Legendary Reggae DJ Roberto Allen—

The blogosphere is mourning the loss of London’s DJ Roberto Allen of Vibes FM, one of London’s leading community radio stations. Allen reportedly died of a heart attack. Although the cause of death has not been confirmed by his representatives, Allen’s passing has been confirmed by the station.

After working as a DJ spinning Brixton’s Neville King sound, Allen began a career in radio in 1984 at JFM. The popular DJ worked at Solar Radio and Time radio in addition to guest hosting on BBC Radio London, Capital Radio and KISS-FM.

In the 1990s, he started the Nasty Love sound system, the top dancehall sound system which dominated the UK Raggamuffin scene and was responsible for breaking new talent in UK dancehall. Roberto co-produced Peter Hunnigale’s first number one hit “Perfect Lady” propelling Hunnigale into stardom.

Allen also worked with Sanchez, Top Cat, Tenor Fly, Sweetie Irie, Delroy Wilson, Gregory Issacs, Papa San, Sly & Robbie, Steelie & Cleavie, Mafia & Fluxy and many others.

Reggae legend Maxi Priest, fans and fellow musicians paid homage to Allen on social media.

Allen moved to VibesFM.net (93.7FM) where he played classic reggae Sundays with the Mums and Dads Rice & Peas selection and the Caribbean Renaissance on Tuesdays. However, Allen is best known and loved for his Hot Breakfast morning show, playing the latest in Reggae during the morning drive. Listen to Allen’s broadcast from last week below: