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The story behind the Free Nelson Mandela song

Singer-songwriter and 'The Specials' founder Jerry Dammers has told The Westminster Hour how he came to write the 'Free Nelson Mandela' song linked with the campaign for Mandela to be released from prison. He told John Beesley: "In 1983 I met an old school friend in the street and he told me about a concert that was being put on at Alexandra Palace to celebrate Nelson Mandela's 65th birthday. I'd never heard of Nelson Mandela but I went along and there were the South African exile bands who lived in London playing and the anti-apartheid movement were involved and giving out leaflets. So that's where I learned about Mandela and I was already working on a song but I didn't have any lyrics and it was slightly African influenced so then I got the idea to make it a plea for Mandela's freedom."

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12 minutes