Hail is a form of solid precipitation. It consists of balls or irregular lumps of ice, each of which is referred to as a hail stone. Unlike graupel, which is made of rime, and ice pellets, which are smaller and translucent, hail stones – on Earth – consist mostly of water ice and measure between 5 and 200 millimetres (0.20 and 7.9 in) in diameter.^{[citation needed]} The METAR reporting code for hail 5 mm (0.20 in) or greater is GR, while smaller hailstones and graupel are coded GS. Hail is possible within most thunderstorms as it is produced by cumulonimbi (thunderclouds), and within 2 nautical miles (3.7 km) of the parent storm. Hail formation requires environments of strong, upward motion of air with the parent thunderstorm (similar to tornadoes) and lowered heights of the freezing level. In the mid-latitudes, hail forms near the interiors of continents, while in the tropics, it tends to be confined to high elevations.

There are methods available to detect hail-producing thunderstorms using weather satellites and weather radar imagery. Hail stones generally fall at higher speeds as they grow in size, though complicating factors such as melting, friction with air, wind, and interaction with rain and other hail stones can slow their descent through Earth's atmosphere. Severe weather warnings are issued for hail when the stones reach a damaging size, as it can cause serious damage to human-made structures and, most commonly, farmers' crops.

King were a British New Wave pop band of the mid 1980s, from Coventry. Their name comes from the surname of lead singer Paul King. The band recorded two albums for CBS Records (now Sony Music Entertainment); both were produced by Richard James Burgess and certified gold.

The band was formed from the remnants of Clitheroe rock-ska band The Reluctant Stereotypes plus producer Paul Sampson. Riding on the back of the Two Tone wave, they had two UK Top 10 albums on CBS, both produced and mixed by Richard James Burgess, and two UK Top 10 singles.

After the Reluctant Stereotypes, singer Paul King formed The Raw Screens, who perfected their act and style to what Paul and his manager Perry Haines called "Multi Tone", a reference to "Two Tone", and then, in 1983, relaunched the group as self-named 1980s band, King.

As lead singer, Paul King wore a 'cockatoo' haircut and spray-painted Doc Marten's Boots - a look described "like the Child Catcher from Chitty Chitty Bang Bang. But, hell, the girls loved him;" while Burgess produced and drummed on most of the album tracks.