A travelling musician and teacher turned cultural revolutionary became an icon in his new home of Brixton in England, where his activism combined with his height and powerful build, distinctive clothes and signature conch shell and staff made him a revered figure.

Joe “Conch Shell” Benjamin was hailed as “one of the foremost and most recognisable leaders in the Brixton community” in the Brixton Buzzthis month.

A lifelong performer and composer, he also paved the way for Bermudian artists in London.

Mr Benjamin went by many titles in his adopted home, including “the unofficial mayor of Brixton”.

He won admiration as a community chief whose conch shell was blown to announce births and deaths — and who was unafraid to stand up to authority.

He also drew up educational programmes to celebrate the diverse cultural roots that he championed.

Mr Benjamin had earned a name for himself in Bermuda as a performer while just a child. His powerful voice made him a draw on stage at the island’s hotels and clubs at a time when calypso was the rage, and he was accomplished at instruments including steel pan.

As recounted by the late Ira Philip: “Growing up on the coat-tails of Joe Hayward and the Four Deuces, Joe became a professional headlining the local entertainment circuit with his million-dollar bass baritone voice, which could change with ease from the Paul Robeson-type Go Down Moses renditions to the falsetto variations of Smokey Robinson and the Temptations.

“When the old Forty Thieves Night Club was in its heyday during the Sixties and Seventies, he shared the spotlight with Stevie Wonder, Tom Jones and Cilla Black and other now-famous singers and musicians who cut their first teeth in Bermuda.”

The Front Street venue was also where Mr Benjamin announced his act with the signature conch-shell blast that gave him his stage name.

He left to travel the world in the 1970s and settled in Brixton in South London, at the heart of a district known for West Indian culture that dated back to the 1948 Windrush Generation of emigrants.

Mr Benjamin told BBC Radio 4: “I bought the conch shell when I came from Bermuda. Part of established behaviour in Bermuda is to do this — when fishermen went out to sea and came back, they would blow the conch to let us know they are there.”

He traced its use as announcing messages — telling the broadcaster that Shaka Zulu, the 19th century warrior leader of the Zulu Kingdom in South Africa, had used it as a field telephone to direct his armies.

Mr Benjamin also saw the blasting of the conch as a political statement, part of the storytelling through music among enslaved Africans brought to the New World.

He added: “When I brought it to the mainland and told people why I was doing it, they said to stop it, because it was breaching the peace.”

He recounted how, in 1984, his brother called to say “mother is gone — I went back to Bermuda for the funeral”.

Back in Brixton, during a packed Saturday afternoon market, Mr Benjamin’s public conch-blowing drew the attention of police.

Mr Benjamin told the BBC he said: “My mother has passed, and I want to let the area know this has happened — this would happen in my community where I come from.”

The officers “didn’t like it”, he said, but “if I had backed off, then I would not have been myself”.

When the constables grabbed Mr Benjamin, “all the brothers and sisters, elderly and not so elderly, they came and dragged this guy off my back and they started to pummel these two police boys”.

Mr Benjamin ended up sentenced to seven days in jail for breaching the peace.

His daughter, Jo Hobbs, said: “He fought and appealed his sentencing, and whilst he was subsequently acquitted by a jury, the judge used his power to have him bound over for three days.

“Dad sought always to challenge the power of the privileged and was undaunted by the possible personal ramifications that may have resulted to him.”

Dr Hobbs added: “Dad’s lifelong passion was music and he was an accomplished musician and composer.

“The 1980s were a particularly fruitful period of dad’s musical journey.

“Dad always enjoyed and took time out to encourage others to develop their interest and skills in music.

“As part of his commitment to this, in the early 1980s he embarked on teaching primary schoolchildren music classes after school.

“This community involvement brought him to the attention of the local council, and in 1982, Dad’s insights into cultural musicology were put to great effect when he was asked to research and produce material which could be used to help children’s development through music.”

The resulting recording, A Musical Journey for Littleys, was a combination of ten traditional island children’s songs, dances and games. Two of the songs originated in Bermuda.

Dr Hobbs added: “Dad’s creative genius is best showcased in First Steps: A Soul Opera, which he conceived, wrote, produced and directed.

“First Steps charts the journey of Africans forced from our homelands into slavery and the subsequent and ongoing battles we fight for our cultural, spiritual and intellectual heritage.”

“Conch Shell” performed the collection, which drew on autobiographical themes, back home in a 1999 visit.

The production also brought Mr Benjamin into the orbit of an array of new artists, and raised his profile among a broader audience.

During the early 2000s, he befriended Felix Buxton of the group Basement Jaxx and featured on several of their albums. In 2016, he released his single Go Be Yourself on their label, Atlantic Jaxx.

A measure of the weight Mr Benjamin carried in his community came when the local newspaper reported that his signature staff had been stolen. The article included a pointed warning from Mr Benjamin that all transgressions would be punished.

It was swiftly returned.

• Joe “Conch Shell” Benjamin, a musician, poet, teacher and community activist, was born on January 17, 1937. He died on January 13, 2026, aged 88