Tony Roots

Tony Roots was was educated at Lee mason, class of 1975 in Birmingham.

Tony 'On-air' PCRL

I started buying records back in 74 - 75 whilst still at school. Soon after that, I started to deejay at school discos' and found that I enjoyed it. I then went on to be part of a sound system that my friends and I set up in 1975/76 called ‘Jah Equator’. I was also a member of the ‘Duke Wally’ sound for a short time.

My specialist field in music is reggae, in particular roots rock, hence my name Tony Roots. I’ve chosen this name to reflect the music I wanted to be primarily associated with as a DJ.

During my late teens, I began to ‘ride’ with some DJs that were working the nightclubs in Birmingham such as; ‘Rebecca’s’, ‘Barbarella's’, ‘Top Rank’ and the ‘Rainbow’. It was during this period I learnt my trade as a ‘DJ’, some people may remember me from DJing at Rebecca’s.

I have also been a musician from a young age, started playing music in my father’s church (piano and guitar) along with my older brother. Twelve years after leaving school, I formed my first band, which gave me the experience to form my next and main band back in the mid eighties. It was called "General Information". We toured the UK and did a memorable gig in Frankfurt, Germany which will stay in my memory forever. My Earth day is June 11th.

Around 1989 I joined Birmingham’s first unlicensed radio station PCRL. I was a presenter on the station for approximately nine years. For many years playing roots rock reggae on the ‘graveyard’ shifts. I still have many recordings of my shows on PCRL. (bio extract from Newstyle site)

Tony Roots show from 20th September 1992  (courtesy of Steve Williams)