The Specials’ Neville Staple stopped at Jamaica airport
Music News | Jun 19th, 2009
Singer of the Specials, Neville Staples, was left stranded at the Jamaica airport after being searched for drugs by Customs. He ended up missing his flight, but obviously everything was cleared up when they found no drugs on him. But this resulted in Neville missing a few gigs.
The 54-year-old, on a week-long break on the Caribbean island, was due to return on Monday for a couple of reunion concerts.
But just as he was about to board the plane at Jamaica’s Sangster International Airport, in Montego Bay, he was taken away by officers.
They searched his bags and questioned him but found no evidence of any illegal substances.
By the time they had finished, Staple had missed his plane back to Britain and has had to miss a couple of performances with the band.
Speaking to the Coventry Telegraph from his home in Jamaica, Staple said: “It was all a big misunderstanding. I’ve been doing a lot of travelling and have been going backwards and forwards to Jamaica since my mum died in December.
“I never have a lot of baggage because I have things over here and I must have been red flagged or something.
“I got to the airport late and I was saying things like ‘come on’ to try and speed things up so I could get on my plane and I think I attracted their attention.
“They’ve seen me travelling through customs quite often and I think they got suspicious.
[Coventry Telegraph]
In other Specials news, looks like they might throw the US fans a bone with a few gigs at the end of the year. One can only hope!
Roddy Radiation: There are a few places in the world we haven’t played! New Zealand will be interesting. America is calling and we may try to fit a few dates in at the end of the year if we are still standing!
[Dizzybeat]
Thanks to Steve Shafer for posting this news on his awesome ska blog The Duff Guide to Ska.
