Val Irvine McCalla (3 October 1943 – 22 August 2002) was a Jamaican accountant and media entrepreneur who settled in Britain in 1959.
He joined the RAF, but a perforated eardrum put paid to his dreams of becoming a pilot and instead he honed his skills as a bookkeeper,[4] leaving in the mid-1960s.
[5] He then found employment in various accounts and book-keeping positions, before working part-time on a community newspaper, East End News, based near his flat in Bethnal Green.
[6] He started The Voice newspaper in 1982, Britain's first Black-owned paper, with a team that included broadcaster Alex Pascall,[7][8] launching it at the Notting Hill carnival that August,[9] and bringing in Viv Broughton as marketing manager.
[4][12][13] In June 2021, on Windrush Day, Val McCalla was honoured as the founder of The Voice with the installation of a plaque by the Nubian Jak Community Trust outside the newspaper's Brixton offices, Blue Star House.