LKJ
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<
more

LKJ
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.

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. In 2002 Linton
Kwesi Johnson became only the
second living poet and the
first black poet to have his
work published in Penguin's
Modern Classics series, under
the title Mi Revalueshanary
Fren. The BBC made a TV
programme about LKJ's poetry,
shown in their Profile series
on BBC 4. In this year Johnson
also released the CD LKJ in
Dub Volume Three. To mark his
25th anniversary as a reggae
recording artist, Linton Kwesi
Johnson released a CD and, for
the first time ever, a DVD in
2004 entitled LKJ Live in
Paris with the Dennis Bovell
Dub Band.

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. In 2003
Johnson was bestowed with an
honorary fellowship from his
alma mater, Goldsmiths
College. In 2004 he became an
Honorary Visiting Professor of
Middlesex University in
London. In 2005 Linton Kwesi
Johnson was awarded a silver
Musgrave medal from the
Institute of Jamaica for
distinguished eminence in the
field of poetry. 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.

Category People & Blogs

Tags LKJ.reggae, london, rastafari, selassieman, pentaplatanos, reggae, roots