Sadeke Brooks, Staff Reporter

With 47 years experience in the music industry Copeland Forbes, a man of many titles, is ready to release his much-anticipated book, Reggae: My Life Is

. With Shocking Vibes Clyde McKenzie as the ghost writer, the book tracks Forbes musical career and growth. It is almost complete, but is being split into two volumes because of the large quantity of information it contains.

“It’s gonna be something very interesting and unusual,” Forbes told The Sunday Gleaner.

He said he felt compelled to write the book based on his years of experience in the industry.

“The experiences spurred me on to write the book, ’cause I have so much experience and things to say,” he said.

“It’s going to be like an encyclopaedia, like a referral so that people in the industry can find out info about artistes and their history, how to negotiate contracts and the types of structure that we need in the industry to be successful. It will also show what can happen if you don’t do it the right way.”

first release

The book’s first release is scheduled for February, in California. In addition, there will be several releases at places Forbes has visited during his life in reggae. So there will also be releases in Japan, Australia, New Zealand, two US states, four European countries, Thailand (along with a Thai version of the book) and then finally the Jamaican splash in December.

Forbes said he plans to take along most of the artistes he has worked with throughout his career to these releases. However, the Jamaican show, he said, will not be simply a stage show. Instead, it will be a scripted event, including performances, dramatisations and presentations.

There is also a possibility that a movie will be done on the book, because he has already received two offers.

Forbes’ journey through the music industry has been long and colourful. At 16 years old, the Jones Town native Forbes joined the music business as part of The Harmonicats. Then in 1967 he formed the Coasters, a vocal and dance group that performed at several places and won the dance competition during festival season. The Coasters toured the United States and Canada.

Later he joined another band, ‘Mighty Mistic’, for which he was the lead singer. He toured with the group for years. However, his biggest break came when he started to enter the amateur competitions at the Apollo Theatre in New York. It was then that Copeland Forbes met Johnny Nash, the famous American singer who recorded I Can See Clearly Now. Nash asked Forbes to be a dancer on the popular Soul Train, which he did for a few years.

performing put on hold

Forbes’ performing career was put on the back burner when he got his first real managerial opportunity in 1972 as the road manager for The Wailers. In 1975 he managed The Mighty Diamonds. Afterwards, he became personal assistant to Peter Tosh, then became his road manager, tour manager and, eventually, his manager.

Forbes said working with Peter Tosh was “one of the greatest experiences for me. I was meeting and interacting with a lot of people in the industry. That helped me to move to another level.”

artistes he managed

There is an extensive list of people whom he managed afterwards, among them Jimmy Cliff, Black Uhuru, Sly and Robbie, Third World, Dennis Brown, U-Roy, Marcia Griffiths, Frankie Paul, Morgan Heritage, I-Three and Luciano.

Forbes can easily boast that he has worked with at least 90 per cent of the top reggae acts, because he has. He was tour manager for many performers, including some of the ones he was manager for, and others like Sizzla, Ziggy Marley, Andrew Tosh, Freddie McGregor, Beres Hammond, Chaka Demus and Pliers, Junior Reid, Sugar Minott, Mutabaruka, Half Pint and Maxi Priest.

The first major tour he coordinated was the Reggae Super Fest in 1989, and he continues to arrange tours around the world.

Nonetheless, Forbes has worked in many other posts as part of his company, Comar Production. He has done bookings, tour coordinations, music consultancy and productions.

So even before Reggae: My Life Is is ready for its release, Forbes is still working on tours.

This time he is working with the three finalists from this year’s Green Synergy Competition, DJ Jigga, DJ Rohan and DJ Diamond. Each DJ will play in Thailand at the Reggae Pub for four months.

Forbes also wants to set up a month-long tour for Marcia Griffiths and the Live Wyaa Band in Thailand. In addition, he is also in discussion with promoters for outdoor concerts with Sean Paul and Shaggy in Asian countries, including Cambodia and Vietnam.