Horace Panter

Horace Panter (born Stephen Graham Panter, 30 August 1953 in Croydon, England) also known as Sir Horace Gentleman, was the bassist for the Coventry 2 Tone ska revival band The Specials.

In 1971, Panter started a one-year art course at Northampton School, where he met many influential musicians. In 1972 he started studying fine art at Coventry's Lanchester Polytechnic, now know as Coventry University. In his second year there, he met Jerry Dammers, and soon they formed The Specials. The band started playing in Coventry bars and pubs. Following the break-up of The Specials in 1981, Panter went on to play with General Public, and then with the reformed Specials in the 1990s. Since then, Panter has been playing in the blues bands Box of Blues and Blues To Go, and he leads the Coventry Ska-Jazz Orchestra. He is now teaching art to special needs children in Corley Special School. He has written an autobiography called "Ska'd for Life", in which he shares how he became introduced to the ska genre, and he describes his experiences since the band's creation.