Originating in Coventry in the West Midlands of England in the late 1970s, it was part of the second wave of ska music. It followed on from the first ska music that developed in Jamaica in the 1950s and 1960s, infused with punk and new wave textures.
Although two-tone's mainstream commercial appeal was largely limited to the UK, it influenced the ska punk movement that developed in the US in the late 1980s and 1990s.[4][5]
The Specials' keyboard player Jerry Dammers coined the term "two-tone". Dammers, with the assistance of Horace Panter and graphic designer John "Teflon" Sims, developed the iconic Walt Jabsco logo (a man in a black suit, white shirt, black tie, pork pie hat, white socks and black loafers) to represent the two-tone genre. The logo, based on an early album-cover photo of Peter Tosh, included an added black-and-white check pattern.[7][8][9]
On 1 October 2010, the 2-Tone Central museum, cafe and venue opened in the Coventry University Students' Union building, and by August 2011 it had moved to the 2-Tone Village in Stoke, Coventry.[10] It includes exhibition space and the Coventry Music Wall of Fame.[11][12][13][14]
^"[Homepage]". 2ToneCentral.co.uk. Coventry: 2-Tone Central: The 2-Tone Museum, Cafe and Venue. Archived from the original on 30 June 2014. Retrieved 28 June 2014.