Biography
Born in Brixton, London, during 1956 to Jamaican parents, Don Letts pursued careers as a director, videographer, musician, and DJ while forging a close alliance with the Clash; he joined Mick Jones in 1984 to establish Big Audio Dynamite. His 2000 documentary The Clash: Westway to the World earned a Grammy, and he later cultivated a durable partnership with BBC 6 Music that featured his ongoing weekly program, Don Letts' Culture Clash Radio, in addition to assembling numerous reggae anthologies.
Letts assumed operation of Acme Attractions, the Chelsea boutique that served as a gathering point for the emerging London punk community, in 1975, drawing figures such as the Clash, Sex Pistols, and Generation X. The dub reggae records he played from the store's lower level proved so integral that accountant Andrew Czezowski recruited him as house DJ for The Roxy, the Covent Garden club that defined the city's early punk circuit and where his selections helped embed reggae within that scene. Over three months in 1977 he documented many performances there on Super-8, yielding his debut feature-length film, The Punk Rock Movie, released the following year.
Although Letts assisted in launching Boy, the venture that succeeded Acme, he left retail to manage the Slits; after arranging their appearance on the Clash's White Riot tour, he abandoned management. From 1977 onward, beginning with the band's "White Riot," he helmed more than 300 music videos for artists including the Pretenders, the Undertones, and Elvis Costello. That same year he joined Jah Wobble, Steel Leg, and Stratetime Keith—also known as Keith Levine—to produce the experimental EP Steel Leg V the Electric Dread, which fused dub reggae with abrasive punk elements. By 1980 his image had appeared on the cover of the Clash's Black Market Clash EP.
Following Mick Jones's departure from the Clash, the pair formed Big Audio Dynamite, with Letts supplying samples and vocals across the group's four albums issued between 1985 and 1989. Standout releases included the 1986 U.K. Top 20 single "E=MC2" and that year's second album, No. 10, Upping St., which peaked at number 11. After Jones disbanded the lineup in 1990 and promptly rebuilt it, Letts and the original members briefly operated as Screaming Target, a project inspired by Big Youth that delivered the 1991 album Hometown Hi-Fi. He also co-directed and co-wrote the 1997 Jamaican feature Dancehall Queen during a comparatively subdued period.
Beyond the Grammy recognition, the next decade brought further notice through Heavenly compilations such as 2002's Dread Meets the Punk Rockers Uptown and 2004's Dread Meets B-Boy Downtown. Sustained DJ work on BBC 6 Music maintained his visibility in Britain through the ensuing years, culminating in the 2021 release of his Version Excursion compilation on Late Night Tales.
Letts assumed operation of Acme Attractions, the Chelsea boutique that served as a gathering point for the emerging London punk community, in 1975, drawing figures such as the Clash, Sex Pistols, and Generation X. The dub reggae records he played from the store's lower level proved so integral that accountant Andrew Czezowski recruited him as house DJ for The Roxy, the Covent Garden club that defined the city's early punk circuit and where his selections helped embed reggae within that scene. Over three months in 1977 he documented many performances there on Super-8, yielding his debut feature-length film, The Punk Rock Movie, released the following year.
Although Letts assisted in launching Boy, the venture that succeeded Acme, he left retail to manage the Slits; after arranging their appearance on the Clash's White Riot tour, he abandoned management. From 1977 onward, beginning with the band's "White Riot," he helmed more than 300 music videos for artists including the Pretenders, the Undertones, and Elvis Costello. That same year he joined Jah Wobble, Steel Leg, and Stratetime Keith—also known as Keith Levine—to produce the experimental EP Steel Leg V the Electric Dread, which fused dub reggae with abrasive punk elements. By 1980 his image had appeared on the cover of the Clash's Black Market Clash EP.
Following Mick Jones's departure from the Clash, the pair formed Big Audio Dynamite, with Letts supplying samples and vocals across the group's four albums issued between 1985 and 1989. Standout releases included the 1986 U.K. Top 20 single "E=MC2" and that year's second album, No. 10, Upping St., which peaked at number 11. After Jones disbanded the lineup in 1990 and promptly rebuilt it, Letts and the original members briefly operated as Screaming Target, a project inspired by Big Youth that delivered the 1991 album Hometown Hi-Fi. He also co-directed and co-wrote the 1997 Jamaican feature Dancehall Queen during a comparatively subdued period.
Beyond the Grammy recognition, the next decade brought further notice through Heavenly compilations such as 2002's Dread Meets the Punk Rockers Uptown and 2004's Dread Meets B-Boy Downtown. Sustained DJ work on BBC 6 Music maintained his visibility in Britain through the ensuing years, culminating in the 2021 release of his Version Excursion compilation on Late Night Tales.
Albums
Don Letts - The Rebel Dread presents (@) Echo Beach
2025
Late Night Tales Presents Version Excursion Selected by Don Letts
2021
Singles
