Linton
Kwesi Johnson
"the world's first reggae poet"
Linton Kwesi Johnson Linton Kwesi Johnson was born
on 24 August 1952 in Chapelton, a small town in
the rural
parish of Clarendon, Jamaica. He came to London in
1963, went to Tulse Hill secondary school and later
studied
Sociology at Goldsmiths' College, University of London.
Whilst still at school he joined the Black Panthers,
helped to organise a poetry workshop within the movement
and developed his work with Rasta Love, a group of
poets and drummers. In 1977 he was awarded a C
Day Lewis Fellowship,
becoming the writer-in-residence for the London Borough
of Lambeth for that year. He went on to work as the
Library Resources and Education Officer at the
Keskidee Centre,
the first home of Black theatre and art.
Johnson's poems first appeared in the journal
Race Today. In 1974 Race Today published his first
collection of poetry, Voices of the Living
and the Dead. Dread Beat An' Blood, his second collection,
was published in 1975 by Bogle-L'Ouverture and
was also the title of his first LP, released by
Virgin in 1978. That year also saw the release
of the film Dread Beat An' Blood, a documentary
on Johnson's work. In 1980 Race Today published
his third book, Inglan Is A Bitch and there were
four more albums on the Island label: Forces
of Victory (1979), Bass Culture (1980), LKJ
in Dub (1981) and Making History
LKJ, Johnson's own record label, was launched
in 1981 with two singles by the Jamaican poet Michael
Smith, Mi Cyaan Believe It and Roots. During the
1980s he became immersed in journalism, working
closely with the Brixton-based Race Today collective.
His 10-part radio series on Jamaican popular music,
From Mento to Lovers Rock, went out on BBC Radio
1 in 1982 and was repeated in 1983. From 1985-88
he was a reporter on Channel 4's The Bandung
File.
He also toured regularly with the Dennis Bovell
Dub Band and produced albums by the writer Jean
Binta Breeze and by jazz trumpeter Shake Keane.
Linton Kwesi Johnson Recorded at the Queen Elizabeth
Hall in London, the album LKJ Live in Concert
with the Dub Band was released independently in 1985
and was nominated for a Grammy Award soon after.
This was followed by Tings An' Times in 1991, also
the title of his Selected Poems co-published by
Bloodaxe Books and LKJ Music Publishers the same
year. In 1992 Linton Kwesi Johnson and Dennis Bovell
collaborated to produce LKJ in Dub: Volume
Two.
In 1996 the album LKJ Presents was released, a
compilation of various artists including Linton
Kwesi Johnson. This was followed in the same year
by LKJ A Cappella Live, a collection of 14 poems
including some unpublished works. In 1998 Johnson
released More Time to celebrate his twentieth anniversary
in the recording business. Island also released
a two-CD compilation set entitled Independant Intavenshan
Linton Kwesi Johnson has been made an Associate
Fellow of Warwick University (1985), an Honorary
Fellow of Wolverhampton Polytechnic (1987) and
received an award at the XIII Premo Internazionale
Ultimo Novecento from the city of Pisa for his
contribution to poetry and popular music (1990).
In 1998 he was awarded the Premio Piero Ciampi
Citta di Livorno Concorso Musicale Nazionale in
Italy. He has toured the world from Japan to the
new South Africa, from Europe to Brazil. His recordings
are amongst the top-selling reggae albums in the
world and his work has been translated into Italian
and German. Unsurprisingly, he is known and revered
as the world's first reggae poet.
From http://www.lkjrecords.com/ -
visit this site for a more detailed bibliography
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