Pink Martini Vocalist China Forbes Shares First Solo LP in 15 Years, 'The Road'

China Forbes – the glamorous voice of Portland, Oregon’s very own, world-famous “little orchestra,” Pink Martini – has released her long-journeyed album, The Road, via Heinz Records.

The LP marks the first solo album for Forbes in fifteen years, and features eleven original, auto-biographical songs. The album was produced by Forbes herself, and engineered by Gregg Williams, in Portland, Oregon, with additional engineering by Steve Sundholm. Forbes is the 2022 recipient of the Ella Fitzgerald Award at the Montreal International Jazz Festival. Previous winners include Diana Ross, Etta James, Liza Minnelli, Diana Krall and Aretha Franklin.

Prior to release, four singles had been shared from the album, including “Bring on the Rain,” a song of brittle defiance and longing, the Erik Satie-inspired title track, “Full Circle” and “Rise,” a personal and uplifting tribute to Forbes’s friend and former Pink Martini bandmate, percussionist Derek Rieth.

The Road displays a return to the singer-songwriter’s roots, sharing a journey of personal songs that tell the story of her life so far, highlighting themes of emotional depth and self-discovery. About her new full-length, Forbes says: “The Road is about figuring out who I am and being OK with what I discover. It's about learning to accept myself in all my phases and stages. It's about mental health struggles and triumphs, lessons learned and ultimately about knowing who I am and what I want. It's about where I'm going. Where I'm headed.”

Forbes will be celebrating the release of her new album by performing two hometown album release shows with her own small band at the Patricia Reser Center for the Arts in Beaverton, OR on May 18 & 19. There will be also a run of tour dates on the East Coast US in early June 2024. See all dates below.

China Forbes Tour Dates:

5/19/24 – Beaverton, OR @ Reser Center for the Arts

5/19/24 – Beaverton, OR @ Reser Center for the Arts 

6/01/24 – New York City, NY @ Le Poisson Rouge

6/03/24 – Rockport, MA @ Shalin Liu Performance Center

6/04/24 – Ardmore, PA @ Ardmore Music Hall

6/05/24 – Alexandria, VA @ The Birchmere

6/29/24 – Salem, OR @ Elsinore Theatre

China Forbes has toured the globe for over 25 years with Pink Martini, performing on the world’s most prestigious stages, including the Hollywood Bowl, Carnegie Hall, Royal Albert Hall, the Sydney Opera House, and many more.

China Forbes was born and raised in Cambridge, Massachusetts where she graduated cum laude from Harvard and was awarded the Jonathan Levy Prize for acting. She appeared in New York regional theatre and off-off Broadway productions, earning her Equity card alongside future stars of stage and screen such as Norm Lewis, Peter Jacobson and Rainn Wilson.

Soon after college China formed and sang with her first band. They regularly performed at NYC clubs CBGB’s Gallery, Mercury Lounge and Brownies. Her first solo album Love Handle was released in 1995 and she was chosen to sing “Ordinary Girl,” the theme song to the TV show Clueless.

In 1995, she was plucked from New York City by Harvard classmate Thomas Lauderdale to sing with Pink Martini, and has since written many of Pink Martini’s most beloved songs with Lauderdale, including “Sympathique,” “Lilly,” “Clementine,” “Let’s Never Stop Falling in Love,” “Over the Valley” and “A Snowglobe Christmas,” which can be heard on Pink Martini’s holiday album Joy to the World. Her original song “Hey Eugene” is the title track of Pink Martini’s third album and many of her songs can also be heard on television and film. She sang “Qué Será Será” over the opening and closing credits of Jane Campion’s film In the Cut and her original song “The Northern Line” appears at the end of sister Maya Forbes’ directorial debut Infinitely Polar Bear, which was released in 2015 by Sony Pictures Classics.

With Pink Martini, Forbes has appeared on The Late Show with David Letterman, Late Night with Conan O’Brien, The Tonight Show with Jay Leno and Later with Jools Holland. She has performed songs in over twenty languages and has sung duets with Michael Feinstein, Jimmy Scott, Georges Moustaki, Henri Salvador, Saori Yuki, Faith Prince, Carol Channing and Rufus Wainwright among others. She has performed in venues from Red Rocks to the Grand Rex in Paris. She released her second solo album ’78 on Heinz Records in 2008, a collection of autobiographical folk-rock songs.

Photo Credit: Adam Levey

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