Richard Lue

Richard Lue was born in 1957 in Jamaica where he lived with his grand-aunt and siblings in Kingston. He came to the UK at the age of 7 to join his mother and grandparents living in Hackney.

Richard Lue was born in 1957 in Kingston, Jamaica. His grand-aunt, his grandmother’s sister, looked after him, his sister and brother when Richard’s mother left for England. It was a busy, happy household with his grand aunt taking on responsibility for other children in the family. Richard spent weekends in Portland with his Chinese grandfather, on his father’s side. He has Indian, Jewish, Chinese, German and Jamaican heritage.

At a day’s notice Richard, aged 7, came to the UK to join his mother and grandparents living in Hackney whom he barely knew. He arrived in the freezing winter of 1964. Soon after he went to live in South London with his mother but after 2 or 3 years his mother, now a nurse, left for America. Richard went back to live with his grandparents in Cazenove Road in Hackney but missed Jamaica terribly. His grandfather was a seaman and used to take him down the docks to welcome ships from the Caribbean.

Richard left school aged 15 and worked as a furrier and then later as a carpenter. He loved music – jazz, rhythm and blues and reggae of course and went to clubs and shebeens across London. In his late teens he got in with the wrong crowd and  had a troubled time. He now lives in Tower Hamlets and has four children and 3 grandchildren whom he sees a lot of. He was a full time carer for his grandmother for 10 years. He still considers himself very much a Jamaican.