Levi Roots
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Levi Roots (born as Keith Tanyue in Jamaica, 1959) is a reggae musician, chef and entrepreneur, currently residing in Brixton, South London. He was nominated for a MOBO award in 1998 and gained widespread fame after appearing on the UK television programme Dragons' Den looking for funding for his "Reggae Reggae Sauce".
Reggae Reggae Sauce is a jerk, barbecue sauce made to his grandmother's "secret recipe". Roots and his family have been using the sauce in their food stall at the annual Notting Hill Carnival since 1991. In 2006, the sauce was available for sale at the carnival, with 4000 bottles sold. [1]
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 was offered £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 [2]
The song which formed part of his pitch on Dragons' Den 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 (radio station).[3]
[edit] External links
- Official Reggae Reggae Sauce website
- BBC - Dragons' Den - Episode One
- Evening Standard - Reggae singers sauce is hot with sainsbury's
- Listen to Levi Roots being interviewed and singing Reggae Reggae Sauce on BBC Radio Five Live
- Reggae Sauce star is hot stuff Article in The Sun about the single
- Pose your questions to Levi Brilliant blog featuring Levi Roots
