Everett Morton

Saxa (born Lionel Augustus Martin in 1930) had played saxophone with Prince Buster, Laurel Aitken, and Desmond Dekker in the first wave of ska.

He joined the Beat to record their first single, "Tears of a Clown", a cover version of the Motown hit by Smokey Robinson and the Miracles.

The Beat (known in the United States and Canada as the English Beat and in Australia as the British Beat ) are a British band formed in Birmingham, England, in 1978.

Their music fuses Latin, ska, pop, soul, reggae and punk rock.

The Beat formed in Birmingham, England, in 1978, during a period of high unemployment and social upheaval in the United Kingdom.

Ranking Roger, one of the band's vocalists, added a Jamaican vocal Flavour to the band's sound with his toasting style.

Jamaican saxophonist Saxa added a Jamaican ska instrumental sound.

The Beat, consisting of Dave Wakeling (vocals, guitar), Ranking Roger (vocals), Andy Cox (guitar), David Steele (bass), Everett Morton (drums), and Saxa a.k.a. Lionel Augustus Martin (saxophone), released three studio albums in the early 1980s: I Just Can't Stop It (1980), Wha'ppen? (1981) and Special Beat Service (1982), and a string of singles, including "Mirror in the Bathroom", "Save It for Later", "I Confess", "Too Nice to Talk To", "Can't Get Used to Losing You", "Hands Off...She's Mine", and "All Out to Get You".

The band's debut studio album, I Just Can't Stop It, was released in May 1980, entering the UK albums chart at No. 3. Notable singles from the album included "Can't Get Used to Losing You", "Mirror in the Bathroom", "Hands Off...She's Mine" and "Best Friend".

The second Beat album, Wha'ppen? was supported by extensive touring, including a United States tour with the Pretenders and Talking Heads.

The album yielded more UK hits, with "All Out to Get You", "Drowning" and "Doors of Your Heart", all of which broke into the Top 40 of the UK Singles Chart.

The Beat received support from modern rock radio stations such as KROQ-FM in Los Angeles, the now-defunct KQAK The Quake 99FM (98.9) in San Francisco and KYYX in Seattle.

Although the Beat's main fan base was in the UK, the band was also popular in Australia, partly due to exposure on the radio station Triple J and the TV show Countdown.

The Beat had a sizable following in the US and Canada, where the band were known as the English Beat for legal reasons (to avoid confusion with the American band the Beat).

The Beat toured the world with well-known artists including David Bowie, the Clash, the Police, the Pretenders, R.E.M., the Specials and Talking Heads.

Members of the band often collaborated on stage with the Specials.

During their early career, the band were associated with Birmingham-based cartoonist Hunt Emerson, who designed their 'Beat Girl' icon and painted the mural that was used on the cover of Wha'ppen?

After the break-up of the Beat in 1983, Dave Wakeling and Ranking Roger went on to form General Public and had a couple of hit singles in the US and Canada including "Tenderness", while Andy Cox and David Steele formed Fine Young Cannibals with vocalist Roland Gift from the ska band Akrylykz.

Pete Townshend performed the song "Save It for Later" numerous times between 1985 and 1998.

Meanwhile, "March of the Swivelheads", an instrumental version of the Beat's song "Rotating Head", was used in the climactic chase scene of 1986's Ferris Bueller's Day Off; the band was listed in the end credits as "The (English) Beat".

Roger released his solo debut, a reggae-oriented album entitled Radical Departure, in 1988.

The Who performed the song twice on their 1989 Reunion Tour.

Drummer Everett Morton and Saxa formed the International Beat along with the Birmingham-based singer, Tony Beet, and the band released an album titled The Hitting Line on Blue Beat Records in 1990.

The album was produced by Ranking Roger and he often guested with the band at some of their shows.

In the early 1990s, Roger joined members of the Specials to form Special Beat, which toured and released two live albums.

They supported the Campaign for Nuclear Disarmament (CND).

The International Beat toured the UK and United States until 1992.

Ranking Roger also briefly joined Mick Jones' post-Clash band Big Audio Dynamite and performed at several live shows with the band.

However, the band broke up shortly after he joined when its last album was shelved by the record company.

"Save It for Later" was featured on the soundtrack album to 1996's Kingpin, 2010's Hot Tub Time Machine and 2017's Spider-Man: Homecoming.

Everett Morton formed Beat Goes Bang and recruited vocalist Ross Lydon from 360, bass player Faisal Rashid, and Lukasz Machometa on sax, former member of Citybeats and Urban Groove Syndicate.

Pearl Jam also began playing "Save It for Later" in 1996 blending it into the end of "Better Man", and it remained in the set list of their 2014 tour.

In 2001, Roger released another solo album, Inside My Head, which included traditional reggae and ska with influences of electronica, jungle and dub.

Ranking Roger's son, Ranking Junior, followed in his father's footsteps.

In 2003, the Beat's original line-up, minus Cox and Steele, played a sold-out one-off gig at the Royal Festival Hall.

In 2004, the VH1 show Bands Reunited tried unsuccessfully to reunite the original line-up.

In 2005, he appeared on the Ordinary Boys' single "Boys Will Be Boys".

In 2006, the UK version of the Beat, featuring Ranking Roger, recorded a new album that was mixed by Adrian Sherwood, but it remains unreleased.

The band also featured Everett Morton and Mickey Billingham on keyboards, formerly a member of Dexys Midnight Runners and General Public.

The Wonder Stuff also played "Save It for Later" featuring Ranking Roger on their "From the Midlands with Love" series in June 2012.