After 50 years in the music business, Forbes has the memories – and a K-tel record – to prove it.

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Roy forbes

When: October 22-23 at 8 pm

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Where: Deep Cove Shaw Theater, 4360 Gallant Ave., North Vancouver

Tickets: $ 35 at FirstImpressionsTheatre.com and 604-929-9456

Fifty years ago this November, Roy Forbes took the stage of the Queen Elizabeth Theater to open for singer Rita Coolidge. The major league show wasn’t the Dawson Creek native’s first live performance, but it was close.

Now, Forbes is celebrating five decades in the music business, as well as the release of their 11th album, Edge of Blue, last year, with some local gigs.

We spoke to the North Vancouver singer-songwriter about moving from Dawson Creek to Vancouver, opening for Carlos Santana, and appearing on a K-tel Records compilation:

Q: Was it hard for you to move from Dawson Creek to Vancouver at age 18?

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TO: Since I was three years old, I knew that I wanted to play music. It was just something that was in me. He had a band in Dawson Creek, Crystal Ship. When the band disbanded, I became a singer and songwriter. I was excited about a Neil Young concert at the Queen E. in, I think, January 1971. When I saw him, alone, with a guitar and a piano, telling funny stories and playing his tunes, I thought, “Wow, I can do this too. “. Fortunately, I met a band called Spring when they passed through Dawson Creek in February ’71, and their manager, Roger Schiffer, gave me their number. When I came here in July ’71 I called him and we worked together for the first year and a half of my career. He got me the Queen Elizabeth concert. We went to Los Angeles to try to get me a record deal when I was 19 years old. He really gave me a boost. He has now passed away.

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Q: What is the most treasured memorabilia you’ve collected over the years?

TO: I can’t find an answer. I mean, every poster tells a story, right? We did some crazy things back then. On my phone, for example, I have a bad photo from a show I did with Santana. I think I made three or four dates in Alberta with them. We tried things like that in those days: putting a guy with a guitar in front of a rabid crowd that loved Carlos. The first tour that I went on tour as the opening act was with John Lee Hooker in early ’72, with John Lee, myself and the promoter in a pickup truck. I think we made three appointments: Victoria, Nelson and Lethbridge (Alta.). In January blizzard conditions.

Q: Will these upcoming shows be a career retrospective?

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TO: Well, 10 years ago I celebrated 40 years and I did. This time it will not be so much like that. But I’ll play a couple of old songs, like Right After My Heart, which I wrote when I was 20 in ’73. And Can’t Catch Me, the opening track of my first album, Kid Full of Dreams. The song peaked at number 7 in Ottawa. And if you’re a K-tel Records collector, you can find it on an album called Canada’s Finest. But you know, I released the latest Edge of Blue album just before shit hit the fan. So I want to celebrate the new album.

Q: Speaking of K-tel, are you a collector of their compilations?

TO: I have some. I have a copy of Canada’s Finest, not just on LP but on 8 tracks. At the time, being a popular in quotes, K-tel was considered too commercial, in quotes. But I treasure that thing now. I think BTO is there, Myles and Lenny. Having Can’t Catch Me there with What the Hell I Got by Michel Pagliaro, very good. I love that record.

Forbes also performs Nov. 5 at the Duncan Garage Showroom; On November 6 at the Charlie White Theater in Sydney; and on November 13 at Blue Frog Studios in White Rock.