Don Letts has played a significant role in the cultural landscape of Britain. A cultural Icon himself, renowned filmmaker, Radio presented, DJ, Musician, Music Manager, Author and Gardener.
Born in 1956, he grew up in Brixton he attended Archbishop Tenison’s School in Oval
I know the exact moment I wanted music to be my life. I was 14 or 15, it was 1971, and I was watching the Who at the Young Vic in London. I went after school, in my uniform, and I could see the whites of Keith Moon’s eyes and Pete Townshend windmilling and that was it. I didn’t know what it was. But it opened a door that I wanted to step through.
Don Letts
Podcast – The Don Letts Interview
A brief history
In ‘74 Don was working as the manager of Acme Attractions shop, 153 King’s Road, later to become BOY London. Don was soon to quit to manage the Slits and to head off on the White Riot tour with The Clash.
By ’77 Don was the DJ at the Roxy Club playing heavy dub to an enthusiastic audience including most if not all of punk’s luminaries.
It was whilst DJing at ‘The Roxy’ , that Don made his first film ‘The Punk Rock Movie’ (click here to view it). Shot on Super-8mm, become the first documentary on the U.K punk scene; featuring The Sex Pistols, The Clash and many others.
He even became a friend to Bob Marley when he was in the UK recording Exodus and help source his cannabis for him.
The following Video, Don describes how introduced dub reggae to the ‘Punk’ scene and his connection to Bob Marley in the following video.
His love of the Clash led him to become a videographer for The Clash and went on to direct several of their music videos.
A photograph of Don at the ’77 Notting Hill race riots can be seen on the artwork for the Clash’s B-sides and rarities compilation Super Black Market Clash.
Big Audio Dynamite
It was in 1984 that Letts co-founded the band Big Audio Dynamite with Clash guitarist Mick Jones, acting as the group’s sampler and videographer before departing the band in 1990.
Award-Winning Film Director
He has directed 300 music videos for a diverse range of artists, including Bob Marley, Elvis Costello, Musical Youth, The Psychedelic Furs, and The Pretenders. Film credits include The Punk Rock Movie (1977) and The Clash: Westway to the World (2000)for which he won a Grammy.
BBC Radio 6 Presenter
Don Letts Culture Clash Radio
https://www.bbc.co.uk/programmes/b0072pzt/episodes/player
Gardeners World
In September 2020 Don and his wife Grace were featured on BBC’s Gardeners’ World, showing how they had combined their different tastes for plants and culture in their town garden in north west London. (See here – starts @06:30)
Further Reading
You might also like
Sources
https://www.bbc.co.uk/programmes/profiles/1BCxVNbpKX81tHx5TBncKJL/don-letts
