Drew Forde likes to root for the underdog. So when it came to picking which string instrument he would learn as a child, he looked beyond the violin, cello and bass to the less popular viola.
In many ways, the Mercer University alumnus’s career journey is an underdog story in itself.
Forde said becoming a successful professional violist was improbable, but his musical talents flourished with support from publicly funded arts programs, training at Mercer’s School of Music and The Juilliard School, and plenty of hard work along the way.
A Los Angeles resident since 2018, Forde’s viola skills are being sought out for recording, movie and television projects, including a song recently featured in season three of the Netflix series, “Bridgerton.” Through additional projects with his string quartet and his brand ThatViolaKid, he is working to support other artist entrepreneurs and be part of a movement to make string music more accessible.
Born and raised in Atlanta, Forde began his musical journey in fifth grade with percussion but found he didn’t like the drums. He wanted to play pitches and tones and was fascinated with the concept of chords. He tried xylophone and bells next and switched to orchestra in sixth grade.
“String instruments always looked really hard and kind of awkward, but they always sounded so beautiful. I looked at a string instrument, and I was like, ‘If I could learn to play that, I think I could live a good life,’” he said. “Everybody had picked violin, cello and bass. Nobody picked viola. I chose viola and immediately fell in love with it.”
By freshman year of high school, he was receiving free private lessons, coaching and mentorship, and music performance opportunities as a member of the Atlanta Symphony Orchestra Talent Development Program.
“I was able to go from zero to auditioning for colleges to pursue music as a career. This whole incubator, my whole upbringing was very unlikely, and the career that I have is still very unlikely, but I am truly a product of public-funded school arts education and the value of it,” Forde said.
During an Atlanta Symphony Youth Orchestra practice, Robert McDuffie stopped by to tell the players about Mercer’s Center for Strings, which he founded in 2006. Forde was drawn to the entrepreneurial aspects of the University’s conservatory-style strings program, through which students build a multifaceted portfolio of skills.
“Robert McDuffie lived the life that I wanted to live, which was not somebody who was sitting in the back of an orchestra section but somebody who does a lot of different work and is continually connected to the thing that gives them the most joy in life,” Forde said. “There are too few music opportunities, which is why Mr. McDuffie thinks entrepreneurship is an incredibly viable path of creating a life where you are able to be an artist and also make a living.
“The (Mercer strings) program is incredible, and it really set me on the path that I’m going on today,” he said. “We were really shown the path of what it’s like to be a professional musician.”
Forde graduated from Mercer in 2014 with a Bachelor of Arts in viola performance and moved to New York City to attend Julliard, from which he graduated in 2016. Supported by the Alan D. Marks Center for Careers and Entrepreneurship Scholarship, he stayed in New York City for two more years to get his music career rolling, but it was a struggle.
He paid his bills by busking in the subway, teaching music lessons to kids, performing for weddings, and picking up other gigs, but it wasn’t enough. So, he started investing in equipment for his social media channels and taught himself more about video editing, marketing and business. He also visited Los Angeles to see if more opportunities might await him there.
“I had heard through connections that movie and motion picture work was some of the highest yield work for a string player like me,” Forde said. “There were so many more economic benefits (in Los Angeles) for doing what I love to do.”
After completing a performance contract on a cruise ship, he had saved up enough money to buy a car and moved across the country to Los Angeles in 2018. Forde said he basically started back at square one, but with time, he got to know the community and built connections.
It took four years for him to get his first movie soundtrack job, and it was another two years before his next film work. But then, calls started coming in from bigger movie and TV contractors in Los Angeles.
Forde played on John Legend’s Grammy Award-winning album, “Bigger Love,” and the 2023 Beatles song “Now and Then.” He has worked on projects with artists Mac Miller, Sabrina Claudio, Phony Ppl, Tobe Nwigwe, Kota the Friend, Moby, Susanna Hoffs and Vitamin String Quartet.
He has performed for scores for films such as “Avatar: The Way of Water,” “Despicable Me 4,” “Ghostbusters: Frozen Empire” and “Creed III,” and his TV credits include “Stargirl,” “Fargo,” “Star Trek: Lower Decks,” “The Orville” and “Grease: Rise of the Pink Ladies.”
His viola talents can be heard in a song in episode eight of the latest season of “Bridgerton.” “All I Want” by Tori Kelly is the first original song created for the show, and Forde played on the strings version of it, written by “Bridgerton” composer Kris Bower. Forde’s solo can be heard starting at the 1:17 mark.
Forde previously performed on Bowers’s scores for Netflix series “Dear White People,” 2023 movie “The Color Purple” and a few other films, and Bowers personally asked Forde to play on “All I Want.”
“I’m thankful for any time I get to spend working on any of his scores,” Forde said. “He’s a fellow Juilliard alum and an incredible artist absolutely crushing it.”
Forde recorded his portion of “All I Want” remotely using his own recording equipment. Remote recording makes up about 10%-15% of Forde’s work now but was about 70% during the pandemic.
“Bridgerton,” which features orchestral covers of popular music, is helping connect people to string instruments and classical music again. Getting art into the hands of the people is important to Forde, and that’s why he created his brand, ThatViolaKid, chronicling his journey.
In 2022, Forde started wholesoul, a string quartet that includes his longtime friend Daniel Lim on cello and Andrew Kwon and Haesol Lee on violin.
“It was the manifestation of a dream that I’d always had,” he said. “I actually found it in my high school yearbook. It said, ‘One day I want to perform for hip-hop and R&B artists on concerts and recordings.’ That’s what I ended up starting to be able to do. I created a string quartet for that express purpose. I want to play more hip hip music and more R&B music.”
The quartet played on Hozier’s album “Unreal Unearth” and EP “Eat Your Young” and Jennifer Lopez’s documentary “The Greatest Love Story Never Told.” Wholesoul is releasing a new track on Spotify every month this summer. “Congratulations,” which was arranged by Forde, came out in June; an arrangement of J. Cole’s “She’s Mine” debuted on July 12; and a cover of Stevie Wonder’s “I Can’t Imagine Love Without You” featuring vocalist Vi Jordan is slated for August.
“We’ve been very blessed with work, and we’re starting to get more corporate work, which is very exciting. That project is starting to flourish,” he said. “I will be honest; we do have a lot of competition. We still have a lot to work on, we have a lot to learn, a lot to build.”
Another project that is near and dear to Forde’s heart is his e-newsletter “Grace Notes,” in which he shares advice, resources and lessons he’s learned with aspiring artist entrepreneurs. When it comes to the music business, networking is everything, and Forde wants to create a community of support.
“Your success is not in your hands. It’s in the hands of other people,” he said. “We grow and evolve, and then we become those who have resources and need to do the same thing. That’s why I’m not just looking forward, I’m looking back to see how I can help people who are trying to do the same thing I did.”
