John Forbes

John Forbes (born c. 1964) is a composer and music producer specializing in pop and urban music as well as contemporary orchestral film score. Currently living in the Atlanta, Georgia area, John Forbes is the owner of ForJam Media and Studio ForJam.

Forbes was born on March 9, 1964, in Mobile, Alabama, and grew up in Pensacola, Florida. He was raised in a musical family; his father is a music store owner and pipe organ designer.

Forbes studied music with Harrison Newkirk at the Newkirk School of Music, in Pensacola, Florida, for 14 years before going on to summer workshops at Berklee College of Music in Boston in the early 1980s.

After playing in a regional reggae band in Boston for a few years, John moved to Austin, Texas, where he played with "The Killer Bees," a reggae band nominated for the Reggae Grammy in 1989. After the stint with The Killer Bees, he moved to California and began playing with Bobby Brown (of "Every Little Step" fame.) After working with Brown for six years, in 1994, Forbes worked with Reality Entertainment CEO, Warren Croyle, producing a rock band from Miami by the name of "Farrcry."

In early 1994, Forbes lost his home in the Northridge, California, earthquake, following which he moved to the south to Orange county to write and play in a reggae band called "The Gnarley Braus." The band was a quartet featuring guitarist Phil Gough (later with "Bow Wow Wow", "English Beat", and "Common Sense"). The Gnarley Braus was later renamed "Cross Culture" and signed to G Recordings Warner Bros. (G Recordings was founded by director and record producer Mc G Nichols, of Charley's Angels and The O.C. fame).

1997 saw the release of Rick James from jail, and Forbes got the chance of working with him, arranging and performing keyboards on his Urban Rhapsody album as well as performing with James on the support tour. Shortly after, Forbes was introduced to Tyler Perry, with whom he worked as a keyboardist and orchestrator on and off-Broadway on six of Tyler's plays. Forbes also co-scored Tyler's debut movie Diary of a Mad Black Woman for Lion's Gate Films.

Over the years, Forbes has also been a musical director for several acclaimed musicians including Coco Lee, Jessica Simpson, Marc Anthony, Ne-Yo, Shawn Rivera, and Leona Lewis.

After the birth of his first child in 2011, Forbes began producing and programming the "It's Not Over " tour for Christian recording artist Ricardo Sanchez as well as Chris Moore and "We Light the Night" For Waymaker/Integrity records.

• Composed Score the Freeman White-Nina Foxx film "Closer to Crazy"
• Composed Soundtrack to the Nina Foxx Stage Play "Baby Mama Drama"
• Composed and Produced featured theme music for New England Sports Network
• Composed and Co-Produced 6 songs for Leona Lewis-J Record
• Composed and Produced 12 Song Reggaeton Album for 615 Music
• Composed and Produced Hip Hop-Reggaeton Anthology for Firstcom-BMG
• Composed and produced soundtrack to Nina Foxx stageplay “Marrying Up”
• Produced Remix of Egypt Central’s “The Way” for the Underworld 2 soundtrack
• Co-Composed Score to “Diary of a Mad Black Woman” for Lion’s Gate Films
• Composed and produced “Never Lose Yourself” for Asahi Beer, Suntori
• Remixed Rosco Gordon’s “Naked” for DualTone Records
• Produced Remix of “I Like Your Smile” for Nissan, Japan
• Composed and Produced “Soulmate” for UPN television series “Girlfriends”
• Composed and Produced music for Tyra Banks’ “America’s Next Top Model” first Season
• Composed and Produced “My Money” NBA Sports for Fox
• Composed and Produced “Me” for Nickelodean Takes Over the Super Bowl
• Composed and Produced Music on America’s Most Wanted
• Composed and Produced Music for MTV “Video Clash”
• Composed and Produced “Let Me Cry’ and “Love Scene” for Aki Asahina, Avex Records, Japan
• Composed “Many Times” for Maria, King Records, Japan
• Composed and Produced Free’s International Volume One, for Acappella LTD, Japan
• Produced “You Always Cared” for Ann Nesby, Innerscope Records
• Ce Ce Winans’ “First Christmas”, performed symphonic orchestra arrangement by Ronn Huff EMI-CMG
• Arranged and Performed Keyboards on Rick James’ “Urban Rhapsody” Raging Bull Records
• Produced and Engineered English Voiceovers for Japanese film “Kenji”, Mixx Entertainment
• Composed and Produced four songs for Broadway musical ‘Night Dreams”
• Produced Voyager album “Black Sheep Squadron” for Pyramid Records
• Produced “Farrcry” album “Can’t Bargain With God” for Neon-Atlantic
• Arranged and Programmed keyboards for Charlie Wilson album “You Turned My Life Around”
• Arranged and Programmed keyboards on “For The Love of Money” New Jack City Soundtrack Album
• Produced “Cross Culture” Album for G Recordings-Warner
• Arranged and Performed keyboards on: Sparrow Records “A Gospel Family Christmas”, Monterey Greater Victory COGIC Live Album, and Mom and Pop winan’s Album “For The Rest Of My Life”
• Produced Remix of Gary Brown’s “Your Love” Capitol Records
• Additional Production on Killer Bees “Live In Berlin”Performance Credits

• Nina Foxx's "Marrying UP" Composer-Producer, Musical Director 2008
• Thomas Miles' "Where's Papa Ray's Money" Composer- Producer, Musical Director 2008 
• Tyler Perry’s Media’s Class Reunion Orchestrator-Keyboards 2003
• Tyler Perry’s Media’s Family Reunion Orchestrator-Keyboards 2002
• Tyler Perry’s Diary of a Mad Black Woman Orchestrator-Keyboards 2001 
• Tyler Perry’s "I Can Do Bad" Orchestrator-Keyboards 2000 
• Jessica Simpson for Sony Music, Musical Director 2000 
• Coco Lee for Sony Music Conference Tokyo, Musical Director 2000
• Bosson for Capitol Records, Musical Director 2000
• Coco Lee in Hong Kong, Tokyo, U.S.A. for Sony Music, Musical Director 1999-2000
• Bishop T.D. Jakes’ “Woman Thou Art Loosed” Orchestrator-Keyboards 1999
• Tyler Perry’s “I Know I’ve Been Changed” Orchestrator-Keyboards 1999
• Tevin Campbell 1998 
• Pamela Williams 1998
• Teena Marie 1998 
• Rick James U.S. Tours 1997-1998
• Puff Daddy (Sean Combs) 1997 
• The Platters North American Tour 1996-1997
• Bobby Brown in Brunei 1994
• Bobby Brown Cool Jazz Festival 1993
• Bobby Brown “Bobby” World Tour 1993
• Whitney Houston 1993
• Bobby Brown “Humpin Around” Video 1993
• Bobby Brown American Music Awards Concert Series Japan 1991
• ADOBO and Wish United States Concerts 1990
• Bobby Brown “Dance YA Know It” World Tour 1990
• Bobby Brown “Don’t Be Cruel”l World Tour 1989
• Killer Bees “Live in Berlin Tour” 1987-1989

• Grammy Awards
• American Music Awards
• Soul Train Awards
• MTV Awards
• Billboard Live
• The Tonight Show
• Saturday Night Live
• The David Letterman Show
• Keenan Ivory Wayans Show
• Rosie O'Donnell Show
• U.S. Open 2000
• CBS Morning Show
• CBS Christmas Special 2000