ENTITY · PERSON (ARTIST, SELECTOR, PRODUCER…)
Puppa Leslie
Well supported
Cameroonian-born French reggae and ragga deejay, born Jean Claude Bitye Mvondo in Ebolowa on 20 January 1966, and one of the figures who brought sound-system practice to France in the early 1980s. He is credited with adapting anglophone deejaying into French, and was a presence in the country's alternative and underground scene through Radio Nova alongside MC Solaar, Daddy Yod and Dee Nasty.
He recorded the albums Dub Action (1988) and Belle Époque (1990), and worked with Gom Jabbar, the punk group Ausweis, the sound system Ghetto Activité and, latterly, O'Killed dub band. Scene veterans remember a distinctive digital-era sound, "reality" lyrics that dealt directly with French society and the reggae scene itself, and an intense live performer.
He died on 8 May 1999 in the 13th arrondissement of Paris, aged 33, after a fall from his apartment that has never been explained.
At a glance
- Confidence
- Well supported
- Sources
- French Wikipedia "Puppa Leslie" (drawing on the French reggae press) for the biographical detail and the circumstances of his death; personal correspondence with a French JA-music journalist, Aug 2026, for the assessment of his music and stage presence.
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