Sean Forbes

Source: Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia.

Sean Forbes
Web Entertainment
D-PAN Entertainment
Kobalt
Two Blown Speakers
Websitewww.deafandloud.com

Sean Patrick Forbes (born February 5, 1982) is a

deaf American hip hop recording artist and speaker.[2]
His long-time producer and collaborator is Jake Bass, and together they have penned over 100 songs, many of which they perform live.

Sean is a co-founder of

White Stripes, Owl City, Carly Rae Jepsen, The Clark Sisters, Imagine Dragons
, and more.

In 2012, Sean released a full-length CD/DVD album titled Perfect Imperfection and toured the world to promote the record.

On February 13, 2022, Forbes performed in the

ASL
.

Life and career

Early life

When Sean was only a year old, he lost 90% of his hearing.

spinal meningitis when he was just a few months old. The cause was never officially diagnosed but Sean has said that the doctors had suspected spinal meningitis. Born into a musical family,[3] Sean's father Scott Forbes was one-half of the Detroit country-rock group The Forbes Brothers.[4] Sean's mother is a pianist.[5] His uncle, Dennis Forbes, the other half of The Forbes Brothers, was a well-respected engineer who worked closely with Bob Seger. Sean grew up playing music with his siblings. When Sean was five years old, his parents bought him a drum set[6] after seeing him follow along to all of the songs that his parents played on the radio, especially "Devil with a Blue Dress" by Mitch Ryder and the Detroit Wheels. Johnny "Bee" Badanjek
, the drummer for Mitch Ryder and the Detroit Wheels, was a good friend of Sean's dad and would come over to the house and teach Sean how to drum. This started a lifelong mission for Sean to find a way into the music business. When he was ten, Sean started writing songs and playing guitar.

In high school, Sean played in a band with childhood friends. He had dreams to be a drummer but knew first hand as a deaf person this would be extremely difficult. He attended the

Technical Institute for the Deaf is located. While attending RIT Sean noticed that there were many deaf and hard of hearing people that loved music, but didn't have the same access to music Sean had while growing up. Fond with lyrics, Sean would often interpret into American Sign Language many of his favorite songs. After his 3rd year at RIT, he decided to take a leave of absence from school and move back home to Detroit to figure out what was next for him. While attending The Detroit Music Awards, Sean met recording studio owner and Eminem publisher Joel Martin.[7] As the story goes, Martin gave Forbes a piece of paper that said "Free Eminem Tickets E-mail Me" which fueled Forbes to e-mail Martin asking if he could work at the studio.[8]
Realizing that it would be tough to make it in the music business Sean returned to RIT to continue his education eventually completing a bachelor's degree in 2008.

The Deaf Professional Arts Network

In 2006 while still a student at RIT, Sean went on spring break with friends to

Deaf community who had the ability to sign songs into American Sign Language and more than anything wanted to recognize these talents. Martin and Forbes co-founded the Deaf Professional Arts Network
to make music and music culture accessible to the deaf and hard of hearing community by featuring deaf performers expressing the songs' lyrics in American Sign Language.

The first ASL music video that they created was for a song called

D-PAN then set out to find an artist who had a song and message that would resonate with the deaf community. This led them to Waiting on the World to Change by John Mayer. The D-PAN music video features many members of the deaf and hard of hearing community, many who had never experienced music. This music video became an anthem for the deaf community. To date, D-PAN has created music videos for Christina Aguilera's "Beautiful", Eminem's "Lose Yourself" (featuring Forbes), Owl City's "Fireflies", and with the support of Jack White from The White Stripes, they created a music video for The White Stripes' "We're Going to Be Friends
", which has received millions of views on YouTube.

In 2008 D-PAN released "It's Everybody's Music" a DVD compilation that has sold over 10,000 copies.

"I'm Deaf" and "Let's Mambo" (2010–2011)

While establishing D-PAN Forbes was writing lyrics and had dreams of performing original material. Due to a lack of a partner to work with and great music to write to, Forbes was making his own beats but didn't feel that the material was strong enough to do something with. One day while working at 54 Sound, Forbes found a CD that said "Beats" on it and without telling anyone stole the CD and took it home. He immediately was drawn into what he heard on the CD, music that spoke to him and propelled him to write lyrics. Wanting to know who wrote this music, Forbes confessed that he stole a CD. Forbes discovered that it was a 15-year-old named Jake Bass,[4] whose father was one-half of the Bass Brothers. A meeting was set up and Forbes played him demos of what he wrote and Bass was interested. Forbes then gave him a tape that he had been writing to that just had Forbes rapping on it and asked Bass if he could write music on top of it. A few days later, Bass delivered what would turn out to be the first song that they wrote together called "I'm Deaf" a play on words and what Forbes felt was an introduction song to who he was and what he stood for, poking fun at himself throughout the song.

During this time Forbes was traveling the country going to deaf-related events sharing the

D-PAN videos with audiences and making a name for himself. During this time he took the opportunity to perform material that he and Bass were working on. Adrean Mangiardi, who had helped Forbes create a video to show Eminem which helped form D-PAN, had kept in touch over the years. Forbes asked Mangiardi to come to Detroit and create a music video. Working together for the first time since college, they instantly bonded again and Mangiardi proceeded to film Forbes performing "I'm Deaf". While editing the video together, the batteries on Mangiardi's cochlear implant
battery died leaving him unable to understand what Forbes was doing in the video. Upon realizing this, Mangiardi decided to implement words in a phonetic style into the video thus making the video even more accessible for those who may not know sign language.

Forbes' partner in D-PAN, Joel Martin, had no idea that Forbes was writing his own material. Mangiardi and Forbes showed Martin the video for "I'm Deaf" and instantly signed him to

Web Entertainment and released a two-song EP called "I'm Deaf / Let's Mambo" in physical format and on ITunes
.

When the video was released it was an instant viral hit with the

Dancing with the Stars. Not mentioning her name, many people knew immediately whom Forbes was talking about, academy award-winning actress Marlee Matlin
.

It just so happened that Matlin's long-time interpreter and business partner Jack Jason was listening to the Weekend Edition and told Matlin about what Forbes had said. Matlin instantly reached out to Forbes on Twitter[4] asking if he was interested in doing a music video with her for his song. Upon working on this music video, Forbes and Matlin instantly hit it off and their chemistry was evident in the music video which featured dancing from many popular dancers in the Detroit music scene and was choreographed by Matlin's Dancing with the Stars partner Fabian Sanchez.

Perfect Imperfection (2012)

On September 4, 2012, Forbes released his full-length debut album Perfect Imperfection on

Web Entertainment
. The CD and DVD album that was a first of its kind. "I always wanted to make my music accessible to everyone," Forbes said "and with this album, that was my goal". Featuring 13 songs that album was produced by Sean's longtime partner Jake Bass, with Forbes writing all of the lyrics for the album. The DVD features music videos for all the songs making the album accessible to both hearing and deaf audiences.

Forbes went on tour in support of the record and toured the world to promote the record, and played in front of over 50,000 people across North America. In addition to touring the United States and Canada, his travels also included trips to Israel, Norway, England, Australia, New Zealand, France. played in front of over 50,000 people across North America. The performances feature Sean's longtime producer Jake Bass and his longtime friend Mark Levin. Adrean Mangiardi,[11] Forbes' visual partner created videos for the performance so that audiences could watch Forbes and also see the lyrics behind him creating a multi-media performance that could be enjoyed by all. Perfect Imperfection was well received by the Detroit music community and enabled Forbes to draw large audiences across the country. His music videos were also featured on MTV and he has garnered articles in Vibe,[12] XXL,[13] Spin,[14] and more.

Forbes released a music video for "Watch These Hands" on July 30, 2013. The song was inspired by Forbes' background and the journey that he took to get to where he is today. It was well received. Forbes was also featured on a TV show called "Motor City Rising" on

Ovation TV
following him around for weeks and documenting his journey. Forbes went on a 2-week tour of Israel playing performances in Tel Aviv, Jerusalem, and Bethlehem to rave reviews with his band. Forbes penned the ending credits song for the film "No Ordinary Hero: The SuperDeafy Story" with a song also titled "No Ordinary Hero".

2015 – 2018

Wanting to re-focus D-PAN, in 2015 Forbes co-founded DPAN.TV The Sign Language Channel to make news and media accessible for the Deaf and hard of hearing community by producing content with sign language, voiceovers, and captions. In 2016 DPAN.TV made history by producing an accessible broadcast of the presidential debates with sign language interpreters on the screen, viewed by over half a million across the country.[15] The goal for DPAN.TV is to be a central location for high-quality sign language video content.

In April 2017, Forbes released a new song and music video titled "Two Blown Speakers" with long-time producer [Jake Bass]. This marks the first time Forbes had released any new music since 2012's Perfect Imperfection.

On December 16, 2018, Forbes organized and co-produced The Deaf And Loud Symphonic Experience in Detroit featuring

Billboard.[16]
Forbes has mentioned on social media that there are talks to do more shows around the country.

2020 – Present: Little Victories, Super Bowl

On February 21, 2020, Forbes released a new album called Little Victories.[17] He threw a party at Third Man Record Cass Corridor to celebrate the release. The album also reached number one on several music charts alongside fellow Detroit rappers Eminem & Royce Da 5'9"

On February 13, 2022, Forbes and fellow deaf rapper Warren "WAWA" Snipe performed sign-language interpretations of the headliners' music in the Super Bowl LVI halftime show. This was the first time that sign-language performances have been incorporated into NFL's halftime program.[18]

On November 17, 2022, Forbes released a Super Deluxe version of Little Victories including 6 previously unreleased songs.[19]

In April 2023, Forbes took home the 2023 Outstanding Rap Artist of the Year and 2023 Outstanding Rap Recording for "Little Victories" Super Deluxe at the 2023 Detroit Music Awards.[20]

Forbes and D-PAN produced American Sign Language music access for Metallica's new album "72 Seasons" alongside American Sign Language music interpreter Amber Galloway.[21]

In May 2023, Forbes was featured in a Google-produced video focused on finger-spelling recognition for American Sign Language which also features him performing revised lyrics from his popular song "Watch These Hands" and spoke about the exciting times ahead for Artificial Intelligence and Sign Language [22]

Awards

  • 2013 Outstanding Hip-Hop Artist/Group(Detroit Music Awards)
  • 2018 Outstanding Rap Composer(Detroit Music Awards)
  • 2019 Outstanding Rap MC(Detroit Music Awards).[23]
  • 2023 Outstanding Rap Artist(Detroit Music Awards)
  • 2023 Outstanding Rap Recording(Detroit Music Awards)

[20]

Music Videos/Discography

  • I'm Deaf (2010)
  • Let's Mambo (2011)[24]
  • Hammer (2011)
  • "Perfect Imperfection" (2012) Web Entertainment/D-PAN Entertainment
  • Watch These Hands (2013) D-PAN Entertainment
  • Two Blown Speakers (2017) Two Blown Speakers, LLC.
  • Little Victories (2020) Two Blown Speakers, LLC
  • Little Victories Super Deluxe (2022 Two Blown Speakers, LLC

References

  1. ^ "BACKSTAGE". ASCAP. American Society of Composers, Authors and Publishers. Retrieved May 3, 2023.
  2. ^ a b "Sean Forbes Not Hard To Hear", "Ability magazine", February/March 2011. Retrieved May 3, 2013.
  3. ^ a b "Meet Your "Sign It ASL" Instructors". Sign It: American Sign Language Made Easy. Retrieved March 3, 2020.
  4. ^
    ISSN 0190-8286
    . Retrieved March 12, 2016.
  5. ^ "Sean Forbes Paves The Way For Deaf Musicians", "NPR", August 8, 2010. Retrieved May 3, 2013.
  6. ^ NPR Staff "Sean Forbes Paves The Way For Deaf Musicians", "NPR", August 8, 2010. Retrieved March 22, 2011.
  7. ^ "Sean Forbes, 28". Crain's Detroit Business. September 26, 2008. Retrieved March 12, 2016.
  8. ^ "Sean Forbes' 'Deaf' Jam – Hour Detroit – May 2013 – Detroit, MI". hourdetroit.com. April 12, 2013. Retrieved March 12, 2016.
  9. ^ "Meet: Adrean Mangiardi and Mark Levin – who make music videos in American Sign Language!". The Limping Chicken. December 18, 2013. Retrieved March 12, 2016.
  10. ^ Jessica Nunez "Deaf Rapper Sean Forbes signs record deal with label that helped launch Eminem", "M-Live", May 13, 2010. Retrieved March 22, 2011.
  11. ^ "Deaf Talent Everywhere! Part IV". HuffPost. February 18, 2016. Retrieved March 12, 2016.
  12. ^ "Detroit Rapper Sean Forbes Connects Being Deaf and Hearing Music". Vibe. March 6, 2013. Retrieved March 12, 2016.
  13. ^ "Hearing-Impaired Rappers on the Rise – XXL". XXL Mag. October 29, 2013. Retrieved March 12, 2016.
  14. ^ "Deaf Jams: The Surprising, Conflicted, Thriving World of Hearing-Impaired Rappers | SPIN". Spin. October 29, 2013. Retrieved March 12, 2016.
  15. ^ ", "Freep", February 27th, 2020. Retrieved March 1, 2020.
  16. ^ "Deaf and Loud Concert Experience Interprets Eminem, White Stripes & More at Pioneering Event". Billboard. December 17, 2018.
  17. ^ ", "Freep", February 27th, 2020. Retrieved March 1, 2020.
  18. ^ McCollum, Brian (February 4, 2022). "Deaf Detroit rapper Sean Forbes to perform with Eminem, Dre, Snoop at Super Bowl halftime". Detroit Free Press. Retrieved February 8, 2022.
  19. ^ "Little Victories (Super Deluxe) by Sean Forbes on Apple Music".
  20. ^ a b "Detroit Music Awards Foundation - 2023 Winners".
  21. ^ "Metallica Releasing American Sign Language Videos for All '72 Seasons' Songs". April 16, 2023.
  22. ^ "Google releases ASL fingerspelling recognition model". June 2, 2023.
  23. ^ "Detroit Music Awards Foundation - 2019 Winners". www.detroitmusicawards.net. Archived from the original on April 30, 2019.
  24. ^ Crain's Detroit Business "20 in their 20s", "Crain's Detroit Business", April 22, 2010. Retrieved March 24, 2011.

External links

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