Terry wanted to explore his Jewish heritage

Jewish Telegraph, December 2022

ICONIC singer Terry Hall, who died on Monday at the age of 63 after a battle with pancreatic cancer, told the Jewish Telegraph in 2003 that he wanted to explore his Jewish heritage.
The Specials, Fun Boy Three and Colourfield frontman revealed that he was a fan of Jewish music while promoting his album with musician Mushtaq called The Hour Of Two Lights.
He said: ‘‘I also wanted two or three songs on the album with female Hebrew vocals, but it was difficult.
‘‘Some friends said they would do it, but they were male. Then I found someone in New York, but that proved too problematic.’’
Then Terry discovered Londoner Eva Katzler while surfing the web and she appears on the track A Gathering Storm.
‘‘When you write a song in English that has to be translated into Hebrew or Arabic, you have to rely on someone to help you translate it. But it can wander off,” Terry said. ‘‘It’s like a language version of Chinese whispers.’’
Eva, a graduate of the Liverpool Institute for Performing Arts, was asked by Terry to translate the lyrics into Hebrew.
The then-25-year-old told the Jewish Telegraph: ‘‘My father, Ron, was born in Nairobi but lived in Israel until he was 18, so he speaks Hebrew. I got him to translate the song so I could sing it in Hebrew.
‘‘Terry was very normal. Fortunately, I met many great people at LIPA, so we learned not to get star-struck. Terry taught me a lot about the music business.’’
In his early teens Coventry-born Terry discovered that his great-grandfather was a German Jew.
‘‘It’s an unknown background,’’ he told the Jewish Telegraph. ‘‘I’ve always known that my father’s roots are Irish, but I can’t find out anything about my great-grandfather.
‘‘I’ve looked a couple of times, but keep stopping because I get nowhere. My mother’s maiden name is Kay, but that’s as far as I have got.
‘‘One day I will sit down and trace it back. When I found out about my Jewish relative I was curious really. And I’ve become more curious as time has gone on.”
He added: ‘‘I remarried three years ago and my wife’s father is Jewish so that point raised itself again. It comes up every few years.’’
Terry told The Guardian that as a child he was given a Star of David — before he discovered he had Jewish roots.
In another interview, Terry hinted that he was raised Jewish.
“My mum insisted I wear this (Star of David) every day,” he said. “There was a party at the time called The British Movement and we (The Specials) as a band got death threats from them: two black people and one Jew, that’s perfect, man. So I had a choice of who to face: The British Movement or my mother.”
Happy Mondays singer Rowetta, who is Jewish, also told Nicky Campbell on BBC Radio 5 on Tuesday that Terry was Jewish — and compared his impact to that of Amy Winehouse.
Rowetta also described him as “one of the greatest frontmen from one of the greatest bands. And a gorgeous, kind, down to earth man”.
One of the inspirations for The Hour Of Two Lights was the album Traditional Jewish Melodies, which Terry had bought in 1980.
The Jewish Telegraph also had some involvement with The Hour of Two Lights.
We were approached by Honest Jon’s Records to provide the lyrics for A Gathering Storm in Hebrew for the CD booklet.
Terry, who was married to film director Lindy Heymann, also collaborated with Lightning Seeds frontman Ian Broudie on many occasions, writing songs for the group’s albums — including the hit Sense.
Ian produced a number of Hall’s projects, including solo album Home and the Colourfield single Things Could Be Beautiful.
Liverpudlian Ian tweeted a photograph of himself with Terry along with a broken heart emoji.