Jul 18, 2026 · 5 min · 6 segments
The actor Adrian Lester has had hearts a flutter from Stratford-upon-Avon to London in his latest role as Cyrano De Bergerac. The Birmingham born Hustle star's first experience of performing was in…
Adrian LesterGuest
[upbeat music] The piece of music I've inherited is Redemption Song by Bob Marley.
Old pirates, yes, they rob I.
Sold I to the merchant ships.
It's the final song on his album Uprising, and I remember that album having a pride of place in my mom's collection in the house.
And those days, you play the s- the albums through, and I was at home doing my homework, um, music was on in the background, and I hadn't really listened to the lyrics.
And then I got to the last track, and I remember it making me stop and listen.
'Cause all I ever have, redemption songs.
Emancipate yourselves
... at that moment just how useless a lot of the music I was listening to was because it didn't say anything.
And here was this, you know, tracking the, the pride and the, the staying power of an indigenous people being trafficked and so on.
The song really, really struck me and, um, it changed my attitude as I went into school the next day.
Some say it's just a part of it.
We've got to fulfill the book.
I'd always felt connected to my heritage while growing up in Birmingham because my family was quite big, and so connection to the Jamaican sensibility was always very, very strong in my family.
But the track gave me a sense of pride in the history, um, that lay behind our arrival in Jamaica, and that was something that I think is, is very, very important.
It's unspoken, but it's kind of laced into our stories and our education and our idea of ourselves that there is a certain latent pride in who we are, why we're here, where we're from, and what we can be, and that really matters.
Emancipate yourselves from mental slavery.
None but ourselves can free our mind.
When I hear Redemption Song now, it takes me back to doing the homework in that living room in that council flat in Birmingham.
But also with the hindsight that as I look back, I look back across years of performance and years of singing and years of study and training and all the demands and all of the, um, gains I've made from that.
I look back across all of those years to a kid that had no idea what he was gonna be doing in the future, but just listened to a piece of music that gave him a bit of extra pride in himself.
'Cause all I ever have, redemption songs.
[upbeat music] The piece of music I've inherited is Redemption Song by Bob Marley.
Old pirates, yes, they rob I.
Sold I to the merchant ships.
It's the final song on his album Uprising, and I remember that album having a pride of place in my mom's collection in the house.
And those days, you play the s- the albums through, and I was at home doing my homework, um, music was on in the background, and I hadn't really listened to the lyrics.
And then I got to the last track, and I remember it making me stop and listen.
'Cause all I ever have, redemption songs.
Emancipate yourselves
... at that moment just how useless a lot of the music I was listening to was because it didn't say anything.
And here was this, you know, tracking the, the pride and the, the staying power of an indigenous people being trafficked and so on.
The song really, really struck me and, um, it changed my attitude as I went into school the next day.
Some say it's just a part of it.
We've got to fulfill the book.
I'd always felt connected to my heritage while growing up in Birmingham because my family was quite big, and so connection to the Jamaican sensibility was always very, very strong in my family.
But the track gave me a sense of pride in the history, um, that lay behind our arrival in Jamaica, and that was something that I think is, is very, very important.
It's unspoken, but it's kind of laced into our stories and our education and our idea of ourselves that there is a certain latent pride in who we are, why we're here, where we're from, and what we can be, and that really matters.
Emancipate yourselves from mental slavery.
None but ourselves can free our mind.
When I hear Redemption Song now, it takes me back to doing the homework in that living room in that council flat in Birmingham.
But also with the hindsight that as I look back, I look back across years of performance and years of singing and years of study and training and all the demands and all of the, um, gains I've made from that.
I look back across all of those years to a kid that had no idea what he was gonna be doing in the future, but just listened to a piece of music that gave him a bit of extra pride in himself.
'Cause all I ever have, redemption songs.
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3 of 3
Realizing Music Can Matter
A childhood epiphany sparked by Marley's anthem
Braiding Hair, Building Pride
Remembering father-daughter mornings and cultural songs together
Claiming Heritage Confidence
Reflections on heritage, identity, and belonging today
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