Roy Charles Forbes (born February 13, 1953) is a Canadian

folk music Folk music is a music genre that includes traditional folk music and the contemporary genre that evolved from the former during the 20th-century folk revival. Some types of folk music may be called world music. Traditional folk music has ...

singer-songwriter, whose music bears heavy influences from classic American genres of

acoustic blues Country blues (also folk blues, rural blues, backwoods blues, or downhome blues) is one of the earliest forms of blues music. The mainly solo vocal with acoustic fingerstyle guitar accompaniment developed in the rural Southern United States in t ...

and traditional

country A country is a distinct part of the world, such as a state, nation, or other political entity. It may be a sovereign state or make up one part of a larger state. For example, the country of Japan is an independent, sovereign state, whil ...

. Forbes is known for his high soulful voice and percussive guitar playing.

Early life and education

Forbes was born and grew up in Dawson Creek, British Columbia. He learned to play guitar at age 14,"Roy Forbes"
''The Canadian Encyclopedia'', Durrell Bowman, April 9, 2013 and had the childhood nickname, "Bim".

Career

Forbes, calling himself "Bim," began his musical career in

Vancouver Vancouver ( ) is a major city in western Canada, located in the Lower Mainland region of British Columbia. As the most populous city in the province, the 2021 Canadian census recorded 662,248 people in the city, up from 631,486 in 2016. Th ...

in 1971 after winning a "Battle of the Bands" competition in Dawson Creek. Initially, he appeared as the opening act for such groups as

Supertramp Supertramp were an English rock band that formed in London in 1969. Marked by the individual songwriting of founders Roger Hodgson (vocals, keyboards, and guitars) and Rick Davies (vocals and keyboards), they are distinguished for blending ...

and Santana, but soon came to headline and sell out his own shows. His song "Can't Catch Me", from his first LP ''Kid Full of Dreams'', was released as a single and hit the Top 10 in several major Canadian markets. His third LP "Thistles" was produced by Emitt Rhodes and featured Mac Cridlin,

David Foster David Walter Foster (born November 1, 1949) is a Canadian musician, composer, arranger, record producer and music executive who chaired Verve Records from 2012 to 2016. He has won 16 Grammy Awards from 47 nominations. His music career spans mor ...

Bob Glaub Bob Glaub (born May 10, 1952)Hageman, William (April 29, 2005)."The aces of bass: Five giants of an overshadowed instrument", Knight Ridder Tribune News Service. is an American bass player and session musician. He has played with such artists an ...

, Penny Nichols,

Jeff Porcaro Jeffrey Thomas Porcaro (; April 1, 1954 – August 5, 1992) was an American drummer, songwriter, and record producer. He is best known for his work with the rock band Toto but is one of the most recorded session musicians in history, working on ...

, Ron Tutt, Blue Williams and Jai Winding. Forbes has appeared as a headliner in most of Canada's major folk music festivals. In 1984, he toured in the US with fellow Canadian

Ferron Ferron (born Deborah Foisy on 1 June 1952) is a Canadian-born singer-songwriter and poet. In addition to gaining fame as one of Canada's most respected songwriters, Ferron, who is openly lesbian, became one of the earliest and most influential ...

, with whom he performed a duet on the song "Proud Crowd/Pride Cried" for her album, ''Shadows on a Dime.'' In 1987, he began performing and recording as Roy Forbes. He is also a member of the supergroup

UHF Ultra high frequency (UHF) is the ITU designation for radio frequencies in the range between 300 megahertz (MHz) and 3 gigahertz (GHz), also known as the decimetre band as the wavelengths range from one meter to one tenth of a meter (on ...

, together with Shari Ulrich and Bill Henderson. Songs written by Forbes have been recorded by

Sylvia Tyson Sylvia may refer to: People *Sylvia (given name) * Sylvia (singer), American country music and country pop singer and songwriter * Sylvia Robinson, American singer, record producer, and record label executive *Sylvia Vrethammar, Swedish singer cre ...

, Garnet Rogers, Valdy, and Susan Jacks. Since 2006, Forbes has hosted a weekly radio program called "Roy's Record Room" on the CKUA Radio Network in Alberta. He previously hosted a program known as "Snap Crackle Pop" on

CBC Radio CBC Radio is the English-language radio operations of the Canadian Broadcasting Corporation. The CBC operates a number of radio networks serving different audiences and programming niches, all of which (regardless of language) are outlined below ...

across Canada from 1996 to 2009. Both programs feature songs taken from his extensive collection of vintage records.

Discography

as Bim

* ''Kid Full of Dreams'' (1975) (#72 Canada) * ''Raincheck on Misery'' (1976) (#59 Canada) * ''Thistles'' (1978) * ''Anything You Want'' (1982) * ''New Songs for an Old Celebration'' with Connie Kaldor (1985)

as Roy Forbes

* ''Love Turns to Ice'' (1987) * ''The Human Kind'' (1992) * ''Almost Overnight'' (1995) * ''Crazy Old Moon'' (1998) * ''Some Tunes For That Mother Of Mine'' (2006) * ''Strikin' Matches – LIVE!'' (2014) * ''Edge of Blue'' (2020)

with UHF

* ''UHF'' (1990)"Artist: Forbes, Roy (aka Bim)"
''The Canadian Pop Encyclopedia''. * ''UHF II'' (1994)

References

External links

Roy Forbes
* * * {{DEFAULTSORT:Forbes, Roy 1953 births Canadian folk singer-songwriters Canadian male singer-songwriters Musicians from British Columbia Living people People from Dawson Creek 20th-century Canadian male singers 21st-century Canadian male singers