Iconic artist manager Copeland Forbes, known for his work with Peter Tosh and managing tours for some of Reggae’s most celebrated figures, has announced his “Reggae My Life Is” world tour for 2025, which will feature some of the biggest names in Reggae and Dancehall music.
The tour is part of the promotion of his memoir Reggae My Life Is, a book which offers deep insights into Jamaican music culture, highlighting Forbes’ experiences with music legends such as Bob and Rita Marley, Peter Tosh, Dennis Brown, Jimmy Cliff, Bunny Wailer, Gregory Issacs as well as Chris Blackwell, Mick Jagger, among others.
“I am putting together a tour now for next year, but I’m going to do a preview in October at the Peter Tosh Symposium, and it’s going to be titled ‘Reggae My Life Is: Setting the Record Straight,’” Forbes revealed recently.
“I decided to do a world tour using various artists from the book, with different lineups for different regions—Europe, the U.S., South America—so everyone gets a chance to perform and be part of it,” he explained.
Forbes said the excitement around his book was sparked by its launch in Spain, where Sly Dunbar and the Revolutionaries band performed at the Rototom Reggae Festival as part of the event.
“We have Sly Dunbar and the Revolutionaries band, which is what we used to launch the book in Rototom, when we launch the book in front of 20,000 people in Spain. And then the next day we had Reggae University which was viewed by over three million people,” the Jones Town native said.
“This was the first time people in Spain said that they ever seen a book being launched on stage in front of 20,000 people. But I specially selected that because I wanted to do something special to bring attention to the book. I’m very proud of it because all the artistes that I’ve worked with are mentioned inside and almost every everybody that have worked with is acknowledged inside of it,” he added.
Forbes also revealed that he is currently working on the second volume of his memoir and invited those he worked with who might not have been featured in the first volume to reach out to him. He also said he was considering an offer to produce a documentary with NBC.
“I put out a thing that if anybody who have worked with and they didn’t see their name mentioned, let me know because volume two is working on now. Because I’ve gotten an offer from a certain NBC channel to do a documentary, but I want to augment volume two with volume one so we can have something great,” he said.
Reggae My Life Is was the first book published under Downsound Books, the literary arm of Joe Bogdanovich’s Downsound Entertainment, promoters of Reggae Sumfest.
The title of the book Reggae My Life Is, is a play on Peter Tosh’s song Reggaemylitis, and had been in the making since 2008.
In October that year, Forbes, who could be described as a living encyclopedia of Reggae, shared that the book, which chronicles his extensive career, was nearing completion but would be divided into two volumes due to the vast amount of content.
He told The Gleaner in 2008 that the book, which was ghostwritten by Shocking Vibes executive Clyde McKenzie, would be “very interesting and unusual,” driven by his wealth of industry experience. Forbes also described it then, as a reference guide for those in the music industry, offering insights into artiste history, contract negotiations, and the structures necessary for success, while also warning of the pitfalls of doing things the wrong way.
He had also mentioned that there was strong interest in adapting the book into a film, with two offers already on the table.
Copeland Forbes’ journey in the Jamaican music industry has been both long and vibrant. He entered the scene at 16 as part of The Harmonicats and later formed The Coasters, a vocal and dance group that toured the U.S. and Canada. He later became the lead singer of The Mighty Mistic band, touring with them for several years.
His big break came when he competed at the Apollo Theatre in New York, where he met Johnny Nash, who invited him to be a dancer on Soul Train, a role he held for several years.
Forbes transitioned to management in 1972 when he became the road manager for The Wailers. By 1975, he was managing The Mighty Diamonds and eventually became the personal assistant, road manager, and later, manager of Reggae legend Peter Tosh, an experience he describes as one of his most significant.
Forbes went on to manage many other Reggae greats, including Jimmy Cliff, Black Uhuru, Sly and Robbie, Third World, Dennis Brown, U-Roy, Marcia Griffiths, Frankie Paul, Morgan Heritage, I-Threes, and Luciano. He also served as tour manager for other big names like Sizzla Kalonji, Ziggy Marley, Freddie McGregor, Beres Hammond, Chaka Demus and Pliers, Junior Reid, Sugar Minott, Mutabaruka, Half Pint, and Maxi Priest.
