The UK’s first black-owned music studio

Oct 22, 2025

Cleon Roberts, daughter of Sonny Roberts, shares captivating insights about her father, a Jamaican carpenter who founded Planetone, the UK’s first black-owned music studio, in 1961. She recounts the struggles black musicians faced amidst racial hostility and how Planetone became a musical haven for the Caribbean community. Cleon also highlights Sonny's production of early Afrobeat with The Nkengas and the unexpected chart success of Judy Boucher's hit. Their stories reveal the profound impact Sonny had on shaping black British music.

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ANECDOTE

From Carpenter To Sound-System Builder

Sonny Roberts arrived in 1953 and found Britain "really, really grey" and hostile compared with Jamaica.
He used his carpentry skills to build speaker boxes and a sound system called Lavender, embedding himself in the Caribbean music scene.

INSIGHT

DIY Infrastructure Filled A Cultural Void

Mainstream producers shunned Caribbean music, forcing community-led infrastructure to emerge.
Planetone filled that gap by giving black musicians a recording platform and cultural hub in Kilburn.

ANECDOTE

Building Planetone From A Filthy Basement

Sonny rented a filthy Kilburn basement full of pigeons and rats and rebuilt it using his carpentry skills.
He named it Planetone and recorded early tracks like Rico Rodriguez's London, Here I Come.

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Sonny Roberts, a Jamaican carpenter, arrived in Britain in the 1950s. It was a time of racial disharmony, including the Notting Hill riots and the murder of Kelso Cochrane. In this tense atmosphere, black musicians struggled to make a name for themselves. Then in 1961, Roberts set up the UK’s first black-owned music studio, Planetone, in a basement in Kilburn.

The studio gave the Caribbean community a musical platform. In later years, Roberts produced Nigerian band Nkengas’ album, Destruction - one of the earliest examples of Afrobeat in the UK. His 1987 production of Judy Boucher's Can't Be with You Tonight reached number two in the UK Singles Chart, beaten only by Madonna.

Roberts laid the foundations for black British music. Ben Henderson speaks to his daughter, Cleon Roberts.

This programme contains outdated and offensive language.

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(Photo: Sonny Roberts in 1982. Credit: David Corio/Redferns via Getty Images)