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I edited my profile with Thomas Myspace Editor V4.4 (www.strikefile.com/myspace)**PLEASE NOTE**- Roddy Byers does not reply personally from this page.Roderick James Byers (a.k.a. Roddy Radiation) was born 5/5/55 to a trumpet playing father and a "Movie Mad" mother, in the year of Rock'n'Roll, when Elvis and Dean were "Rebels with a Cause".Roddy spent his first 18 years in a coal mining village just outside of Coventry in the English Midlands.At the age of 11 years, his father started Rod and his brother Chris on trombone and trumpet respectively, but by the age of 13 Roddy had discovered Rock'n'Roll, and swapped his trombone for an electric guitar. Several school groups followed with regular gig's at the local youth club.In the early seventies, forsaking the local art school, Roddy started work as a painter and decorator for the local council, which enabled him to buy the much needed new guitar and amp.Roddy's early tastes in music ran to the more outrageous pop and R'n'B bands such as The Rolling Stones , The Kinks, and The Jimi Hendrix Experience. At this time Roddy also acquired a long lasting love of Blues and early Rock'n'Roll.The early seventies saw Roddy adopt a "Ziggy Stardust" persona as "Roddy Radiation", a nickname given to him by his brother Chris. From the Glam Rock days, Rod discovered other more eccentric artists such as Iggy Pop, Lou Reed and the seminal proto punk group, The New York Dolls.Roddy's first proper group based on these early influences was The Wild Boys, formed in 1975. Short spikey hair, drainpipe jeans, and cover songs such as "No Fun" and "I'm Not Your Stepping Stone" along with Roddy's early songs "1980's Teddy Boy" and a song called "Concrete Jungle".But Coventry was not London, and Rod would have to wait a few more years until a certain local nutter (Jerry Dammers) asked Roddy to punk up his new band "The Coventry Automatics" - nee "The Specials"... The Specials were the founders of the famous 2Tone records label that also helped spwan the careers of bands such as Madness,The Selecter,The Bodysnatchers,The Beat to name a few.The Specials were a driving force behind the re-emergence of Skinhead and rude boy cults in the UK,and thus the 2Tone movement was born.There has been nothing seen like it since then.Roddy & The Specials notched up 7 top 10 hits including 2 number Ones("Too Much Too Young" & "Ghost Town") and two top 5 albums ("Specials" & "More Specials") before the famed acrimonious split of 1981.Roddy was cruelly dropped by the Chrysalis label before he re-emerged with The Tearjerkers,a band that he had began in the last months of The Specials.After a few years enjoying himself,he moved onto The Bonediggers,with their more raw hard edged rockabilly slant,and then The Raiders, a more rock outfit.He was an esential part of The Specials 2 ,who reformed in the early 90s after teaming up with Desmond Dekker for the "King Of Kings" album.The group toured seriously and had a whole hearted attempt to rekindle the ska scene.They released 2 singles ("Hypocrite" & "Pressure Drop") and 2 albums ("Todays Specials" & the better "Guilty Til Proved Innocent") before they called it a day.There were also the "Conquering Ruler" and "Skinhead Girl" albums Rod played on with three other Specials-a compilation of their fave Skinhead Reggae tracks.Roddy had guested on many artists tracks over the years but lately they have included bands like Too Hot and The Rough Kutz,two of the Uks top ska bands.Rod's current project The Skabilly Rebels are a Coventry based outfit,mixing their own punky brand of rockabilly with the rhythmic lilt of Ska.They are on the verge of a studio album and have toured extensively around the UK and Europe.Rod is also a member of the acoustic project,Three Men & Black who have toured and recorded,and he is a part of the band line up which consists of some major UK music name such as JJ Burnel(Stranglers), Jake Burns (Stiff Little Fingers), Pauline Black (The Selecter), Nick Welsh (Bad Manners,The Selecter,King Hammond,Big 5),Bruce Foxton (The Jam) and Dave Wakeling(The Beat,General Public).This myspace page is just a mark of respect to a talented singer/songwriter that is responsible for some fine music over the years...