Vanessa Forero

Vanessa Forero (born Vanessa Chapman and sometimes performing as Vanessa James) is an English-Colombian singer-songwriter and author who has written film and television scores. She plays the keyboard and has performed with various groups, including the orchestral rock band Starling.

Early life
Forero is the youngest daughter of Marina Chapman, a woman best known for her story of being raised by monkeys in the Colombian jungle in the 1950s, following the abandonment of her kidnapping in the era of La Violencia in Colombia. Forero was born and brought up with one sibling, a sister in Bradford from the 1980s. Forero went on to attend Leeds School of Music where she gained her degree in composition.

Career
Forero spent two years researching and writing her mother's memoir, with author Lynne Barrett-Lee, which was published in 2013 as The Girl With No Name. Forero and her mother both appeared on BBC Breakfast Time.

Around 2015, Forero composed music for television advertisements for Audi, Apple, John Lewis and McDonalds, as well as independent films and feature documentaries, including a National Geographic documentary on her mother, Woman Raised By Monkeys.

In January 2024, Forero appeared on the feature length first episode of the new documentary adventure series, Ben Fogle: New Lives in the Wild on Channel 5 that was first broadcast in the United Kingdom.

Personal life
At age 19, Forero married a pastor's son and music producer. They separated 15 years later.

As of 2024, Forero resides in a round cabin that she built and created for herself in the middle of a jaguar reserve in Sierra Nevada de Santa Marta. Forero has installed a home recording studio with electricity and Wi-Fi access. Her studio is home to an extensive collection of musical instruments, which she uses to record and produce her own indie-folk recordings. Her debut EP was From The Uproar.

Solo

 * From the Uproar (2016)
 * Same Boat (2016)
 * La Catrina (2019)
 * Pablo Escobar (2019)
 * Fuego (2020)
 * No One's Singing Today (2021)
 * Aluna (2023)

With Starling

 * Dream Again (2014) as part of her touring band Starling