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Billy Forrest: Born on the 6th June 1940 in Kimberley, Northern Cape,

Billy has spent most of his life in Johannseburg. His musical career

started when he was 15, with a small group in a coffee bar. One of the

members of this group was Manny Lubowitz, now better known as

Manfred Mann. Billy made his disc debut with "The Giants" in 1959 and

has since recorded 5 long players and 18 singles, the most successful

single being "Hello Operator" for which he received a gold disc with

sales in the region of 50,000.He was presented with the SARI for top

Country & Western vocalist 1965.Billy has toured Zambia, Rhodesia and

all major centres of South Africa, including Namibia, and while in Zambia,

appeared in his own TV show three nights a week. His biggest break was

in 1964 when he appeared at the Luxurama Theatre in Cape Town with

American pop star Johnny Restiva. Today Billy is still as popular as ever and highly in demand at festivals and functions all over the country . As part of the Country Legends he gets booked well in advance and prospective customers have to book early to avoid dissapointment.

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Tenacity, determination, perseverance, an uncompromising stickler on quality, sheer guts and, not least of all, loads of talent have made Billy Forrest a living legend in the South African music industry. An unparalleled 17 chart entries on Springbok Radio’s Top 20 … compares favourably to a select few of the world’s top recording artists. His versatility as a hit-making producer of some of our country’s biggest successes, too, is legendary. One cannot but respect the man. Sustained success over a period of 50 years is seldom achieved by any artist – local or international!”Billy, Adrian Strydom, Bobby Angel and John Linderman are currently (2011) working on a CD project involving an overseas artist, but let’s go back to 1961 when Billy started his recording career.

Sound hire, Live artists, events, functions Artists, functions, events, sound

His latest cd "Go With Me" was released in 2012 and we are eagerly waiting for his new cd that he is currently working on. He also broadcasts on Bakgat Radio on Monday nights from 19h00 to 21h00 and the program is called "On the road Again" together with Bobby Angel. We sincerely hope this overview of Billy’s career as a singer and a producer will convince SAMA officials that a special award for this Legend’s contribution to SA music is long overdue. What do you say??

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