Born in Kingston, Jamaica, Forbes was raised on Wildman Street and attended the Calabar All-Age School.
[1][5] After travelling to England in 1954 as a stowaway on a boat from Kingston, he found work as an engine cleaner for British Rail, becoming an electrician two years later.
[1][4][6] He built his first sound system in 1955 using a second-hand turntable bought from a shop in Edgware Road, a speaker bought for £15 and an amplifier built for £4, soon establishing "Duke Vin the Tickler's", in Ladbroke Grove, London, the first Jamaican-style sound system in the UK.
[4] On his release, he built a larger sound system and bought a house off Harrow Road.
[2] He was the subject of the 2009 documentary film Duke Vin and the Birth of Ska, directed by Gus Berger.