His love for music runs deep and his love for the Turks and Caicos Islands even deeper.
At 65 years old Lovey Forbes is an accomplished musician whose positive impact on local music and dedication to his homeland has earned him great respect and affection throughout the islands and beyond.
His smooth island style sets listeners into a blissfully carefree mood with lyrics that leave a smile or chuckle, and sometimes even a pleasantly nostalgic feeling.
His rhythms are aurally delightful, and uses a combination of sounds like TCI’s ripsaw with bits of calypso, reggae, jazz, blues, rock ‘n’ roll and other music genres. He even has an officially recognised name for his musical style since 1981 called Combina music.
Lovey said that his style is a result of his love of different types of music. This way, he combines whatever sounds he wants “and just add a Turks and Caicos story to it,” he grinned.
“I love country because when I was a little boy growing up the first radio we got played only a country station.”
“I play reggae because that’s the thing now, calypso I love because I grew up partly in the Bahamas and it does something to my body.”
With six albums recorded and a seventh on the way Lovey is still into his passion now as he always was. “And there’s plenty more that’s not even recorded,” he smiled.
His songs about the islands has led to some of his most recognised musical accomplishments. He even received an award from the Queen of England. Lovey said, “I’ve received a badge of honour in March 2000 from her son Prince Andrew, the Duke of York, for singing about the Turks and Caicos.”
Earlier this year he also received a medal for a Festorama culture award.
Back in the ‘70s he was solicited by the first Chief Minister, JAGS McCartney to travel to Canada and lure vacationers to the islands with his contagious island rhythms and likeable lyrics.
“In those days we were barely known by the British and Americans and no Canadians were here,” he said, but “from then the Canadians started coming.”
His musical career is also one of giving back. Not regretting that he could have been more ‘out there’ he acknowledges that staying here in the TCI and having a direct role in the lives of young musicians is very satisfying.
Music is his first love and can be traced all the way back to Whitby in North Caicos where the sounds of his mother’s singing and the country music station streaming from a small radio was as common as fishing for dinner.
“I was born into music… my Mother was a music teacher who taught vocal music and my Daddy was a sailor who would bring me back instruments from his travels.”
Lovey sang and learned to play the organ with his mother until his early teenage years when he started high school in Grand Turk (the capital) and got his first formal music training from a then leading local musician, Natheniel Selver.
With six albums recorded and a seventh on the way Lovey is still into his passion now as he always was. “And there’s plenty more that’s not even recorded,” he smiled.
The budding musician even joined his first band – The Junior Brass and Reed Band – blowing the baritone horn.
It was in Grand Turk that he really got to understand the musical sounds and started experimenting with different instruments.
Playing to him came easily and his love for the art increased. At age 15 he visited the Bahamas and saw for the first time someone playing set drums. Upon his return to the TCI he seized the opportunity to play when he saw it as part of the band. His skill increased and so did his confidence.
Shortly after, he joined his family in The Bahamas and went to music school. Mastering the organ, he joined a gospel band call the Cooling Waters and soon after got involved with more popular bands.
As one of the few organ players in Freeport in the 1960s Lovey was quickly recognised by big time musician Smokey 007.
“I didn’t want to play with Smokey because to me at the time they were so advanced,” he reminisced.
But fears aside, he not only joined Smokey 007 but often stole the spotlight with his enticing entertainment techniques and soon made a name for himself.
“I had a lil show thing in me…I was an active young musician and that’s when I became famous,” Lovey said with a grin.
“My spirit was so high I started playing the keyboard with my foot at a show in Bimny.”
Soon the news spread and people were coming from all around to see him. “Once, in the Sugar Mills pub I played the keyboard with my whole body.” he said.
His musical career was on the rise – writing, playing and recording. But something was missing.
“I used to be writing songs about the Bahamas and these islands (Turks and Caicos) had no one writing about.”
Homesickness kicked in and in 1976 Lovey returned to the island of North Caicos and wrote his first song about his home called Whitby Paradise.
“I came home to the Turks and Caicos and formed a band called Lovey and the Lively Stones.”
“I used to have big shows and people would come out.”
Lovey also started training locals to play musical instruments and to perform with them.
He wants them to be become “leading and great entertainers to serve the Turks and Caicos Islands and the whole world.”
Currently, Lovey can be found right back where he grew up – by the picturesque Hollywood Beach in Whitby, North Caicos.
Apart from actively tending to his Whitby property, Lovey’s creativity continues. He often still writes and plays music and has created an 18 holes circle putt golf game which he happily plays with visitors.
He credits his creativity to a connection with a higher being and believes that he is being guided.
“My inspiration comes from many different angles at any time but I usually pray because I want every song to come through God’s love and power,” Lovey said.
Lovey can be found playing solo from November to April at Ms B’s Restaurant, with a band every other Saturday evening on Parrot Cay and occasionally in Providenciales.
Other than that he can be found in one of his signature straw hats at his ‘Whitby Paradise’ home in the beautiful island of North Caicos.
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