The end of black history month is afoot, but we couldn’t go without commemorating some of the black people who changed the game and reached icon status, specifically in the alternative and rock music scene (my favourite!).
Starting off strong with Mr. Lenny Kravitz, Holding many wins in the Best Male Vocal Performance category for the Grammys. Having worked with Madonna, Mick Jagger and even being cast in the Hunger Games movie Kravitz has made a huge name for himself and his talent is recognised globally.
We must also give Tracy Chapman her flowers, many people know her for her live performance of Fast Car at the Oakland coliseum arena in 1988, But she has numerous accomplishments alongside that amazing performance. Chapman was awarded a Grammy award for Best Rock Song as well as that she performed at the White House Special Olympics Dinner with Eric Clapton and has become someone so special to black history within music.
Another pioneer of making alternative music a more open space for black people was Don Letts. Not only has Letts created music of his own with the likes of Mick Jones and Keith Levene, he has also documented and produced films such as The Punk Rock Movie in 1978 and Rebel Dread in 2020. Letts has been very influential when bringing the Afro-Caribbean genre of music into the punk and rock scene, his work has really had long lasting effect as we now are able to see so many artists merging the two genres into one style
These are a small few of the many black artists who really made an impact and opened doors for people of colour to find their place in these spaces which were not spaces which included black people and other people of colour, Today we see so many artists and just people in general who have broken into the alternative industry and shown themselves authentically without being held back.
It is incredible to see the impact which these artists, and many others, have had when bringing people of colour into spaces which they were not often found. As a domino effect from these icons we have some newer faces which deserve their mention and credit for carrying on the legacy of black Artists in rock and alternative music; Rachel Chinouriri an alternative indie artist, Jaxon rose from the band Model Dead and the relatively new band Fever 333 who are gaining world wide recognition and remaining us that “Rock Music Is Black Music”.