Duke Vin

Duke Vin was born Vincent Forbes in Jamaica in 1928 and arrived in London in 1954 as part of the Windrush generation, carrying with him a culture that would reshape British nightlife.

He built one of Britain’s first sound systems from second-hand speakers and a custom-made amplifier, and began hosting dances that filled London venues with Jamaican rhythm and blues and records imported from across the Atlantic. Where there had been nothing like it, he made a scene, and that scene grew roots.

His dancehall nights are credited as a foundation for the sound system culture that runs through British music, the lineage that leads on to jungle, drum and bass, and grime. He worked at the controls, selecting and amplifying, turning a hall into a meeting place and a sound into a movement.

He died in 2021, around the age of 92, an originator whose influence still plays.

His name is in the deck.