Linton Kwesi Johnson ADD
Linton Kwesi Johnson was born on 24 August 1952 in Chapelton in Clarendon in rural Jamaica. He came to London in 1963, went to Tulse Hill secondary school and studied Sociology at Goldsmiths' College, University of London. Whilst 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 poetry collection, Voices of the Living and the Dead. Dread Beat An' Blood was published in 1975 by Bogle-L'Ouverture and was also the title of his first LP released by Virgin (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 Inglan Is A Bitch and there were four more albums with Island: Forces of Victory (1979), Bass Culture (1980), LKJ in Dub (1981) and Making History (1983).
Johnson launched his own label, LKJ Records, in 1981 with two singles by Jamaican poet Michael Smith, ‘Mi Cyaan Believe It’ and ‘Roots’. During the 1980s he became immersed in journalism, working with the Brixton-based Race Today collective. His ten-part radio series on Jamaican popular music, From Mento to Lovers Rock, went out on BBC Radio 1 in 1982-83. 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 poet Jean ‘Binta’ Breeze and jazz trumpeter Shake Keane.
Recorded at the Queen Elizabeth Hall in London, LKJ Live in Concert with the Dub Band came out in 1985 and was nominated for a Grammy Award. Tings An' Times (1991) was also the title of his Selected Poems (Bloodaxe Books/LKJ Music Publishers). In 1992 LKJ and Dennis Bovell collaborated on LKJ in Dub: Volume Two. In 1996 LKJ Records released LKJ Presents, a compilation of various artists, and LKJ A Cappella Live, a collection of 14 LKJ poems without music. In 1998 More Time celebrated his 20th anniversary in the recording business. Island also put out a two-CD compilation, Independant Intavenshan. In 2002 Johnson became only the second living poet and the first black poet to be published in Penguin’s Modern Classics series with his book Mi Revalueshanary Fren; it has since been republished by Penguin as Selected Poems (with a new version coming out in 2022 including a new introduction). In the USA, the collection was published by Ausable, now Copper Canyon.
In 2002 the BBC made a TV programme about LKJ’s poetry for BBC 4’s Profile and Johnson released LKJ in Dub: Volume Three. To mark his 25th anniversary as a reggae recording artist in 2004, LKJ released a CD and DVD of LKJ Live in Paris with the Dennis Bovell Dub Band. In 2023, Time Come, LKJ’s selected prose from over five decades was published by Picador.
Linton Kwesi Johnson has toured globally, from Japan to the new South Africa, from Europe to Brazil and the Antipodes. His recordings are amongst the world’s top-selling reggae albums and his work has been translated into Italian and German. He is known and revered as the world's first reggae poet. He is a Trustee of the George Padmore Institute and Chair of 198 Contemporary Arts and Learning, two London-based independent charities with a focus on the cultural and political contributions made by the UK’s populations of colour.
