SUTARA GAYLE: PIONEERING REGGAE ARTIST, ACTRESS AND ACTIVIST

From the Brixton riots to the first UK Black Pride, Sutara Gayle – aka Lorna Gee – has been a defining force in UK culture for over 40 years. Here, ahead of her one-woman solo tour in October and November, she tells her story

- KANUNE MORRISSEY

'My first act of activism? I'd say it was on school grounds with bullies taking liberties with somebody that's not confrontational. I'm bullying the bullies. That's my first act of activism," says Sutara Gayle of her earliest memory of standing firm against injustice.

Born in Brixton, London, in April 1963, Gayle has been known by many names. Born Lorna Gayle, she was later Lorna Gee, reggae icon and lovers rock queen. Now she's been crowned Sutara, which means 'divine star', a name given to her by her brother and spiritual teacher, Mooji (Anthony Paul Moo-Young). As an actor, music artist and human rights activist, Gayle has empowered Black and queer communities through her art for more than 40 years.

“I’d say the 1981 Brixton riots was when I realised that, ‘Wow, we’re being taken advantage of, we’re at a disadvantage, and we’re looked upon unfairly.’ There was so much brutality in those days. I saw things happen right in front of my eyes,” she recalls. “I felt that collective rage for the first time in my life.”

Then, in 1985, armed police invaded her sister Cherry’s home and shot her, claiming mistaken identity. It was an event that left Cherry in critical care and with life-changing injuries, and sparked the 1985 Brixton riots.

Gayle led marches demanding justice for her sister, fighting a system that tried to deny her human rights. But she rejected violence: