Linton Kwesi Johnson
b. August 24, 1952
Chapelton, Jamaica
Johnson's family emigrated to London in 1963, and he quickly developed a keen awareness of both literature and politics, culminating in a degree in sociology at Goldsmith's College, London, in 1973. An interest in poetry manifested itself in two books, Voices Of The Living And The Dead (1974) and Dread Beat And Blood (1975), both written in a style that put on paper the patois spoken in black Britain, often with a rhythm reminiscent of Jamaican DJs. Johnson also wrote about reggae for New Musical Express, Melody Maker and Black Music, as well as being writer-in-residence for the London Borough of Lambeth and heavily involved in the Race Today co-operative newspaper. Experiments with reggae bands at his poetry readings culminated in 1977's Dread Beat An' Blood, recorded as Poet And The Roots, an album that virtually defined the dub poetry genre. An intoxicating mixture of Johnson's lucid, plain-spoken common sense and rhetoric, and Dennis Bovell's intriguing dub rhythms, it sold well. In 1978, Johnson changed labels from Virgin Records to Island Records and issued the strong Forces Of Victory, this time under his own name. Johnson became a media face, introducing radio histories of reggae and cropping up on television arts shows, but to his credit he did not exploit his position, preferring instead to remain politically active at grass-roots level in Brixton, London.
Bass Culture was a more ambitious project that met with a mixed reception, with tracks including the love-chat "Lorraine" and the title song offering a far broader sweep of subjects than his previous work. LKJ In Dub featured Dennis Bovell dub mixes of tracks from his two Island albums. In the same year Inglan Is A Bitch, his third book, was published and he also started a record label, LKJ, which introduced Jamaican poet Michael Smith to a UK audience. In the early 80s Johnson seemed to tire of the dub poet tag and became far less active in the music business. In 1986, he issued In Concert With The Dub Band, a double live set that consisted chiefly of old material. He finally returned to the studio in 1990 to record Tings An' Times for his own label, a more reflective, slightly less brash set. Writing commitments meant another recording hiatus before 1998's More Time.
While Johnson has undoubtedly added a notch to reggae's canon in providing a solid focus for the dub poetry movement, offering an alternative stance to that of straightforward reggae DJs, he appears to view his musical involvement as secondary to his political and social activities, and is not therefore the "name" in the media he might have been. However, no other artist would have tackled subjects such as "Black Petty Booshwah" (petit-bourgeois) or "Inglan' (England) Is A Bitch", and for that, his place in reggae history is assured.
-- Courtesy (Encyclopedia of Popular Music) --
 Revered as the world's first reggae poet, 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 the 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 (1983).
Professor Kenneth Ramchand, in a 1995 edition of the Trinidad and Tobago Review: said about him: "The Black Londoners of the 1970s are no longer lonely in the old way, and Johnson is the first West Indian writer to document their new life styles and capture in verse rhythms the despairing apocalyptic mood, its menace and its mounting delusions.'
Linton Kwesi 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 Toady 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. His most recent album is LKJ A Cappella Live, a collection of 14 poems including some unpublished works.
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.
Linton Kwesi Johnson has been made an Associate Fellow of Warwick University (1985), an Honorary Fellow of Wolverhampton Poly (1987) and received an award at the X111 Premo Internationale Ultimo Novecento from the city of Pisa for his contribution to poetry and popular music (1990)
-- Courtesy (BBC Education) -- |
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