PAULINE Black is without doubt the queen of ska having found massive success with 2-Tone band The Selecter.

Her life story is a model of the multi-cultural society which her music often reflects.

She was born to an anglo-jewish mother and a Nigerian father and adopted by an Essex family who would not acknowledge she was black.

To force her family to recognise her roots, Pauline changed her name by Deed Poll to Black.

She then set about forging a music career which produced hit albums including Too Much Pressure and Dance Craze.

Pauline worked with The Selecter from 1979 until the band split in 1982, she went on to be a successful TV presenter, writer and actress, appearing in dramas The Vice, The Bill, Hearts and Minds and 2000 Acres of Sky.

In 1991 she won the Time Out award for best actress, for her portrayal of Billie Holiday in the play All or Nothing At All.

September 2011 saw the reformation of The Selecter with the release of a new ten-track album called Made In Britain, featuring covers of Amy Winehouse’s Back To Black and an anti-racist ska/reggae re-working of Woody Guthrie’s All You Fascists Bound To Lose - re-invented as Big In The Body Small In The Mind.

She has also written a 2-Tone memoir, Black By Design, which was released in July 2011 and described by Elle magazine as: "gritty, witty and inspiring".

The Selecter are set for a a gig at the Robin 2, Bilston, on Friday March 30.

The Base Sessions is recorded and produced by Base Media, Rufford Road, Stourbridge.