SPECIAL DAY

Jerry Dammers on the moment his song became an anthem for the global anti-apartheid movement

- BY NICOLA METHVEN TV Editor

THE Specials’ Jerry Dammers says performing his song Free Nelson Mandela at the famous anti-apartheid rally on London's Clapham Common in 1986 was the proudest moment of his life.

In a documentary examining the biggest campaign for a single prisoner in history, Dammers, 71, says: “When we sang Free Nelson Mandela in front of that crowd it was just incredible.

“It was probably my proudest moment in my life, you know?”

The songwriter and keyboard player says he was inspired to write the globally recognised anthem after attending an event in 1983 at Alexandra Palace, to mark the 65th birthday of the South African anti-apartheid campaigner imprisoned from 1962 to 1990 but who served as president of his country from 1994 to 1999.