Duke Vin (1928–2012)

Duke Vin in the DJ booth playing a 45 while holding an empty record sleeve. He wears a dark shirt and high-crown hat with narrow brim.
© Claudia Elliot

In memory

After more than half a century of DJing, legendary Jamaican selector and sound system pioneer Duke Vin passed away on 3rd of November, 2012.

Early career

It was in the early 1950s that Vincent George Forbes, or Duke Vin as he became known professionally, began his music career. He started out working for Tom The Great Sebastian – one of the first major sound systems in Jamaica.

Later that decade, he moved to London, introducing England to Jamaican rhythm & blues through his own sound system, which was the first in the UK.

During the 1960s, Duke Vin helped popularise ska, which he spun at some of London’s top West End clubs: the original Marquee club on Oxford Street, its new premises on Wardour Street, and The Flamingo, also on Wardour Street.

In the following decades, the Duke continued to DJ all over London and beyond. He was still playing at the Notting Hill Carnival, albeit on Gaz Mayall’s Rockin’ Blues sound system, well into the 2000s.

Vintage advert for a Saturday night Blues Dance at The Marquee, 90 Wardour Street, London W1, featuring "The Tickler" Duke Vin and his sounds.

The Tickler

As a DJ, Duke Vin favoured r&b, ska, and reggae from the 50s, 60s and 70s. He was said to have one of the best collections of Jamaican music in the world and was famous for having the sole original copy of “The Tickler” – a reggae tune produced by Derrick Harriott that was not released publicly until the 1990s.

Duke Vin atRight On

Dr Séculaire was honoured to host Duke Vin at theRight On all-nighter on 13th September, 2003 at the Thirteen club in Gerrard Street, Chinatown. At the time, this was a rare chance to hear the Duke play in a West End club on a Saturday night – just a stone’s throw from the location of The Flamingo where he performed in the 60s.

With The Matador providing MC duties on the mic, the planned two-hour set turned into three as the capacity crowd just couldn’t get enough of Duke Vin and his sounds.