London, 15th June 2022
Cooking Vinyl are proud to announce the signing of celebrated British musician, DJ, film director and cultural commentator Don Letts to a worldwide artist services deal.
First coming to prominence as the DJ that turned a generation of punks on to reggae back in 1977 he went on to direct hundreds of videos for the likes of Bob Marley, The Pretenders, The Psychedelic Furs (also on Cooking Vinyl), Elvis Costello, Musical Youth, Sinead O’Connor and all those for The Clash. His work with the
latter earned him a Grammy in 2002 and his documentaries include films on Gil Scott Heron, Sun Ra and George Clinton.
In the eighties he formed Big Audio Dynamite with Mick Jones making music that incorporated dance, reggae, rap, film samples and rock n’ roll. Since 2009 he has also presented ‘Culture Clash Radio’ a weekly show on BBC 6Music.
His autobiography ‘There and Black Again’ published by Omnibus was listed in the Rough Trade top 10 books of 2020.
Don is currently working on his first solo record with Cooking Vinyl, due for release Spring 2023, and will be appearing at multiple festivals across the UK this summer.
Upon signing to Cooking Vinyl, Don said “It’s taken a bit of time to create this soundtrack to my mind but with the help of a few friends, some heavy bass lines and a record label with taste the dread stands firm” – Don Letts
The feature length documentary ‘REBEL DREAD‘ the story of Don’s life was recently voted one of the top films of the year so far by The Guardian and is out now on major streaming platforms.
Manager Luc Vergier said ‘We are thrilled to join Martin, Rob and the entire team at Cooking Vinyl, embarking on a new journey with Don Letts by way of his first ever solo album. Inspired and created over the last 12 months and produced by Gaudi we truly feel we have a gem on our hands.’
Rob Collins, Cooking Vinyl MD also added ‘Don Letts has been ever present in my life since I was a 16 year old kid at the Roxy being turned on to reggae and heavy dub. Now to work with him after 47 years is extraordinary. This is one of those records that makes it all worthwhile’
About Cooking Vinyl
Cooking Vinyl, established in 1986, is home to an eclectic mix of artists including Nina Nesbitt, Will Young, Passenger, Sophie Ellis-Bextor, Billy Bragg, The Fratellis, Del Amitri, BABYMETAL, Fickle Friends, Professor Green and many more.
Recent successes include Nina Nesbitt surpassing 600M streams, Passenger securing #2 UK Album, #2 Swiss Album, #3 German Album, #6 Australian Album, Del Amitri #5 UK album and BABYMETAL securing #2 Current Albums, #1 Rock & Indie and #13 Billboard Top 200 in the US.
Cooking Vinyl has consistently been at the forefront of the digital revolution and evolution. In 2005 the label set up its own online distribution company, Uploader, which was sold to the Independent Online Distribution Alliance (IODA). Subsequently Cooking Vinyl then set up the independent distribution company Essential Music which was bought by Sony Red in 2016 and soon after became The Orchard UK.
