“Saddest of Days in the Ska World:” The Selecter’s Arthur “Gaps” Hendrickson Dies at 73
- “The world has lost a 2-Tone original, a talented musician and an absolute gentleman,” band says
Arthur “Gaps” Hendrickson, co-founder and co-lead singer of the Selecter, died June 11, less than a year after being diagnosed with cancer, his family said and his “devastated” bandmates confirmed.
“The world has lost a 2-Tone original, a talented musician and an absolute gentleman,” the Selecter said in a statement. “We have lost our beloved friend and bandmate.”
Hendrickson, who was 73, co-founded the band in 1979 and sung lead on its first hit, “Too Much Pressure.” He toured with the Selecter until his 2023 diagnosis and shared vocal duties with Pauline Black, who said he she was “too devastated to say anything coherent at the moment” about her fallen bandmate.
“He will be sorely missed by all those who knew him,” Hendrickson’s family said.
Hendrickson’s death heralds the “saddest of days in the ska world,” the Resignators said.
“He danced and sang through this life well,” they said in a statement. “Our sympathies to Pauline Black and the rest of the band.”
Jools Holland eulogized Hendrickson as “one of the kindest and gentlest of men and an originator of British ska music.
“He was a dear freind who will be missed by myself and all my orchestra and crew. We send love and condolences to his family.”
The Selecter released Human Algebra in 2023 and just wrapped a U.S. tour.
6/12/24
