A published author, Red Forrest shares a high school Alma Mater with Seth Myers. Sarah Silverman’s freshman year was also at the same high school, before she transferred to another. When six years old, Forrest’s family relocated to Fullerton, California.
Adjacent to Anaheim and Buena Park (and their respective amusement parks Disneyland and Knott’s Berry Farm), family outings furthered Red’s belief that all persons, places, and things were “magical and mystical”. Visits to the beach – which included winter swims in the ocean – were almost too much for the young Forrest to accept as real. Far too soon for his liking, the family reversed their cross-country trip and landed back in Central New England.
While in the seventh grade, Forrest and classmates took reading-apprehension tests comprised of a brief narration (about the top two-thirds of each page), regarding a few interacting characters. For the rest of each page, there were questions specifically related to what had just transpired. Red’s responses excelled to the extent that he was asked to wait until all other students had left after the first exam. Upon informing him of how well he’d scored, his teacher loaned him her ‘complete works’ of William Shakespeare. While some action and dialogue was unclear to him, he understood the gist of each play he read.
Later that year, Forrest had a brainstorm while playing with classmates on the driveway of his family’s home. He blurted out something like, “Let’s put on a show!” Soon enough – just an hour or so before their scheduled Saturday morning performance – the newly-formed cast verbally created (and rehearsed) their original play. Not fully original in concept, it was still warmly received by all who attended. While no stars were born, it was a new experience for both performers and audience.
Red eventually enrolled as an English Lit major at the University of New Hampshire. Having finished all his core-courses, Forrest left to play music professionally until studying at – and earning a B.A. from – Boston’s Berklee College of Music. Fourteen original songs have been written/co-written by him, and he’s played live in East and West Coasts performance venues and recording studios.
He’s also been an entertainment-entrepreneur, first as the Owner/Agent of The Forrest Agency for five years. Primarily a music agency, clients included – among others: John Hall, founding member of Orleans who co-wrote DANCE WITH ME and STILL THE ONE; Dick Halligan, Grammy-wining founding member of Blood Sweat and Tears; Freebo, who was Bonnie Raitt’s bassist for many years and now produces/performs his own music; Jonell Mosser, who has sung with BB King, Waylon Jennings, Trisha Yearwood, and the New Maroons (featuring Ringo Starr on drums, Don Was on bass, Tom Petty keyboardist Benmont Tench, and Jackson Browne guitarist Mark Goldenberg).
More recently, Red was a founding partner of Forrest StenoVisions, which provided transcription services to clients such as Axelson-Weintraub Productions, Carlson Films, FilmRoos, Jagoria Film Company, Maxim Media International, and the Rainbow Film Company.
Forrest has held memberships in the American Film Institute (AFI), American Federation of Musicians (AFM), American Society of Music Arrangers and Composers (ASMAC), Audio Engineering Society (AES), Association of Independent Music Publishers (AIMP), California Copyright Conference (CCC), National Academy of Recording Arts and Sciences (NARAS), National Music Publishers’ Association (NMPA), Society of Composers and Lyricists (SCL), and the Theater Musicians Association (TMA).
Written By: Ali Maher