News

Windrush child Don Letts: "Our parents were getting screwed"

The musical icon on why it took 'Top of The Pops' for his parents to understand his Rasta rebellion

Punky reggae pioneer Don Letts has told The Big Issue about his upbringing as a child of the Windrush generation.

In a Letter To My Younger Self the 62-year-old spoke about how his parents came to Britain with “their hopes and their dreams and their culture”and “basically got through by denying their roots, completely assimilating.” 

He goes on to recall his musical epiphany in 1971 seeing The Who, and why his musical ambitions caused tension at home:

“My ambitions, my rebellion in my exams, they drove an ever-growing wedge between me and my parents. It was a rocky road. When I first got my dreads they kicked me out of the house. From their perspective Rasta was something to be shunned. In the Fifties and Sixties Rastas were social pariahs in Jamaica. It wasn’t until the arrival of Bob Marley that they began to see it differently. And once they saw me on Top of the Pops, on TV, all of a sudden I made some sense to them. I was being accepted by white people and the mainstream and that had value to them.”

Letts also talks about musicians he misses, such as Amy Winehouse, Joe Strummer, and Ariane from The Slits. “Thankfully John Lydon’s still around. I owe him big time. Not only for the whole Sex Pistols thing, he was the first person to take me to Jamaica,” he said.

Read the full Letter To My Younger Self in this week’s Big Issue.

Image: Dean Chalkey

Read the full article in this week's Big Issue.
Find your vendor
The Beautiful Game

Support the Big Issue

For over 30 years, the Big Issue has been committed to ending poverty in the UK. In 2024, our work is needed more than ever. Find out how you can support the Big Issue today.
Vendor martin Hawes

Recommended for you

View all
I started doing crime by age 6. I didn't know any other life – all my birthdays were in prison
Crime

I started doing crime by age 6. I didn't know any other life – all my birthdays were in prison

Local housing allowance is finally going up. But is it anything more than just a short-term fix?
Jeremy Hunt announced local housing allowance rise
Benefits

Local housing allowance is finally going up. But is it anything more than just a short-term fix?

Calls to nationalise Thames Water as Brits face 40% increase in bills: 'A con and a disgrace'
Water bills

Calls to nationalise Thames Water as Brits face 40% increase in bills: 'A con and a disgrace'

Will free school meals and vouchers be offered over the Easter holidays?
Free school meals/ Easter holidays
Free school meals

Will free school meals and vouchers be offered over the Easter holidays?

Most Popular

Read All
Renters pay their landlords' buy-to-let mortgages, so they should get a share of the profits
Renters: A mortgage lender's window advertising buy-to-let products
1.

Renters pay their landlords' buy-to-let mortgages, so they should get a share of the profits

Exclusive: Disabled people are 'set up to fail' by the DWP in target-driven disability benefits system, whistleblowers reveal
Pound coins on a piece of paper with disability living allowancve
2.

Exclusive: Disabled people are 'set up to fail' by the DWP in target-driven disability benefits system, whistleblowers reveal

Here's when UK households to start receiving last cost of living payments
next dwp cost of living payment 2023
3.

Here's when UK households to start receiving last cost of living payments

Strike dates 2023: From train drivers to NHS doctors, here are the dates to know
4.

Strike dates 2023: From train drivers to NHS doctors, here are the dates to know