Levi Roots

Levi Roots
Roots at the Notting Hill Carnival 2010
Born	Keith Valentine Graham Bilal Musa 24 October 1958 (1958-10-24) (age 65) Clarendon, Jamaica
Nationality	Jamaican/British
Occupation(s)	Businessman, chef, musician, television personality
Years active	1982–present
Known for	Reggae Reggae Sauce
Website	Official Website of Reggae Reggae Sauce

Keith Valentine Graham Bilal Musa (born 24 October 1958), better known as Levi Roots, is a British-Jamaican reggae musician, television personality, celebrity chef, businessman and multi-millionaire currently residing in Brixton, South London.

Music

Roots has performed with James Brown and Maxi Priest and was nominated for a Best Reggae Act MOBO award in 1998. He was a friend of Bob Marley when he resided in the UK and performed "Happy Birthday Mr. President" for Nelson Mandela in 1992 on his trip to Brixton. He gained widespread fame after appearing on the UK television programme Dragons' Den, where he gained £50,000 funding for his Reggae Reggae Sauce.

Reggae Reggae Sauce

Main article: Reggae Reggae Sauce

Levi Roots' Reggae Reggae Sauce is a jerk barbecue sauce. In 2006, the sauce was available for sale at the Notting Hill Carnival, with 4,000 bottles sold.

He later took the sauce to a food trade show, where he was spotted by a BBC producer who approached him to appear on Dragons' Den. He appeared in the first episode of the fourth series, seeking £50,000 of investment from the Dragons in return for a 20% equity stake in Reggae Reggae Sauce. Despite erroneously claiming that he had an order for 2.5 million litres of the sauce (when in fact the order was for 2,500 kilograms), he was offered the £50,000 for a 40% stake in his business by Peter Jones and Richard Farleigh. Shortly after his appearance on the programme, Sainsbury's announced that they would be stocking the sauce in 600 of their stores.

Leading from the success of his spicy sauce, Roots released an extended version of his song "Reggae Reggae Sauce" which features one of his children (Joanne) on backing vocals. The music video features a cameo from Peter Jones. All of the money raised went to Comic Relief. The song, which formed part of his pitch on Dragons' Den (and was also sung by Roots in an appearance on Harry Hill's TV Burp), was also released as a download single. "Proper Tings (The Reggae Reggae Sauce Song)" received its first play on Allan Lake's breakfast show on Core.

He spoke at the SWRDA's enterprise conference on 24 November 2008. Roots has also spoken to the Isle of Man Junior Chamber of Commerce. He is a keen admirer of children's enterprise as shown when he did a tour of Plymouth School talking about how he became a successful musician and businessman.

A news story in The Grocer magazine in 2010 states that a range of ready meals were to be launched, and that Roots had stated that the value of the brand had then increased to £30 million.

In June 2014, Roots attended the GRILLSTOCK festival in Bristol, where he performed several songs on stage.

Books and television

Levi Roots' Reggae Reggae Cookbook was published in 2008, with a foreword by Roots' investor, Peter Jones. The book has chapters on Roots' story of coming to London and an introduction to Caribbean ingredients. To coincide with the release of his recipe book, Roots appeared on the 3 June 2008 edition of BBC's Ready Steady Cook as a celebrity. He achieved the second place against Lesley Waters.

Roots had a television cooking show, Caribbean Food Made Easy, on BBC2, with a book of the same name published in August 2009. The show followed Roots as he travelled the UK and Jamaica demonstrating easy ways to cook Caribbean food at home.

Roots appeared on Celebrity Mastermind in 2010, coming second with 13 points.

Roots also appeared on Big Brother, where he cooked a Caribbean BBQ for the housemates.