Bob Forrest

A staple of the Los Angeles music scene since the early 1980s, singer/songwriter Bob Forrest was the leader of influential post-punk group <a href="spotify:artist:79wfwGHz2ByenSDM0VaB70">Thelonious Monster</a>, who released a string of acclaimed yet commercially unsuccessful albums for both <a href="spotify:search:label%3A%22Epitaph%22">Epitaph</a> and <a href="spotify:search:label%3A%22Capitol%22">Capitol</a>. A contemporary and longtime friend of the <a href="spotify:artist:0L8ExT028jH3ddEcZwqJJ5">Red Hot Chili Peppers</a>, he is credited as having discovered guitarist <a href="spotify:artist:7rN3Agir6FaZNfhf5V7mfN">John Frusciante</a>, who went on to play with the <a href="spotify:artist:0L8ExT028jH3ddEcZwqJJ5">Chili Peppers</a> during their most popular era. A noted drug abuser, Forrest struggled for years with his habit, making 24 detox attempts before finally cleaning himself up in 1996. A year later, he formed <a href="spotify:artist:1RvjEDrFOLGkD8WJfmrUvS">the Bicycle Thief</a> with guitarist <a href="spotify:artist:3nByCLLgBS3VGDmDvtdyLl">Josh Klinghoffer</a> (who would also go on to play with the <a href="spotify:artist:0L8ExT028jH3ddEcZwqJJ5">Chili Peppers</a>) and they released their lone studio album, You Come and Go Like a Pop Song, in 1999. He would eventually become a recovery activist working as a drug counselor at Las Encinas Hospital and co-starring on the shows Celebrity Rehab and Sober House with Dr. Drew. He launched a solo career in 2006 with the country- and folk-flavored album Modern Folk and Blues Wednesday. The following year, he contributed to the soundtrack of the <a href="spotify:artist:74ASZWbe4lXaubB36ztrGX">Bob Dylan</a> biopic I'm Not There. He was the subject of a 2011 full-length feature documentary Bob & the Monster, and published a memoir called Running with Monsters. He has remained an active and very visible figure in the recovery community, working with a number of organizations to help fight addiction. Forrest returned to music again in 2015, working with Grammy-winning producer <a href="spotify:artist:6aZAReSXlN5B4m2BW7cmO9">Ian Brennan</a> to record his second solo LP, the deeply personal Survival Songs. ~ Timothy Monger, Rovi