The Beat’s Ranking Roger Dies At 56

Ranking Roger, the vocalist of The Beat, or The English Beat as it was known in North America, and offshoot General Public, died March 26 after battling health issues including a stroke suffered last summer. He was 56.

The Beat’s website announced Tuesday that the singer, whose real name was Roger Charlery, died at home surrounded by family. No cause of death was given, but recently he’d been diagnosed with lung cancer and two brain tumors, according to the UK’s Guardian.

“Roger’s family would like to thank everyone for their constant support during this rough time,” a statement on the band’s website said. “More to follow in the coming days. RIP ROGER!”

<blockquote class=”twitter-tweet” data-lang=”en”><p lang=”en” dir=”ltr”>Very sorry to hear that Ranking Roger has passed away. Rest easy, Rude Boy <a href=”https://t.co/dQXifw7J9c”>https://t.co/dQXifw7J9c</a></p>&mdash; Billy Bragg (@billybragg) <a href=”https://twitter.com/billybragg/status/1110648062337269760?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw”>March 26, 2019</a></blockquote>

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Roger continued to tour with The Beat –including a 2018 co-bill with The Selecter, another UK 2 Tone band – from the band’s reformation in 2005 until last fall. The most recent report submitted to Pollstar for The Beat and The Selecter was a Nov. 10 show at The Mezzanine in San Francisco that sold 909 tickets for a gross of $31,815.

He also played in bands with members of The Specials and Dexys Midnight Runners, and collaborated with other artists including Sting, Big Audio Dynamite, Pato Banton and Smash Mouth in his nearly 40-year career.

He released his final album, Public Confidential, in January and completed a memoir, to be published this summer, called “I Just Can’t Stop It.”