‘I was a bit of a force of nature when I was younger. Nobody was going to challenge me and nobody did.’ This is Pauline Black talking about her early life in Pauline Black: A 2-Tone Story, Jane Mingay’s documentary which found inspiration from Black By Design, the dynamic Selecter vocalist’s 2011 autobiography. Mingay’s Scottish Screen co-produced film rather handily arrives as The Selecter set out on a tour with the sort of itinerary that would make younger bands feel exhausted.

‘I still enjoy performing with The Selecter,’ Black beams over Zoom, like a very friendly force of nature. ‘And we’ll do it while we still can. I don’t have any real plans for any kind of retirement, and this tour is an opportunity to celebrate our 45th anniversary of releasing Too Much Pressure. We’ve never really left those songs, even though we’ve always been recording and pushing on.’

In 1979, The Selecter burst out of the original 2-Tone scene that came straight outta Coventry with a multi-racial fusion of frenetic ska and socially aware lyrics that captured the mood of Britain’s disaffected youth. Alongside The Specials and Madness, The Selecter took this new people’s music into the charts with singles such as ‘On My Radio’, ‘Three Minute Hero’ and ‘Missing Words’. 

With the original line-up disbanding in 1982 after two albums, Black went on to release solo material as well as undertaking various stints as an actor, TV presenter and now writer. Reformations of The Selecter have sired another 15 albums, with the most recent, Human Algebra, appearing in 2023. Throughout it all, Black has remained on the frontline.

Like Black’s book, the film explores her roots as a mixed-race child adopted by an Essex family in an all-white environment. The smiles of the little girl in photographs seen in the film hid a toughness that saw Black escape as soon she could to become a student in Coventry, where she fell in with the right crowd. ‘I always had a very profound belief that this is what I think,’ says Black regarding her ‘force of nature’ comment. ‘“Tell me I’m wrong, and if you don’t, then fuck you.” That was where all that came from.’

Mingay’s film is dedicated to Black’s original co-vocalist, Arthur ‘Gaps’ Hendrickson, who died shortly after filming had been completed. ‘He was a lovely man and a unique performer and we all miss him very much,’ says Black. ‘What I like about the film is it gave him an opportunity to speak. We were like the Ginger Rogers and Fred Astaire of ska.’

Forty-five years on from The Selecter’s first flush, Black is far from finished yet. ‘I never expected when I started out to have done all the things that I’ve done. I’m one of those people that someone says “do you want to come and do this?” And I’ll go, “yeah, I’ll have a go.” That’s how it’s always been. I’ve had a great life and I don’t see any reason why I still can’t find things to do in the future. If I was to have a hero, it would probably be somebody like Maya Angelou, who just went on and on doing what she did. She had this energy about her that was always looking forward. That’s what I take from her. If you put your energy out there, something will come and find it and say “let’s try this for a bit.”’

The Selecter is touring the UK until Friday 28 November. Pauline Black: A 2-Tone Story is available on Sky Arts and NOW TV.