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.

James DeGale

Olympian boxing hero, Gold medalist James DeGale. James won a gold medal in the Beijing Olympics in 2008.

Janet Kay

Janet Kay is a singer and actor from Willesden. Janet Kay is known as the ‘Queen of Lovers Rock’, a music genre that blends love songs with reggae beats. Her big break came in 1977, when reggae star Alton Ellis invited her to sing reggae covers of popular songs, starting with Loving You. In 1981, she worked with the Black Theatre Co-operative to create and star in No Problem, a Channel 4 sitcom partially set in Willesden Green.

Jason Roberts 

After a 17-year career playing at the top level, Jason Roberts had to retire in 2014 because of a recurring hip injury after two seasons playing for Reading. Starting his professional career at Torquay United in 1997 he went onto play in over 500 first-team games for nine different teams from Conference level up to the Premier League and was a Championship winner with Reading in 2012. Roberts also represented the Grenada national team on 10 occasions. Upon retiring from playing Roberts set up his own foundation, offering grassroots projects across London and the South West of England as well as developing sporting and personal development programmes in Grenada.




In 2017, the Confederation of North, Central America and Caribbean Association Football (CONCACAF) appointed Roberts in his current role as their Director of Development.

Jet Star

Jet Star: One of the world’s biggest distributors of reggae music. Operated from the Pama Records address, 78 Craven Park Road, NW10 in Harlesden from 1978. It then moved to the premises vacated by the Lightning business, at 841 Harrow Road, NW10 near Scrubs Lane. Jet Star moved in 1989 to 155 Acton Lane, NW10 in Park Royal, where it acted as a wholesaler/distributor of all forms of black music. The company folded in 2008 and was bought by Phoenix Music International.

Joan Armatrading

Recorded the album Secret Secrets was recorded and mixed at Battery Studios (previously known as Morgan Studios), in Willesden, London.

Julian Hall

Founder and CEO of ULTRA Education who's vision is that all children and young people regardless of background or social standing have access to essential entrepreneurial education. The mission is to be the leading brand and #1 provider of entrepreneur education in the world. The #1 Best Selling author of three books - Entrepreneur to Ultrapreneur, 100 Ways to Up Your Game, Ignition - How to Startup a Tech Startup and The 10 Secrets of Social Media Marketing - The No Nonsense Guide to Small Businesses. Julian is a regular contributor to The Express national newspaper and frequent media commentator  As we move into the 4th industrial revolution, we need new thinkers and ways to approach problems. These cannot come from those who created the problems but from those who can provide fresh thinking.

Julie Mcalpin

Julie Mcalpin aka STUSH is one of the most distinctive voices in the UK underground. One of her biggest tunes to date was "Dollar Sign", a bouncy UKG cut produced by the legendary Sticky.

Junior Collins; Molly Barnaby; Jason at Wembley

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Junior English

English began performing in his teens and in 1965 he recorded ‘Fay Is Gone’ for Prince Buster. He arrived in the UK in the latter half of the 60s where he completed his education. He entered and won a talent contest run by the Palmer brothers, noted for their contribution to the UK reggae scene with Pama Records and later Jet Star, at the popular Club 31. His success led to him joining a band called the Magnets, with whom he recorded ‘Somewhere’. The preference for Jamaican reggae thwarted his career and he spent the late 60s performing with the group on a European tour. On his return he joined another band, the Nighthawks, releasing ‘Jasmine’ and an obscure album. By 1970 he returned to the UK where he recorded ‘Miss Playgirl’, ‘Daniel’, ‘I Don’t Wanna Die’ and the popular ‘Back On The Scene’. He enjoyed a prolific run of hits with Clement Bushay, who produced ‘Never Lose Never Win’, which provided the backing to the combination hit for Trinity and Dillinger, ‘Starsky And Hutch’. The song led to an album of the same name featuring accomplished versions of Delano Stewart’s ‘Stay A Little Bit Longer’, the Chi-Lites’ ‘Bet You’ll Never Be Sorry’, Matumbi’s ‘After Tonight’ and the Royal Rasses’ ‘Humanity’. With Bushay, he released the classic ‘In Loving You’, which, although released in October, had the distinction of being 1978’s Christmas number 1 on the UK reggae charts. The success of the single was acknowledged when he won the Afro-Caribbean Post Golden Sunrise Award for best male vocalist in the same year. He maintained a high profile with ‘Natural High’, which was equally successful, lending its title to his second album for Bushay. The compilation was a self-production recorded at Channel One Studios with the Revolutionaries. In 1979 his credibility increased with the release of ‘I’ll Make It Up To You’, securing a respectable position in the reggae charts alongside ‘Love And Key’ and ‘I Am The One You Love’. He continued to release hit singles throughout the 80s, including ‘Daddy’s Home’, ‘Equal Love’ and the popular ‘Ready To Learn’, which surfaced on his own International English label. In 1985 English was one of the many performers who featured on the British Reggae Artists Famine Appeal release ‘Let’s Make Africa Green Again’. In the 90s he maintained his profile, covering ‘Queen Majesty’, ‘Cruising’, ‘Ready To Learn’ and other popular standards.