The Selecter‘s Pauline Black has pledged to continue Arthur ‘Gaps’ Hendrickson’s legacy by fighting against racism and sexism.
Hendrickson passed away last month at the age of 73. His death was confirmed by Black in a post shared on the band’s official social media pages.The statement said that he died after a short illness.
“The world has lost a Two-Tone original, a talented musician and an absolute gentlemen. We have lost our beloved friend and bandmate. RIP Gaps,” Black wrote.
The funeral of the Two-Tone music legend took place at Coventry Cathedral. While attending, Black revealed that it was a day she was dreading, saying: “His loss to me is immeasurable. His loss to The Selecter is immeasurable. He was such a force of life,” (per BBC).
During her eulogy speech, Black shared that she wanted people to know who ‘Gaps’ was, “It’s very much a tribute to Gaps… I mean, there’s so much to say about his professional life, but I think there’s probably quite a lot that people don’t know about him as a person,” she said.
She went on to vow that she will be keeping his legacy alive, “He passionately believed in everything The Selecter was for, believed in, you know the fight against racism, sexism, all those kinds of things. And while I’ve got breath in my body that’s what I will do, in his memory.”
Hendrickson had been a musician in his hometown of Coventry prior to the formation of The Selecter in 1979. The band went on to be a pivotal part of the Two-tone movement – which championed racial equality and harmony and was also profoundly anti-sexist – alongside acts like The Specials, Madness, The Beat, The Bodysnatchers and more.
They broke through with their 1980 debut album ‘Too Much Pressure’ and its follow-up ‘Celebrate The Bullet’.
Despite being one of the movement’s most successful bands, their original line-up only remained intact for a year, before they split up in 1982.
They later reformed in 1991 with a slightly different line-up led by original co-vocalist Black. Hendrickson performed periodically with them between 1994 and 1996. After going on hiatus in 2006, they reformed again in 2010 with Hendrickson now a more permanent member of the band.
The Selecter have continued to regularly release music, with their most recent album ‘Human Algebra’ coming out last year.
Hendrickson’s last performance with The Selecter had taken place just two days prior to the announcement of his death in California. The band had also performed in the UK at Slam Dunk Festival back in May and had numerous other shows throughout the summer in the pipeline.
The post The Selecter’s Pauline Black vows to continue fight against racism and sexism at Arthur ‘Gaps’ Hendrickson’s funeral appeared first on NME.
