Billy Forrest

Award-winning South African singer/songwriter, producer and magazine editor.

Billy Forrest was born William Charles Boardman in Kimberley, South Africa in 1940.

What was probably his biggest hit was his version of ‘Lazy Life’ which spent weeks on the charts under the name of Quentin E. Klopjaeger. In 1965 Billy was presented with a SARI Award for ‘Best Country And Western Singer’ for his #1 song, 'Hello Operator' and while performing as ‘The Dream Merchants’ Billy and fellow band member Billy Andrews won a SARI Award in 1966 for ‘Best Beat Artist’. Also in 1966 Billy Forrest launched a music magazine called Pop Gear SA with the main purpose of promoting South African artists. In the eighties he was back with the very successful TOP 20 which he part-owned and edited for two years, before launching Top 40 Music Magazine with Joe Theron.