biography

Bob Forte (Matteo Spano) was born on October 23, 1985 in Cagliari, Sardinia,Italy.

During a high school year in the United States (in Perryville, St. Louis, MO), hediscovered the music of Simon & Garfunkel, James Taylor, and Bob Dylan and decided to learn how to play the guitar and sing.

After finishing school in Sardinia, he began working as a horse trainer. At the same time, he went searching for an old family friend, a musician he hadn’t seen in over a decade whose stage name was Bob Forte.

The veteran musician took the young man under his wing and became his teacher and musical mentor for the next three years, eventually passing on his stage name. A new Bob Forte was born.

Due to a change of circumstances, he gave up his job as a horse trainer. While searching for new professional opportunities, he met the pizza chef Mario Floris who taught him the art of making pizzas while also pushing him towards his goal of pursuing a music career.

While working full-time at the pizzeria, Bob Forte entered the music scene in Cagliari. Under the guidance of the talented multi-instrumentalist Gianluca Muggianu, he discovered the fascinating and mystic world of the blues and started to perform in public.

His first performance at a blues festival in September 2008 led to a life-changing decision: in order to dedicate more time to his music, he reduced his hours at the pizzeria and started performing regularly in local clubs and bars.

There Bob Forte met Skydog, a harmonica player that took him deeper into the world of blues. He realized that in order to be a professional musician he needed formal training and education.

So, in 2010 he started studying jazz-guitar at the Conservatory of Music in Cagliari (Sardinia). In a master class, he met the Swedish musicians and teachers Erik Weissglas and Michael Langs from the Piteå Music School at Luleå University in Sweden and successfully auditioned for a place at the school.

In August 2011, Bob Forte moved to Piteå where he was surrounded by great musicians of different styles and immersed in the beauty of wild arctic nature.

In search of a deeper understanding of what it means to be an artist, in 2014 he decided to also work as a street musician which proved to be a winning move. Playing in the street allowed him to grow exponentially as an artist, musician, and a human being. The variety of experiences helped him develop his style and find his true voice and sound.

In April 2017, he returned to electric blues and created the Bob Forte Trio, with Marco Piu on the bass and Pietro Frongia on the drums. This trio, while deeply rooted in blues, also include elements of funk and jazz in their music. Putting their heart and soul into every song, unafraid to take risks, they immerse themselves completely without compromise.

This sincere recipe creates a soulful sound with a spicy groove, providing the audience with an engaging blues experience. The first recording was a live concert at the Fordongianus “Ancient Roman Hot Spring” in August 2017.

In January 2018, Bob Forte recorded “Street Life”, an album reflecting his work as a street musician. It contains his interpretation of a selection of blues standards and evergreens. To recreate the sound of his street performance, the album was recorded live using the same equipment. A special guest on this album is his long-time friend Chiara de Giorgio.

In April 2018, Bob Forte and his trio went on a small concert tour through Sardinia together with Erik Weissglas. The encounter of the Bob Forte Trio with the soulful guitar of Erik Weissglas gave birth to blues and jazz concerts full of creativity in an enthralling atmosphere. The jazz performances included original compositions from Erik Weissglas’s album "It's Raining, But Not Now".

In August 2018, Bob Forte and his trio, with the participation of his friend Skydog on the harps, performed at Mama’s International Blues Festival in Nureci, Sardinia. As a result, the Municipality of Nureci offered him an Artist Residence for 12 months. In this beautiful village of 300 people, surrounded by peace and nature at the heart of his land, Bob Forte wrote the songs for a new Album named “Brave & Hopeless”.

In August 2019, at the end of the artistic residence, Bob Forte performed live the songs of the album “Brave & Hopeless”, at the Mama Blues Festival in Nureci. For this event Bob Forte brought on stage his band, with Pietro Frongia on drums, Tancredi Emmi on bass, Skydog on Harmonica, and Erik Weissglas from Sweden on electric guitar. Erik Weissglas will also be the producer of “Brave & Hopeless”. Due to the Pandemic the recording of the album has been delayed to June 2022.

In July 2021 Bob Forte created the crowdfunding “We Love Music”, for the making of the album “Brave & Hopeless. He also passed the auditions for the bachelor program in jazz guitar at the Lulea University, which is held at Piteå musikhögskola, Sweden.

Bob Forte is currently playing in Italy and Sweden most of the time, due to his studies at piteå musikhögskola, lulea University. In June 2022 Bob Forte recorded the album “Brave & Hopeless”, with the participation of his long time friends Daniel Forsberg on bass and contrabass, Niklas Lindroth on drums, Erik Weissglas on guitars. Special guests in the album are Skydog on Harmonica and Daria Kuznetsova on vocals.

Erik Weissglas is the producer of the album, with Diana Carmona from Mexico as sound engineer. The Album will be released in the spring of 2023.

Bob Forte while keeping up with his studies is working on the songs for his second album, “My Highway to the Blues”.

Bob Forte and Erik Weissglas will dedicate “Brave & Hopeless” to their loved friend Carlo Tivino, who sadly passed away too early in 2020. Carlo Tivino was a very close loved friend that did so much through the years supporting Bob Forte's music career, especially in hard times.

“Your love and humor will never been forgotten”

Bob Forte