Stephen ‘The Spaceape’ RIP – a tribute from Jerry Dammers

Jerry Dammers, founder of the Specials and 2 Tone would like to pay tribute to Stephen  Gordon aka ‘The The Spaceape’,  who tragically died of cancer yesterday morning 2nd October 2014. Said Dammers:

“Stephen was not only a very pleasant and humble person, but remained incredibly brave and positive in the face of his terrible illness. In my view, he produced, with Kode9, amongst the very best, if not THE best, in so called ‘popular’ music from this country,  in the last twenty years. The relative lack of recognition he received in the mainstream, reflects on it, not on him, or his talent, but there were plenty of people who did understand. It was a great honour  that he recorded a version of The Specials’ Ghost Town with Kode 9, by far and away the best version from the very very many I have been sent over the years …. also that he was willing to perform with my band the Spatial AKA Orchestra on three occasions, one of which being the finale of the Love

Music Hate Racism festival in 2008 at Victoria Park, (being the 20th anniversary of the legendary Rock Against Racism concert there featuring The Clash). To me it was fitting that Stephen was the very last artist to voice at that show, carrying to some extent as he did, the Jamaican ‘dub poetry’ tradition, championed in the RAR era by Linton Kwesi Johnson, forward into the ‘dub step’ era of recent years.Today I feel a mixture of sadness and anger at the unfairness that someone so talented has died so very young, when he still really wanted, and was very able, to give so much more, and before he received the full recognition he deserved . My condolences go out to his wife and young daughter, and to all his friends.”

N.B. If you wish to watch Stephen ‘The Spaceape’s performance  at Victoria Park in 2008, it is at the end of the track featuring Jerry Dammers orchestra, various MC’s, Damon Albarn, Hypnotic Brass and others on: