Rhoda Dakar

Biography

Rhoda Dakar (born 1959) is an English singer and musician, best known as the lead singer of The Bodysnatchers, who were signed to the 2 Tone record label. She also worked with The Specials/Special AKA, and also other 2-Tone artists.

Career

Dakar, born in Hampstead, London, joined The Bodysnatchers in 1979. Their first single was a double A-side "Let's Do Rock Steady" backed with "Ruder Than You". It reached # 22 in the UK Singles Chart. The band were invited to appear on Top of the Pops, to tour with The Selecter and to record a session for BBC Radio 1 disc jockey John Peel. Their second single "Easy Life" coupled with their version of Bob Andy's "Too Experienced" reached number 50. Several members of the Bodysnatchers then left to form The Belle Stars.
Dakar also collaborated with The Specials. Her duet with Terry Hall, "I Can't Stand It", appeared on the album More Specials. She also sang backing vocals on "Pearl's Cafe" on the album. After The Specials announced their break up in 1981, Jerry Dammers formed The Special AKA, along with Dakar and John Bradbury. Their first single release, "The Boiler", reached # 35 in the UK Singles Chart in 1982.
Dakar performed on The Special AKA album In the Studio, which featured the UK Top 10 single "Free Nelson Mandela". The album reached # 34 in the UK Albums Chart.
Her first solo album, Cleaning in Another Woman's Kitchen, was released in November 2007 on Moon Ska World. It featured acoustic versions of songs from the Bodysnatchers as well as material co-written with Nick Welsh, who attended the same comprehensive school as Buster Bloodvessel, and who recorded as King Hammond in the early 1990s. Dakar and Welsh released a garage rock album Back to the Garage on N1 Records in April 2009.
In 2009, she was the featured guest vocalist on the song "On the Town" on the Madness album The Liberty of Norton Folgate. She performed the track at their Madstock show in Victoria Park, London in July 2009.
In 2014, she returned to the studio to re-record The Bodysnatchers tracks for the album Rhoda Dakar sings the Bodysnatchers. The line up for the recording included Lynval Golding and Horace Panter from The Specials, plus members of Pama International and Intensified.
The single "Stand Together" was a collaboration with the Dub Pistols, released coincidentally on Blackout Tuesday in June 2020. The video featured US activists Martin Luther King, Malcolm X and Rosa Parks.
In 2022, Rhoda had a guest appearance on the song "As We Live" on the album "In the Wild" by The Interrupters.
In May 2023 Dakar released "Version Girl", an album of covers of some of her favourite songs, on Sunday Best records. The culmination of a project spawning five singles, the first of which, "Everyday Is Like Sunday", was released in April 2021. The project was delayed by the Covid pandemic and the subsequent 'great vinyl shortage'. Another single has been added to the set, "I Don't Mind", a Buzzcocks cover, not available on the album and released in February 2024. The project is notable for having all the artwork designed by acclaimed Sheffield artist Pete McKee.