World of Jamaican Music

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An illustrated map of the creators of Jamaican music and how they are connected.

Remembering Derrick Harriott (1939-2026), rocksteady singer and producer. Read his story →

Stranger Cole

Artist. Ska, rocksteady

Active
1962-2026
Sunrise
June 26, 1940 or 1942, Kingston, Jamaica
Sunset
June 11, 2026, Kingston, Jamaica
Also recorded as
Stranger & Gladdy

Wilburn Theodore Cole, known as Stranger Cole, was a singer and songwriter whose recording career ran from 1962 until the year he departed. His family gave him the nickname because they thought he looked like nobody else in it.

He was raised in Trench Town and made his name first as a writer, with "In and Out the Window," a hit for Eric "Monty" Morris. That brought him his own debut in 1962 for Duke Reid and an immediate hit, "Rough and Tough." By late 1963 he had another in "When You Call My Name," a duet with Patsy Todd, with whom he went on recording as Stranger and Patsy. He said the duets were a matter of shyness about singing alone, and also that "I love the harmony of multiple voices and I love to sing with people." There were others with Ken Boothe ("World's Fair," for Coxsone Dodd), Gladstone Anderson ("Just Like a River") and Hortense Ellis, and he also recorded for Prince Buster.

"Bangarang," cut in 1968 with Lester Sterling on saxophone and Glen Adams on organ, was Bunny Lee's breakthrough as a producer and is one of the records put forward as the first reggae. Cole defended that claim for the rest of his life. In the same years he recorded for Lee Perry and for Sonia Pottinger, whose sides with him and Todd were later collected under her name. He wrote and produced the Mighty Diamonds' first record, "Oh My Baby."

He left for England in 1971 and moved to Toronto in 1973, where he became a fixture of the city's reggae community, opening Roots Records in Kensington Market in 1978 and producing local artists. He kept touring into his eighties, playing six shows in Australia in December 2025.

Cole departed at the University Hospital of the West Indies after a fortnight in hospital. A thanksgiving service was held at the Ranny Williams Entertainment Centre on July 29, 2026, and the government announced a posthumous Order of Distinction in the rank of Officer the following month. His son Wilburn "Squiddly" Cole is a drummer.

Last updated November 5, 2026

Connections

Notes

  1. Wikipedia, citing Dave Thompson's Reggae & Caribbean Music. "Stranger Cole," Wikipedia, accessed October 5, 2026, https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Stranger_Cole.
  2. DancehallMag says the song "became an immediate hit." "Ska Pioneer Stranger Cole Awarded Posthumous Order of Distinction," DancehallMag, August 11, 2026, https://www.dancehallmag.com/2026/08/11/news/ska-pioneer-stranger-cole-awarded-posthumous-order-of-distinction.html.
  3. The Rough Guide says Reid returned to recording when "he released Stranger Cole's 'Rough & Tough' at the beginning of 1962," and calls Cole "the biggest hitmaker to emerge from under Duke Reid's wing in the early days of ska." Steve Barrow and Peter Dalton, The Rough Guide to Reggae, 3rd ed. (London: Rough Guides, 2004), 30, 39-40. Bradley calls the song "a barbed comment on street violence." Lloyd Bradley, This Is Reggae Music: The Story of Jamaica's Music (New York: Grove Press, 2001), 95. Katz, Lee Perry's biographer, writes that the lyrics were Perry's, passed by Reid to Cole. David Katz, "Lee 'Scratch' Perry: xamã musical da Jamaica, o homem-espírito da Black Ark," Revista Brasileira do Caribe 11, no. 22 (January-June 2011): 140-41, https://www.periodicoseletronicos.ufma.br/index.php/rbrascaribe/article/download/662/419/2232. A 1964 Star profile says "Ruff and Tuff" and "When I Call Your Name" had each sold over 10,000 copies, and dates his debut to three years earlier. Heather Augustyn, "'Be Original' is Stranger Cole's Advice," SkaBook (blog), July 12, 2015, https://skabook.com/2015/07/12/stranger-cole/.
  4. The Rough Guide says that when Derrick Morgan "returned from the UK in the autumn of 1963, he found that Patsy had begun recording with Stranger Cole, a duo that enjoyed a big hit with 'When You Call My Name' (Dutchess)," and that the partnership lasted "until 1966." Barrow and Dalton, Rough Guide to Reggae, 35, 40. The record appeared in Britain on Blue Beat in 1963. "Stranger & Patsy - When I Call Your Name / Take My Heart," Discogs, accessed October 5, 2026, https://www.discogs.com/release/1518405. Wikipedia and Campbell present it, with "Rough and Tough," as one of his first hits. "Stranger Cole"; Howard Campbell, "Stranger Cole, ska and rocksteady pioneer, has died," Jamaica Observer, June 11, 2026, https://www.jamaicaobserver.com/2026/06/11/stranger-cole-ska-rocksteady-pioneer-died/.
  5. "Stranger Cole."
  6. "Stranger Cole: I Love the Harmony of Multiple Voices," Reggae.be, July 4, 2025, https://www.reggae.be/en/magazine/2025-07-04-stranger-cole-i-love-the-harmony-of-multiple-voice/.
  7. The Rough Guide says that when Coxsone Dodd recorded "Stranger & Ken" in late 1963, the duo had already recorded for Treasure Isle and Sir Mike the Dragon. Barrow and Dalton, Rough Guide to Reggae, 37. Campbell names "Just Like A River (with keyboardist Gladstone Anderson)." Campbell, "Stranger Cole . . . has died." The duets with Ken Boothe ("Worlds Fair") and Hortense Ellis and the work for Prince Buster are from Wikipedia. "Stranger Cole."
  8. The Rough Guide calls "Bangarang" Lee's "first big reggae hit," an adaptation of "Bongo Chant" by Kenny Graham's Afro-Cubists. Barrow and Dalton, Rough Guide to Reggae, 80, 103. Katz names Glen Adams on organ, with Aston and Carlton Barrett, and says Lee "insists" it was the first reggae record. David Katz, "Glen Adams Obituary," Guardian, January 6, 2011, https://www.theguardian.com/music/2011/jan/06/glen-adams-obituary. Wikipedia names Lloyd Charmers on keyboards. "Stranger Cole."
  9. In 2023 Cole told an interviewer, "I sing on the first reggae music," arguing that "it's about the first reggae riddim." Claudia Gardner, "Stranger Cole Insists 'Bangarang' Was First Reggae Song Ever Recorded," DancehallMag, August 17, 2023, https://www.dancehallmag.com/2023/08/16/news/stranger-cole-insists-bangarang-was-first-reggae-song-ever-recorded.html. Bradley instead frames the debate as one between Larry Marshall's "Nanny Goat" and the Beltones' "No More Heartaches." Bradley, This Is Reggae Music, 200.
  10. The Rough Guide says that by 1966 Stranger and Patsy were recording for Pottinger, and Bradley lists Cole's "Tell It to Me" among her Gayfeet successes. Barrow and Dalton, Rough Guide to Reggae, 40; Bradley, This Is Reggae Music, 171. Wikipedia lists the 2008 compilation Fabulous Songs of Miss Sonia Pottinger Vol. 1 and the work for Lee Perry. "Stranger Cole."
  11. Campbell, "Stranger Cole . . . has died."
  12. Wikipedia dates the move to England to 1971 and to Toronto to 1973. "Stranger Cole." The filmmaker Chris Flanagan told Campbell that Cole "ran one of the first Caribbean businesses in Toronto's vibrant Kensington Market neighbourhood." Campbell, "Stranger Cole . . . has died." Nicholas Jennings, "Stranger Cole, Jamaican-Born Singer, Helped to Make Toronto a Reggae Hot Spot," Globe and Mail, June 15, 2026, reposted at https://www.nicholasjennings.com/stranger-cole-jamaican-born-singer-helped-to-make-toronto-a-reggae-hot-spot.
  13. The Gleaner announced the tour in September 2025 as "a series of six concerts" from December 5 in Margaret River, Perth, Brisbane, Melbourne, Adelaide and Sydney. Yasmine Peru, "'More Ska' as Stranger Cole heads to Australia on tour," Jamaica Gleaner, September 2, 2025, http://past.jamaica-gleaner.com/article/entertainment/20250902/more-ska-stranger-cole-heads-australia-tour. No report confirming that all six took place has been read.
  14. Campbell gives the place and his age as 83, and says his son reported that he had been "admitted to hospital two weeks ago." Campbell, "Stranger Cole . . . has died." DancehallMag gives his age at death as 85. "Stranger Cole Awarded Posthumous Order of Distinction." The Observer gave his age as 83 and Toronto City Council his birth year as 1942; the Gleaner gives June 26, 1940, and an age of 85. "'More Life!' at Stranger Cole's Thanksgiving Service," Jamaica Gleaner, July 31, 2026, https://jamaica-gleaner.com/article/entertainment/20260731/more-life-stranger-coles-thanksgiving-service.
  15. Yasmine Peru, "'More life!' at Stranger Cole's thanksgiving service," Jamaica Gleaner, July 31, 2026, https://jamaica-gleaner.com/article/entertainment/20260731/more-life-stranger-coles-thanksgiving-service. DancehallMag says Minister Olivia Grange told the service that the government would recognize him "in a major way," with the Order of Distinction in the rank of Officer announced later. "Stranger Cole Awarded Posthumous Order of Distinction."
  16. Campbell names him as "drummer Wilburn 'Squiddly' Cole." Campbell, "Stranger Cole . . . has died." DancehallMag calls him "Theodore 'Squidly' Cole." "Stranger Cole Awarded Posthumous Order of Distinction." Wikipedia says he has drummed for Ziggy Marley and Mutabaruka. "Stranger Cole."

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