Hackney Showroom’s heritage project FEMALE PIONEERS OF REGGAE is back for its big finale – a Q&A with women who pioneered the UK roots, dancehall and lovers rock scenes of the 1980s/90s, curated by the award winning reggae artist Lorna Gee AKA Sutara Gayle.

Hosted by broadcaster DJ Elayne (LWR / Top of the Pops) and featuring Lovers Rock icon Carroll Thompson (I’m So Sorry / Hopelessly in Love), multi-award winning music, TV & film make up artist Allison Edwards, Lorna Gee’s Ariwa label mate & roots artist Sister Audrey and dancehall vocalist & Brixton legend Olive Brooklyn, FEMALE PIONEERS OF REGGAE Q&A uncovers the hidden stories of the women that have shaped British reggae culture.

Presented in partnership with the Museum of Youth Culture and the Heritage Fund, the event also features photographs from our FEMALE PIONEERS OF REGGAE exhibition, including iconic shots of Lorna Gee, Janet Kay, Miss Irie, Ranking Miss P, Carroll Thompson, Jane Eugene and Jean Adebambo, with photographs by Normski, David Corio, Steve Rapport, Richard Braine, and Richard Saunders and Tim Barrow courtesy of urbanimage.

This event is a unique opportunity to hear untold stories of just some of the many women who, against all odds in a male dominated scene, created the sounds and paved the way for future generations of artists. In their words. On their terms.

FEMALE PIONEERS OF REGGAE is a heritage project to uncover the hidden heritage of women in reggae culture which was conceived to run alongside the production and tour of Hackney Showroom’s award-winning hit theatre show THE LEGENDS OF THEM by Sutara Gayle AKA Lorna Gee, produced in partnership with Brixton House and the Royal Court Theatre. The project featured a photographic exhibition which toured to Leeds Playhouse, Birmingham Rep, Belgrade Theartre Coventry, Bristol Old Vic, Brighton Dome and Brixton House. The exhibition photography and audio recording of this Q&A will be archived in perpetuity at the Museum of Youth Culture. if you have stories or photographs you’d like to share with the archive, or would like to access the archive for research or educational purposes, contact lisa@museumofyouthculture.com

Born and raised in Brixton, Lorna Gee made a name for herself on the male-dominated Sound Systems of South London, from Nasty Rockers to Saxon and Coxsone. She signed to Mad Professor’s Ariwa Label with her first song Three Weeks Gone (Mi Giro), her hit single Got To Find A Way topped the reggae charts for 6 weeks in the UK, and she went on to become one of the UK’s leading female figures in reggae and one of the Queens of Lovers Rock with fellow singers Janet Kay and Carroll Thompson.. Lorna is the 2012 BEFFTA and HiCrEc Award winner for Outstanding Contribution to Reggae Music. In 1985 and 1986 she won the BBC Radio London Reggae Awards for Best Female Artist. She was presented with the prestigious Lovers Rock Gala Award for her contribution to Lovers Rock music at The Brixton Academy in 2008. As Sutara Gayle she is the writer and performer of Hackney Showroom’s award-winning hit theatre show THE LEGENDS OF THEM.