Keith Valentine Graham[2] (born 24 June 1958), better known as Levi Roots, is a British-Jamaican businessman and celebrity chef currently residing in Daventry, in Northamptonshire who first came to prominence on the fourth series of the British TV show Dragons' Den successfully pitching his Reggae Reggae Sauce product. According to the Sunday Times Rich List, Roots is worth an estimated £30m.[3]
Early life
Roots was born in Clarendon, Jamaica.[4] He was raised by his grandmother after his parents moved to the United Kingdom, until he joined them at age 11.[5] He was raised as a Christian, but converted to the Rastafari faith aged 18.[6]
Career
Music
Roots has performed with James Brown and Maxi Priest and was nominated for a Best Reggae Act MOBO award in 1998.[7] He was a friend of Bob Marley when he resided in the UK and performed "Happy Birthday Mr. President" for Nelson Mandela in 1996 on his trip to Brixton.[8]
Reggae Reggae Sauce
He gained widespread fame after appearing on the UK television programme Dragons' Den in 2007, where he gained £50,000 funding for his Reggae Reggae Sauce.
Levi Roots' Reggae Reggae Sauce is a jerk barbecue sauce. In 2006, 4,000 bottles of the sauce were sold at the Notting Hill Carnival.
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 appeared in the first episode of the fourth series in February 2007, seeking £50,000 of investment from the Dragons in return for a 20% equity stake in Reggae Reggae Sauce. Despite erroneously claiming that he had an order for 2.5 million litres of the sauce (when in fact the order was for 2,500 kilograms), he was offered the £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.[9]
Roots claimed that the sauce recipe had been passed down to him by his grandmother. After being accused of stealing the recipe from a former friend and business partner, he said that he invented it himself and that the claimed family history was a marketing ploy.[10]
Restaurants
Roots' first London restaurant, the Papine Jerk Centre, was on the Winstanley Estate in Battersea, Clapham Junction from 2010-2012. His children worked alongside him. The shop provided a lunchtime service to a local school, Thames Christian College.[11][12] In December 2015, Roots opened his first franchise restaurant in Westfield Stratford City.[13][14] It closed in 2019.[15]
Books and television
Levi Roots' Reggae Reggae Cookbook was published in 2008, with a foreword by Roots' investor, Peter Jones. The book has chapters on Roots' story of coming to London and an introduction to Caribbean ingredients. To coincide with the release of his recipe book, Roots appeared on the 3 June 2008 episode of BBC's Ready Steady Cook as a celebrity. He achieved second place against Lesley Waters.
Roots had a television cooking show, Caribbean Food Made Easy, on BBC2, with a book of the same name published in August 2009.[16] The show followed Roots as he travelled the UK and Jamaica demonstrating easy ways to cook Caribbean food at home.
Roots appeared on Celebrity Mastermind in 2010, coming second with 13 points. He also appeared on Big Brother, where he cooked a Caribbean barbecue for the housemates. Roots also made a special appearance in the 2011 urban comedy movie Anuvahood where he plays himself. On 22 February 2018 he appeared in the 8th episode of the 7th series of the BBC detective programme Death in Paradise. He played the part of Billy Springer.
When he appeared on BBC Radio 4's Desert Island Discs Roots said that his relationship with his father had been a difficult one, because his father was "a bit of a stranger." He said: "My brothers and sisters all went to school before they left Jamaica but, being the youngest, I never got any education while I was there. I think that I was a bit of a disappointment to him."[citation needed]
Roots has eight children with seven different mothers.[17][18] He has previously been imprisoned for drug offences.[19]
Roots has been arrested twice. Aged 15 he was sent to Pentonville prison for six months, charged with assault on a police officer. In 1986, police raided the youth club he ran, and he was convicted again for possession of drugs.[20]
