23 Facts About Ranking Roger

Roger Charlery, known professionally as Ranking Roger, was an English musician.

Ranking Roger was a vocalist in the 1980s ska band the Beat and later new wave band General Public.

Ranking Roger subsequently was the frontman for a reformed Beat lineup.

Ranking Roger Charlery was born in Birmingham and grew up in the Small Heath area of the city.

Ranking Roger attended Archbishop Williams school, and while still at school began deejaying with reggae sound systems before becoming a drummer with the Dum Dum Boys in 1978.

Ranking Roger became a punk rock fan as a teenager and was the drummer in the Dum Dum Boys before joining ska revival pioneers the Beat in the late 1970s.

Ranking Roger had appeared on stage, toasting and singing with them, many times before officially joining the band.

Beyond that, Ranking Roger was the one whose looseness and humor, great dancing and general presence made the Beat happen on stage.

Ranking Roger took more of a leading role with vocals in this group.

In 1995, Ranking Roger and Wakeling reformed General Public with a new supporting band, and released the album Rub It Better.

Ranking Roger released Radical Departure, his first solo album, in 1988 which included band members Panter and Fuzz Townshend.

Ranking Roger collaborated with Pato Banton in 1995 on "Bubbling Hot", which peaked at No 15 on the UK single charts.

Ranking Roger sang on "Roxanne" onstage with the Police on their 2007 reunion tour.

Ranking Roger was a guest performer on Big Audio Dynamite's seventh album Higher Power in 1994 when the band were known as simply 'Big Audio'.

Ranking Roger later became a member of Big Audio Dynamite for their final studio album Entering a New Ride.

Ranking Roger contributed to Walls Come Tumbling Down: The Music and Politics of Rock Against Racism, 2 Tone and Red Wedge, written by Daniel Rachel and published in 2016.

Ranking Roger collaborated with Welsh ragga-metal band Dub War on a cover of the Upsetters' "War Ina Babylon" in what is claimed to be his last recording before his death, which will be included on their 2022 album Westgate Under Fire.

Ranking Roger continued to lead the Beat and tours throughout Europe as well as works on solo projects.

In early August 2018, Ranking Roger was hospitalised with a suspected mini-stroke.

Ranking Roger recuperated at home, but cancelled planned live shows in the United Kingdom and United States.

The band had just finished recording an album and Ranking Roger had written his autobiography, I Just Can't Stop It, published June 2019.

In January 2019, it was announced that Ranking Roger had undergone surgery for two brain tumours, and was undergoing treatment for lung cancer.

Ranking Roger died at his home in Birmingham on 26 March 2019 at the age of 56.