Rhoda Dakar
Rhoda Dakar in September 2023
Background information
Born	1959 (age 65–66) Hampstead, England
Occupation(s)	Singer and musician

Rhoda Dakar (born 1959) is an English singer and musician, best known as the lead singer ofThe Bodysnatchers, who were signed to the2 Tone record label. She also worked withThe Specials/Special AKA, and also other 2-Tone artists.

Dakar, born inHampstead, London, joined The Bodysnatchers in 1979. Their first single was adouble A-side "Let's Do Rock Steady" backed with "Ruder Than You". It reached # 22 in theUK Singles Chart.^[1] The band were invited to appear onTop of the Pops, to tour withThe Selecter and to record a session for BBC Radio 1 disc jockeyJohn 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 formThe Belle Stars.

Dakar also collaborated withThe Specials. Her duet withTerry Hall, "I Can't Stand It", appeared on the albumMore Specials. She also sang backing vocals on "Pearl's Cafe" on the album. After The Specials announced their break up in 1981,Jerry Dammers formedThe Special AKA, along with Dakar and John Bradbury. Their first single release, "The Boiler", reached # 35 in the UK Singles Chart in 1982.^[2]

Dakar performed on The Special AKA albumIn the Studio, which featured the UK Top 10 single "Free Nelson Mandela". The album reached # 34 in theUK Albums Chart.^[2]

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 asBuster Bloodvessel, and who recorded as King Hammond in the early 1990s. Dakar and Welsh released agarage rock albumBack to the Garage on N1 Records in April 2009.

In 2009, she was the featured guest vocalist on the song "On the Town" on theMadness albumThe 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 albumRhoda Dakar sings the Bodysnatchers. The line up for the recording includedLynval Golding andHorace Panter fromThe Specials, plus members ofPama International and Intensified.

The single "Stand Together" was a collaboration with theDub Pistols, released coincidentally onBlackout 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" byThe Interrupters.^[3]

In May 2023 Dakar released "Version Girl", an album of covers of some of her favourite songs, onSunday 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", aBuzzcocks cover, not available on the album and released in February 2024. The project is notable for having all the artwork designed by acclaimed Sheffield artistPete McKee.

• British ska musicians
• English rock singers
• British women new wave singers
• English women rock singers
• English new wave singers
• Singers from the London Borough of Camden
• People from Hampstead
• 1959 births
• Living people
• 2 Tone Records artists
• The Specials members

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• Short description is different from Wikidata
• Use dmy dates from April 2022
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