Don Letts

 Don Letts is the recipient of no less than three honorary degrees for his contribution to culture. He’s a Grammy Award-winning film director whose credits include hundreds of music videos for the likes of Musical Youth, Linton Kwesi Johnson, Aswad, Black Uhuru, Jimmy Cliff, Beenie Man, Bob Marley, and more. 

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His documentary work includes films on Sun Ra, George Clinton, and Gil Scott-Heron. In 1997, he directed the hit Jamaican movie 'Dancehall Queen’. 

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Don’s music credits include co-founding the band Big Audio Dynamite with Mick Jones of the Clash in the eighties. He’s also known as the DJ who turned a generation of punks on to reggae at the first punk rock venue back in 1977. Since then, he’s gone on to DJ nationally and internationally with sets designed to move the crowd and reflect the history and legacy of Jamaican music and the island's gift to the world - bass.  

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Over the years, he’s released several critically acclaimed music compilations, including:

2002 ‘dread meets the punk rockers uptown’ 

2003 ‘Don Letts presents: the mighty trojan sound’ 

2008 ‘dread meets greensleeves: a westside revolution’ 

2015 ‘dread meets Yasushie Ide: in the land of the rising dub’ 

2021 ‘Version Excursion’ late night tales

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Don released his first solo album, ‘outta sync’, produced by Gaudi on Cooking Vinyl in 2023. His autobiography 'There & black again' was released by Omnibus in 2021. 'Rebel Dreads, a film about his cultural journey featuring Dennis Bovell, Jazzy B, Norman Jay, and Daddy G, was released the same year.  More recently, he’s been doing remixes for various artists, including Dub Pistols, e.m.f, Damian Marley & Seun Kuti.

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Don is still making films, DJing globally and has been hosting his own weekly ‘Culture Clash Radio’ show on BBC 6Music for the last 18 years. 

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