John Forster (musician)

Last updated

John Marshall Forster (born April 1, 1948) [1] is an American cabaret musician, satirist, songwriter, composer, lyricist, and record producer. He has released several solo and collaborative albums, and has also worked on several revues and musicals.

Contents

Career

Musicals and revues

Forster wrote the music and lyrics for the musical comedy special How to Eat Like a Child , based on the book of the same name by Delia Ephron, [2] as well as those for the satirical revue A Good Swift Kick . [3] He also founded the satirical revue "The Proposition" while an undergraduate at Harvard University which played in Cambridge, Massachusetts and in New York City. [4] He also wrote the satirical revue "Both Barrels: A Salvo of John Forster Songs", which ran in Los Angeles [2] and later in Chester, Connecticut [5] in the late 1990s. For a musical adaptation of the immensely popular novel Freaky Friday by Mary Rodgers, he wrote the music and lyrics, with Mary Rodgers writing the book. [2]

Solo career

In 1993, Forster released his debut album, Entering Marion, on Philo Records. People reviewed the album and described Forster as "a musical satirist who mixes social critique with a shot of wry." [6] After hearing the album, Tom Lehrer, to whom Forster has often been compared, [4] [7] wrote that "You don't need me anymore, now you have John Forster to kick around." [8] The album received an Indie Award honorable mention for best comedy album. [9] In 1997, Forster released the album Helium, followed by The Official Bootleg Album in 1998. [4]

Collaboration with Tom Chapin

Forster was nominated four times for Grammy Awards: the first for his work producing Tom Chapin's 1998 album In My Hometown as well as being nominated for three other Forster-Chapin albums. Together, Forster and Chapin co-wrote twelve albums for children and families. [4] Family Tree also received recognition and awards from parent's magazines. Beginning in 1999, Forster began working on a collaborative album with Chapin. This album, entitled Broadsides: A Miscellany of Musical Opinion, was released in 2010. [10]

Discography

SOLO - writer / producer

COLLABORATIONS - co-writer/co-producer

Related Research Articles

<i>Follies</i> 1971 musical by Stephen Sondheim

Follies is a musical with music and lyrics by Stephen Sondheim and a book by James Goldman.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Tom Lehrer</span> American musician and mathematician (born 1928)

Thomas Andrew Lehrer is an American musician, singer-songwriter, satirist, and mathematician, who later taught mathematics and musical theater. He recorded pithy and humorous songs that became popular in the 1950s and 1960s. His songs often parodied popular musical forms, though they usually had original melodies. An exception is "The Elements", in which he set the names of the chemical elements to the tune of the "Major-General's Song" from Gilbert and Sullivan's Pirates of Penzance.

Mary Rodgers was an American composer, screenwriter, and author. She wrote the novel Freaky Friday, which served as the basis of a 1976 film starring Jodie Foster, for which she wrote the screenplay, as well as three other versions. Her best-known musicals were Once Upon a Mattress and The Mad Show, and she contributed songs to Marlo Thomas' successful children's album Free to Be... You and Me.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Paul Rodgers</span> English-Canadian musician (born 1949)

Paul Bernard Rodgers is an English-Canadian singer, songwriter and musician. He was the lead vocalist of numerous successful rock bands, including Free, Bad Company, the Firm and the Law. He has also performed as a solo artist and collaborated with the remaining active members of Queen under the moniker Queen + Paul Rodgers, from 2004 until both parties parted ways in 2009. A poll in Rolling Stone magazine ranked him number 55 on its list of the "100 Greatest Singers of All Time". In 2011 Rodgers received the British Academy's Ivor Novello Award for Outstanding Contribution to British Music.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">John Wells (satirist)</span> British actor and satirist (1936–1998)

John Campbell Wells was an English actor, writer and satirist.

<i>Cinderella</i> (Rodgers and Hammerstein musical) Musical by Rodgers and Hammerstein

Rodgers and Hammerstein's Cinderella is a musical written for television, but later played on stage, with music by Richard Rodgers and a book and lyrics by Oscar Hammerstein II. It is based upon the fairy tale Cinderella, particularly the French version Cendrillon, ou la petite pantoufle de verre, by Charles Perrault. The story concerns a young woman forced into a life of servitude by her cruel stepmother and self-centered stepsisters, who dreams of a better life. With the help of her fairy godmother, Cinderella is transformed into a princess and finds her prince.

Martin Charnin was an American lyricist, writer, and theatre director. Charnin's best-known work is as conceiver, director, and lyricist of the musical Annie.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Tom Chapin</span> Musical artist

Tom Chapin is an American musician, entertainer, singer-songwriter, and storyteller.

<i>Oh, Kay!</i> Musical

Oh, Kay! is a musical with music by George Gershwin, lyrics by Ira Gershwin, and a book by Guy Bolton and P. G. Wodehouse. It is based on the play La Présidente by Maurice Hennequin and Pierre Veber. The plot revolves around the adventures of the Duke of Durham and his sister, Lady Kay, English bootleggers in Prohibition Era America. Kay finds herself falling in love with a man who seems unavailable. The show is remembered for its enduring song, "Someone to Watch Over Me".

"Some Enchanted Evening" is a show tune from the 1949 Rodgers and Hammerstein musical South Pacific. It has been described as "the single biggest popular hit to come out of any Rodgers and Hammerstein show." Andrew Lloyd Webber describes it as the "greatest song ever written for a musical".

The Mad Show is an Off-Broadway musical revue based on Mad Magazine. The music is by Mary Rodgers and Stephen Sondheim, the book by Larry Siegel and Stan Hart. The show's various lyricists include Siegel, Marshall Barer, Steven Vinaver, and Stephen Sondheim.

Nancy Adele White is a Canadian singer-songwriter, whose humorous and satirical songs on political and social topics were a regular feature on CBC Radio from 1976 to 1994 on the public affairs show Sunday Morning.

"Oh, What a Beautiful Mornin'" is the opening song from the musical Oklahoma!, which premiered on Broadway in 1943. It was written by composer Richard Rodgers and lyricist/librettist Oscar Hammerstein II. The leading male character in Oklahoma!, Curly McLain, sings the song at the beginning of the first scene of the musical. The refrain runs: "Oh, what a beautiful mornin'! / Oh, what a beautiful day! / I've got a beautiful feelin' / Ev'rythin's goin' my way." Curly's "brimming optimism is perfectly captured by Rodgers' ebullient music and Hammerstein's buoyant pastoral lyrics."

"Masters of War" is a song by Bob Dylan, written over the winter of 1962–63 and released on the album The Freewheelin' Bob Dylan in the spring of 1963. The song's melody was adapted from the traditional "Nottamun Town." Dylan's lyrics are a protest against the Cold War nuclear arms build-up of the early 1960s.

Billy Barnes was a composer, lyricist and actor from Los Angeles, California. Barnes may be best known for his theatrical revues and his recurring role as Mr. Edlin on the television series Mad About You.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Ethan Iverson</span> American pianist, composer, and critic

Ethan Iverson is a pianist, composer, and critic best known for his work in the avant-garde jazz trio The Bad Plus with bassist Reid Anderson and drummer Dave King.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Happy Traum</span> American folk musician (1938–2024)

Harry Peter "Happy" Traum was an American folk musician who started playing around Washington Square in the late 1950s. He became a stalwart of the Greenwich Village music scene of the 1960s and the Woodstock music community of the 1970s and 1980s.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Howard Wyeth</span> American drummer and pianist

Howard Pyle Wyeth, also known as Howie Wyeth, was an American drummer and pianist. Wyeth is remembered for work with the saxophonist James Moody, the rockabilly singer Robert Gordon, the electric guitarist Link Wray, the rhythm and blues singer Don Covay, and the folk singer Christine Lavin. Best known as a drummer for Bob Dylan, he was a member of the Wyeth family of American artists.

<i>Nice Work If You Can Get It</i> (musical) Broadway musical by the Gershwins

Nice Work If You Can Get It is a musical featuring songs by George and Ira Gershwin, with a book written by Joe DiPietro, and based on material by Guy Bolton and P. G. Wodehouse. Nice Work premiered on Broadway in April 2012.

Bob Dylan bootleg recordings are unreleased performances by American singer-songwriter Bob Dylan, that have been circulated throughout the public without undergoing an official, sanctioned release. It is commonly misconceived that bootlegs are only restricted to audio, but bootleg video performances, such as Dylan's 1966 film Eat the Document, which remains officially unreleased, are considered to be bootlegs. Dylan is generally considered to be the most bootlegged artist in rock history, rivaled only by the Grateful Dead.

References

  1. ↑ Harris, Craig. "John Forster Biography". AllMusic. Retrieved 12 February 2017.
  2. 1 2 3 "John Forster". Rodgers & Hammerstein. Retrieved 8 January 2015.
  3. ↑ Lyons, Donald (30 July 1999). "Swift Kick Sends You Right Back to the '50s". New York Post. Retrieved 8 January 2015.
  4. 1 2 3 4 Hohenadel, Kristen (21 February 1999). "Songs in the Key of Public Life". Los Angeles Times. Retrieved 8 January 2015.
  5. ↑ Rizzo, Frank (13 May 1999). "Forster Fires A Salvo At Goodspeed In Chester". Hartford Courant. Retrieved 8 January 2015.
  6. ↑ "Picks and Pans Review: Entering Marion". People. 2 May 1994. Retrieved 8 January 2015.
  7. ↑ "Picks and Pans Main: Song". People. 26 January 1998. Retrieved 8 January 2015.
  8. ↑ Foss, Richard. "Entering Marion Review". AllMusic. Retrieved 8 January 2015.
  9. ↑ "John Forster Biography". Johnforster.com. Retrieved 8 January 2015.
  10. ↑ Hodara, Susan (March–April 2011). "Volleys in F# Major". Harvard Magazine . Retrieved 8 January 2015.
This page is based on this Wikipedia article
Text is available under the CC BY-SA 4.0 license; additional terms may apply.
Images, videos and audio are available under their respective licenses.