Steve Forward


Steven Forward, known as Steve Forward is an English recording engineer, producer and musician.
He worked with numerous artists including Ray Charles, Paul McCartney, Manfred Mann, Depeche Mode, Robert Palmer, Fischer-Z, Johnny Hallyday, and Axel Bauer.

Biography

After studying for a degree in social sciences at the London South Bank Polytechnic, he started his recording career as a tape operator and subsequently recording engineer at Nick Abson’s Freerange studios in Londons Covent Garden.
The studio clients included many of the artists signed to Stiff Records who rented the ground floor of the same building.
Freerange studios closed in 1979 and he started working as a freelance engineer at The Nova Suite, The Workhouse and Berry Street and numerous other major London studios.
Following a period living and working in Norway, he moved to Paris in the late 1980s.
Initially he specialised in recording and mixing records but subsequently expanded his field to include record production, musical arrangement, audio mastering and lyricist.

Career

At the beginning of his career, Forward recorded or mixed music for numerous artists from the punk and new wave époque including  Wreckless Eric, The Members, The Damned, Eddie and The Hot Rods, The Pretenders, Gary Numan, Lena Lovitch and The Ramones.
Freelance from 1980, he recorded advertising music for Air Edel, with Hans Zimmer, Richard Niles, Fiachra Trench and expanded his horizons to mix and remix music for artists including Paul McCartney, Manfred Mann, Robert Palmer, Depeche Mode, Matt Bianco, Robin Trower, Willy and The Poor Boys Steve Strange, The Pale Fountains and Fischer-Z.
In the mid 1980s, he started to work for EMI Records in Scandinavia and subsequently moved briefly to Oslo where he recorded and produced records for Anita Skorgan, Karolina Kruger and Hi-Yo Silver!.
After mixing for Diane Tell, Dee Dee Bridgewater and Laurent Voulzy in Paris, he decided to make the city his home.
In 1987, he mixed and produced the album Reveal for the group Fischer-Z and in 1989, the album A Round And A Bout for the British group Squeeze which entered the UK top 50 in April of 1990.
During this same period, he produced the single "Precious Thing" for Dee Dee Bridgewater and Ray Charles which became an international hit. This success starts a long association with the European manager and producer of Ray Charles, Jean Pierre Grosz, who asked him to produce, record and mix the album Strong Love Affair. The album was recorded during three years in 29 different studios throughout the world. Finally, he recorded and produced the cover song "Imagine" and the album Live at the Olympia 2000 for Ray Charles.
Recording, producing and mixing for numerous record companies and labels including Universal Music, EMI, Sony Music, Columbia Records, Polydor Records and Warner Music Group, he has worked for a number of French artists.
He met Axel Bauer,, with whom he constructed a studio in Montreuil, France. They later co-produced the album Simple Mortel, released in 1998. It established a lasting friendship and creative partnership which continues to this day. Their latest collaboration being the album "Live à Ferber" released in 2018.
In 1996, Universal hired him to record and mix the singles "Savoir aimer" and "Chanter", extracts from the album Savoir aimer by Florent Pagny which became major successes in both France and Belgium. He continued to mix titles for Florent Pagny for the albums Châtelet Les Halles, 2 and Ailleurs land.
In 2001, he recorded and mixed the album Comm’si La Terre Penchait, produced by Philippe Paradis for the artist Christophe with whom he composed the song Nuage D’Or. The album was subsequently nominated in the French Victoires de la musique in the category "Album de Variété/Pop".
In 2003, he mixed the solo album of Ahmed Mouici, ex member of the hit group Pow Wow and know for his role of Ramses in the musical Les Dix Commandements by Élie Chouraqui.
In 2008, the producer Frank Autier contacted him to record and mix the album Toi + Moi de Grégoire, the initial production of the first French ‘crowdfunded’ record label My Major Company. The album reached number 1 in the French charts and stayed in the top 30 record sales for more than two years. Forward continued to work for My Major Company mixing the second album of Grégoire and those of other artists signed to the label.
In 2015, the French blues artist Fred Chapelier called him to record his album It Never Comes Easy and described him as a "magician of sound".
In 2017, Forward worked once again with Fischer-Z, recording and mixing the album Swimming in Thunderstorms at ICP studios in Brussels with his long term friend and founder member of the group John Watts, the album being released in 2019.
In 2018, Universal Music called upon his services to mix Marcel Amont's album of duos Par dessus l'épaule, featuring new interpretation of his greatest hits with many leading French artists including Charles Aznavour and Alain Souchon..

Other projects

In 1990, he played as a guitarist for Anita Skorgan.

Selected discography