Probably best-known for her role as lead singer in The Selecter, one of the best British ska / 2 tone bands of the early 1980s, Pauline Black has lived a life rich in contradictions. Mixed-race, adopted to a middle-aged white couple, tracing some of her biological family in later years, it was through music and the rich mix of rhythms and influences in the ska movement that Pauline Black was born. (The singer changed her name by deed poll).

Black by Design is a moving story – of where we come from, what makes us strong and carries us through, of being a woman in the music industry, of life after musical success and reinventing yourself, of finding yourself.

Pauline Black is still touring with the present-day incarnation of The Selecter – catch their gigs over the summer. The book, Black by Design, is out now.