BRENT HEROES
Click through the list below to find out about the achievements of these heroes from the Black community with a connection to Brent.
Photograph by Rachel Lum, Brent Museum and Archives
Ben Bailey Smith aka Doc Brown
Ben Bailey Smith, known by his stage name Doc Brown, is an actor, writer, comedian and rapper. He was born in Willesden to a Jamaican mother and an English father – the ‘weird way round’ he has joked. Smith has appeared in shows such as The Inbetweeners and Brief Encounters, and on Live at the Apollo for his stand-up comedy. He has also created work for children, including the CBBC show The 4 O’Clock Club and the books I am Bear and Bear Moves.
Photo by Andrew Putler/Redferns via Getty Images
Bob Marley
Bob Marley & The Wailers were first invited to London in February 1972 by their manager Danny Sims to work with Johnny Nash. By the summer, they had been abandoned by CBS Records, as the record deal yielded poor results following the release of the 'Reggae On Broadway' single. Bob lived at 34 Ridgmount Gardens in Camden (where a blue plaque was unveiled in October 2006) in February and March, and April to early June in a Bayswater hotel, before relocating to a house in The Circle, NW10 in Neasden. It was during their stay here that their career boosting Island Records deal was negotiated. The deal was signed in September and the band returned to Jamaica later that year, where they recorded the 1973 albums 'Catch A Fire' and 'Burnin", which launched them to international superstardom.
Photograph by Orlando Gili, Brent Museum and Archives
Bobby Davis
One of the Founders of the The Sensations, created in 1967 with Buster Riley, Bobby Davis and Radcliffe Bryan.
