Thursday 1 November 2018

Remarkable Residents: Kwes

Throughout October to celebrate Black History Month the Lewisham Local History Archive Centre will post our chosen 15 truly remarkable residents. People who were born in the borough or lived within its borders


15/15: Kwes


Kwes: Art work for record cover
Kwes (Kwesi Sey) is a record producer, songwriter, musician, mixer and recording artist from Lewisham.

Kwes is best known for his production and collaborative work with a variety of artists including Bobby Womack, Damon Albarn, ELIZA, Kelela, Loyle Carner, Micachu, Nao and Solange. He has also reworked several artists including Hot Chip, Metronomy, Lianne La Havas, Zero 7 amongst many others.

Born in 1987 he has been actively interested in pop music, since he was four years old it began in Lewisham in 1990, raised on a diet of Top of The Pops and the Top 40 Chart Show. On his seventh birthday, Kwes received a gift that rapidly accelerated his musical prowess – a keyboard from his grandmother.

In 2011 signed with Warp Records and in the summer of that year Kwes travelled to the Democratic Republic of Congo as part of Oxfam's DRC Music project. He was invited along by Damon Albarn to join a team of fellow producers and musicians that included Richard Russell, Actress and T-E-E-D.

In summer 2012 and early winter 2013, Kwes partnered with Go Opera and Peroni Brewery to create a series of opera concerts, entitled as Opera di Peroni. The project was staged live in various cities throughout the UK and had featured Kwes’ and Go Opera's take on selected arias from Verdi's La Traviata and Puccini's La Boheme and La Rondine.



Local History and Archives Centre. Email:local.studies@lewisham.gov.uk

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