'The Independent Music Show Magazine' August 2020 | Page 19

Angel fORREST

FEATURED ARTIST

31ST July 2020

In 1988, Angel Forrest began a musical career which would

span over three decades – and counting. Her first album, 

Secondhand Blues, featured several classics. The energic

vocalist’s work immediately gained attention from critics

and new fans. Her tribute show to the legendary Janis Joplin 

brought Angel into the public eye. The live performance was

immortalized on her Angel Sings Janis Live album.

Her first original composition album, Here For You, then sold

over 30,000 copies and was followed by the other LPs,

including her Wonderland Christmas album, the

award-winning album Come Alive, as well as Mother Tongue

Blues, which won her the Lys Blues Album of the Year in

Québec and was nominated for the Recording of the Year at

the 2014 Maple Blues Awards. Her last live opus, Electric Love,

topped the charts around the world.

The Montreal artist was named Female Vocalist of the Year six

straight times by the Toronto Blues Society between 2013 and

2018. Never limited to blues, the 2018 Memphis International

Blues Challenge Finalist sings in the whole country, blues and

rock spectrum.

Up to here, Angel Forrest has had a glorious three-decade career

that’s led her everywhere around the globe. Now in her 50’s, the

vocalist still has to go out there and rock. Throughout

Hell-bent With Grace, her new album, Angel will give

the perspective of an aging woman in the public eye

and her lessons learned, as she feels like a little

girl living so many changes in what can be

perceived as the peaceful autumn of her life

(She’s Gone). The opus will also explore tough

subjects – The Blame Game is about mental

illness – as Angel takes a retrospective

look at her own life, as wells as her

relationships with the rest of the world and

herself.

Musically, the album reflects the rock influences

of Angel, but she stays true to her country

and blues roots, meaning that the songs

still have this heartfelt, raw groove,

which has always made the singer’s

success.