Watch a trailer for a documentary entitled ‘Duke Vin, Count Suckle & the Birth of Ska in Britain’ here:

The Marquee is usually associated with rock and R’n'B, but in the Sixties, DJ Duke Vin, one of the most important figures in popularising ska music in the UK, had a regular slot on the club’s schedule, at both its original premises in Oxford Street and then in Wardour Street. In the early Fifties, Duke Vin was a ‘selector’ for Tom The Great Sebastian, who made the first major sound system in Jamaica. Legend has it that Vin stowed away on a ship to England in 1954, together with Count Suckle. He is reputed to have built the first sound system in the UK in 1956 and frequently worked in West End venues such as the Marquee, the Flamingo in Wardour Street and the Roaring Twenties in Carnaby Street, the latter being established by Count Suckle in 1962. Now in his seventies, Duke Vin continues to appear as a DJ in clubs and is a regular fixture at the Notting Hill Carnival. He is also said to own one of the best collections of Jamaican music in the world.