by Kara Baskin
Carly Simon has been linked with many high-profile men over the years: Warren Beatty, Mick Jagger, James Taylor...and now John Forte. Forte was an up-and-coming young musician (he can be heard singing alongside Wyclef Jean on the hit remake "Stayin' Alive") when his career was derailed by a drug-trafficking charge in July 2000. Forte insists that he was tricked into transporting a package containing narcotics. Rejecting a plea bargain and maintaining his innocence, Forte was convicted. The first-time offender was sentenced to 14 years in federal prison. He's now incarcerated in Fort Dix, New Jersey, where he has formed a jazz band with fellow inmates.
It's a long way from Fort Dix to Simon's manse on Martha's Vineyard, but Forte is a close friend of Simon's son Ben Taylor. Simon befriended Forte as well, and is his fiercest--and most powerful--advocate. The singer, who suffers from intense stage fright, has made it her mission to get Forte a new trial. This article in the Boston Globe offers an in-depth chronicle of the unlikely friendship between the dreadlocked, Brooklyn-bred Forte and the nice Jewish publishing heiress from Manhattan.