ENTITY · PERSON (ARTIST, SELECTOR, PRODUCER…)

Stranger Cole

Well supported

Wilburn "Stranger" Cole, singer and writer across ska, rocksteady and reggae: a Treasure Isle fixture famed for duets, with Patsy Todd above all, and for "Bangarang" with Lester Sterling (1968), one of early reggae's founding hits. Cole emigrated to Toronto in the early 1970s and became part of the city's first reggae infrastructure, running a record shop in Kensington Market while continuing to record and tour; his Canadian years made him one of the elders both scenes claim.

Stranger Cole & The Steadytones at Chiemsee Reggae Summer, 2013Tobias Klenze · CC BY 3.0 · Source ↗

At a glance

Type: Person (artist, selector, producer…) →
Era: Ska and independence-era culture →
Confidence: Well supported
Sources: discographies; Treasure Isle histories; MIXX 102 "The History of Reggae in Toronto"; Canada Black Music Archives.

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Connections

Media & sources

Recordings

Stranger Cole - If We Should Ever Meet (Official Audio) | Pama Records

YOUTUBE · rights discovery only · performs

Official youtube upload (channel: Pama Records); embedded as a discovery-only reference pending editorial review.

Source link ↗

In the news

Recent coverage referencing this record, linked back to its original source.

LOCAL · Jamaica Observer · 1 Aug 2026Stranger Cole remembered as Jamaican music icon and cultural ambassadorRead at Jamaica Observer ↗

In stories

Story · ProbableA French reggae life, in his own words

From a Marley 7-inch on a reggae-starved island in 1977 to four decades inside France's sound systems and music press -- one correspondent's account, written directly to the Atlas, of a scene this archive had barely reached.