.

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