Legendary King of Ska Dave Wakeling, lead singer of The English Beat, brings his current lineup to the Foundry in Providence Saturday night in a performance to benefit Save The Bay.

The English Beat — hit-makers in England and “college-radio darlings” in the United States, in singer Dave Wakeling’s words — were one of the leaders of what was the second wave of ska that took over England in the ashes of the late-’70s punk movement, along with Madness and The Specials. And Wakeling says he’s glad to hear the work of his group from 1980 to 1982 being cited as an influence by today’s ska and ska-rock bands.

“About every seven or eight years, there’s another wave of ska, and they call on The Beat as one of their influences, whether it’s No Doubt or The Aggrolites or whatever. It seems to be something that bobs up and down like a wave, and it’s great.”

Not that Wakeling is finished: He has a version of The English Beat that plays the best-known stuff of both The English Beat (“Mirror in the Bathroom,” “Tears of a Clown,” “Save It for Later,” “I Confess”) and General Public, which Wakeling and toaster Ranking Roger formed in the Beat’s wake (“Tenderness,” “Never You Done That”).

“It seems churlish not to do those hits,” Wakeling says. “… I’m happy I had the hits in the first place; I’m happy to play them.”

Wakeling, who says the band will start work on a new record this winter, says the audiences these days are divided among people who know about both bands; people who didn’t follow the more pop-oriented General Public; and “still a few people who I meet at the end of the show who say, ‘Oh my God, I had no idea you were in the English Beat!’ I say, ‘Well, I’m happy I could have helped.’ ”

The basic Beat formula was simple: “We were trying to combine The Velvet Underground and Toots and the Maytals … and Bryan Ferry, on a good night,” the singer chortles.

He recalls he and his mates running house parties in Birmingham with one DJ playing punk singles, another playing reggae and dub. “We found that the combination of the two in the party kept the dance floor … whereas if we played all punk, people would burn out, and if we played all reggae, people would lean against the wall, nodding. But if we played both, it just stayed vibrant and exciting and groovy.

“And the guitarist said to me, ‘What if you could get both elements in the same three-minute pop song, Dave? What would you have then?’ And I thought, ‘You’d have a [expletive] hit, wouldn’t you?’ …

“Punk had kind of pulled down all the buildings, but the air was still full of dust. So if you had something that was catchy from a distance, you were in with a chance really. You could try all sorts of different styles; it wasn’t like a format you had to fit into. You could sing about whatever you liked, as long as it was catchy. And we took full advantage of that, really, singing ‘Stand Down, Margaret’ on Top of the Pops, and they didn’t even know it was about Margaret Thatcher.”

The English Beat was a racially mixed band, which was a bigger deal in the big towns than in their home town, Wakeling says: “It wasn’t so rare in Birmingham, or the industrial Midlands. It wasn’t a big deal for The Specials or The Beat or Selecter, because there was quite a well-integrated working class, either of factory workers or ex-factory workers. And much of the initial prejudice was worn off on the factory floor. … We didn’t think there was anything unusual about it until we went to London.”

While The Beat had hits in England, they never cracked the charts in the U.S., and it seemed as though as soon as they got a foothold in America, their days in England were waning.

Wakeling says that that’s how The Beat came to an end.

“Some of the real purists thought that if our time as a three-minute pop band in England has passed, we were done. And they kind of saw evidence in the fact that we were filling stadiums with 20,000 people in America! Which used to make me laugh!”

Next up was General Public, with Wakeling and Roger fronting a band that included members of Dexy’s Midnight Runners and Mick Jones from The Clash. It was a bit more slick, “a bit more synthy-pop,” Wakeling allows, but the line between, say “Tenderness” and The Beat’s “I Confess” isn’t that thick. And Wakeling points with pride to the deep reggae of songs such as “Anxious,” from the first General Public record.

“It was more what IRS [Records] was trying to accomplish. They were no longer just trying to have cheap and cheerful, college-radio-darlings kind of bands; they were trying to play with the big boys. … And that gives the band a different public persona, although that might have more to do with differences in promotion than differences in the actual band.”

In the ’80s, Wakeling was in charge of the production of the Alternative NRG album, a compilation record featuring REM, U2 and more all recorded with solar power. The singer, who has worked with Greenpeace on and off over the years, remains proud of that record: “At the time, it seemed like we were spitting into the wind on that. But it sowed the seeds of it … and perhaps there is a renewable- energy renaissance.” He’s also worked with Smile Train to raise money to help children with cleft palates, but currently says he’s “dabbling on the outskirts” of political work.

“It’ll be wonderful to see how this wonderful shining nation settles down in the next year. I was very fond of Obama before the election … and done what little I could to help his cause. But now of course, he’s voted and in, and it reminds you that whoever you vote for, the government always gets

in. …

“It seems we’ve all put our hand up for a government of inclusion, which, of course, sadly means we actually have to do something. We can’t just show up again in four years and say, ‘Nice job.’ I actually have to get up out of bed and put some clothes on and do something socially viable.”

The English Beat play a benefit for Save The Bay on Saturday night at The Sharpe Building at the Foundry, 235 Promenade St., Providence, at 9 p.m. The Cobra-Matics open. Tickets are $75 for the show, a dessert bar and more; and there are pricier options that begin earlier. Go to www.savebay.org for more information.

Shelby Lynne says she didn’t hear any Dusty Spring- field records until about 10 years ago, when her recording career was well under way. But she made up for lost time. “I think she was one of the best,” Lynne says, and her latest record, Just a Little Lovin’, puts that regard into action by recording nine songs made famous by Springfield, including “You Don’t Have to Say You Love Me” and “Anyone Who Had A Heart,” along with one Lynne original.

Lynne says that when she first heard Springfield’s Dusty in Memphis album, “I didn’t even realize she was a British girl. … I love that whole era of music,” she says of the slinky sound of Memphis soul.

While Springfield’s records, particularly “You Don’t Have to Say You Love Me,” could get bombastic, Just a Little Lovin’ is a slimmed-down affair, with a four-piece, mostly acoustic band and Lynne’s luminescent voice carrying the tunes.

“The songs were amazing,” Lynne says, “and when Dusty cut them, there was a trend to the real big productions, and I was certainly not going to make that record again. So I kept it really low-key. … If you’re going to do a tribute to someone, you need to be in service to the song and the person you’re in tribute to. So I knew we would make something completely different.”

Lynne says she got to the studio at 11 on a Monday morning and sang the title song. “We picked a key and found a groove, and when that song was cut we knew where we were headed.”

Just a few days later, the record was done. “When you’re in service to the song, the song does the work, and the music moves through the singer. It’s just a matter of finding the place to settle down in, and staying in that place.”

Lynne credits legendary producer Phil Ramone for putting together the band and creating some of that atmosphere: “He’s a great leader, and a wonderful, calm captain of a ship. He’s great musically and has great ideas.”

Lynne’s original song, “Pretend,” fits perfectly with the Springfield choices, and it’s surprising to hear that Lynne had the song lying around for a long time: Ramone suggested she put one of her own songs on, “and that was really the only one that would fit. Lyrically, it’s kind of vulnerable. Maybe Dusty would have considered it if she was still around making records.”

From slick pop-country to roots-rock to Americana to Memphis soul, you never know what Lynne’s going to do next, and the 2000 Best New Artist Grammy winner says she doesn’t either: “I’ve never had a problem doing what I want. All my records have been different, so I don’t know what I’ll do next time, but it won’t be anything like this. Your guess is as good as mine.”

Shelby Lynne sings at the Narrows Center for the Arts, 16 Anawan St., Fall River, tonight at 8 p.m. Tickets are $35, $40 the day of the show; call (508) 324-1926.

The Live/Whirled acoustic music series at Perishable Theatre gets back into gear on Sunday with The Gillen Street Project, an avant-garde buncha noisemakers including Tony Teixeira, Bert Crenca, Susan Clausen and Nisha Purushotham. The show is at 5 p.m. and admission is $8; Call (401) 331-2695, ext. 101.

The Superchief Trio rocks the swing dance at the Blackstone River Theatre, 549 Broad St., Cumberland, at 8 p.m. (If you’re as clueless as I am, there’s dance instruction at 7:30.) Admission is $12; call (401) 725-9272.

rmassimo@projo.com