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.

Sabrina Washington of Miss-teeq

Mis-teeq were a commercially successful female trio in the early 2000s, including Harlesden girl Sabrina Washington. They started off with Why, originally an R&B track, which, with a UK garage remix, reached the top 10 at the start of 2001. They enjoyed six further top-10 hit singles and two top-5 albums.

Sandra Bee

Sandra Bee is one of the most popular and exciting creative’s of her generation, in both the comedy and drama fields. She has already attracted huge attention and a wide fan base for her portrayal of BBC’S “Petronella”, the dancehall queen who took the first series of BBC2 hit drama series “Brothers and Sisters”, by storm AND  as Shenzi the hyena in Disney’s WEST END Lion King.Other higlights include  Hollywoods “Derailled” alongside Jennifer Aniston , The  Wrong Man , alongisd James Corden and most notable  ‘Rock and Chips’ alongside Nicholas Lyndhurst & written by John Sulivan.

Sarah Eco

Earliest record of a Black person living in Brent.

Seani B

Radio DJ, Presenter, Label Owner, Club DJ, Remixer, Producer – Seani B wears all of these titles. Born in London, Seani has taken the cosmopolitan surrounding he grew up in and incorporated them into his unique musical blend. from Dancehall to Hip Hop, R&B to House and even Soca to Rock; if it is musical, Seani will be all over it. In the mid 90’s he amalgamated his technical skills and his knowledge of crowd pleasing and released a bootleg dancehall reggae remix of the Case and Foxy Brown classic track “Touch Me, Tease Me”. Demand grew for his unique sound which prompted him to set up his own production company, Big League Productions. Before long, some of the world’s biggest artists were feeling the “remix kid” touch. The likes of Lauryn Hill, Pras, Sugababes, Beverley Knight, Shaggy and Rayvon all came knocking for official mixes, and Seani didn’t disappoint. The “Big League” record label was next to follow, featured collaborations with the Dancehall “A” list – Vybz Kartel, Sizzla, TOK & Beenie Man amongst others. Seani joined BBC 1Xtra at in inception with the award winning show “Seani B’s Mixtape”, which went against the grain of conventional single genre music programming at the time. In 2016 his work as a producer received the ultimate accolade – he won a Grammy for producing tracks on the Morgan heritage album “Strictly Roots”

Shaun Wallace

Shaun Wallace was born on 2 June 1960 at Central Middlesex Hospital in London. He grew up in Wembley and attended Copland School. He became a an English barrister, lecturer and television personality. He is one of the six "chasers" on the ITV quiz show The Chase. Wallace is a part-time lecturer and visits schools, colleges and other institutions to educate students on aspects of law. In 2004, he won Mastermind and was ranked 286th in the World Quizzing Championships in 2012.

Shirlene Rudder MBE 

Born in Barbados in 1946, Rudder emigrated to the UK when she was 18 and trained as a nurse and midwife, becoming a health visitor in 1972 and a health visitor fieldwork teacher 2 years later. She settled in North West London and set up the Harlesden branch of the Sickle Cell Society in 1979 and became increasingly involved in genetics. As a specialist genetic health visitor, she is responsible for the testing and counselling of families at risk of sickle cell anaemia, cystic fibrosis, Down’s syndrome and muscular dystrophy. She was awarded an MBE in 1995 for her work for the genetic service.

Shy One

Mali Larrington-Nelson AKA Shy One lives and breathes the eclecticism and diversity of her DJ sets and productions. Having started off DJing on pirate radio as a teenager, Shy One has been exposed to and influenced by the full spectrum of sounds her hometown of London has birthed and nurtured over the years.  As with many young Londoners at the time, grime and the wider family of indigenous London club music was what gave Shy One the passion to pursue music as more than a pastime. Obsessively collecting white labels by some of her local production heroes quickly developed into obsessively making beats in Fruity Loops for a handful of local MCs bubbling up in Harrow, the North West London borough she grew up in. Undeterred by those in the scene who called her beats “weird” or “different”, Shy One ploughed on carving out her own sound which eventually caught the ear of Scratcha DVA, who went on to release the Decaffeinated Love EP and her debut LP, Bedknobs and Boomkicks, on his now renowned DVA Music imprint.

Sickle Cell Society

Sickle cell disease is the name for a group of inherited health conditions that affect the red blood cells. The name refers to what can happen to the shape of the blood cells when someone has sickle cell disease, instead of the red blood cells looking round, they tend to look more crescent-shaped, or like a sickle (a tool used for farming with a curved blade).
The most serious type is called sickle cell anaemia. It can cause pain, increased risk of infection, and reduced levels of oxygen being carried round the body, causing tiredness and shortness of breath.

It is an inherited condition, and has a high incidence in people from African and Caribbean backgrounds, but the ‘trait’ for sickle cell can be found in many people across the world. The Sickle Cell Society is a national charity that was set up by staff and patients from Central Middlesex Hospital, in 1979. The offices for the charity are still based in Harlesden, Brent.

Sonny Roberts

In 1958, Sonny Roberts left his native Jamaica, to travel by passenger ship to London. Come along to find out how Sonny went from entertaining wedding guests with his sound system, Lavender, to founding Planetone, the first black owned recording studio in Britain. Sonny went on to produce many firsts, as well as creating hit records for UB40 and Judy Boucher.

Sophie Okonedo

Sophie Okonedo was raised in the Chalkhill Estate, part of the Wembley Park district. She trained at RADA and her early work includes plays at the Young Vic, the National Theatre and the Royal Court. Her film appearances include Hotel Rwanda (2004) for which she was nominated for an Oscar for Best Supporting Actress. She was appointed CBE in the 2019 New Year's Honours.

Sparky Rugged

Out of Northwest London, Sparky the reggae sing jay introduces melodies and tones, which instils drama and excitement, from studio 1 reggae to dance-hall through to hip-hop and RnB. In December 2006 Monnei produced the track “Bring it Back” for Peckings Studio 1, and was taken back by Sparky’s vocals, from then to date a Producer Artist relationship was formed and Sparky became the first recording Artist to join Lamar Entertainment. Sparky, no newcomer to the music industry, started at the tender age of 8 years old and at age 13 on sound systems, but it would be Java sound system that would introduce and propel Sparky into the dance-hall scene. Collaborations with America’s very own Gin, and most recently ATL out of Atlanta. UK’s RnB/Funky house sensation, Steelo with the amazing reggae RnB vocal fusion track “Change Your Ways,” Superflex, track entitled “Casanova” a song that reminds you of the height of Pliers and Chaka Demus. Tour support and Collaborations, nation wide tour ‘Blues for Souls’ for MTV Base, main support act for Artist from the US, like Joe, ATL, Nas, Lil’ Wayne, and from Jamaica Bennie Man, Sanchez and Freddie McGregor to name but a few. Sparky has gained recognition on the Garage and Drum & Base scene, with producer Jada Flex, BBC Radio 1 Xtra DJ. Never straying from his dance-hall roots, his musical resume reads like the a reggae who’s who. He has previously worked with the likes of UK artist Baby Chan from Sun Cycle, Governor Tiggy, Shola Ama, Keisha White, Rass Negus, Jah Mikah, The Specialist Moss, SuperFlex(London’s most wanted), Tubby T, and MOBO’s award winning rapper, Phoebe One. On an international scale Sparky has toured with Kymani Marley and Buju Banton. Sparky has now come full circle and is making waves with his new RnB tracks. Discography, “He said She said,” “Change Your Way,” “Art of War” the video only release of ‘Aka Rugged’ and Hustling Life’ as well an acoustic video called ‘Change Your Ways.”