HUNTING WILD ROCKERS

Lucy Forbes spends all day (and probably half her nights) worrying about hair, makeup, weight problems, good looks and stage presence. Is she an aspiring Hollywood starlet? Or perhaps a Rodeo Drive beauty expert?

No way.

Forbes is that rarest of rare commodities--a hard-rock headhunter. If you’re looking for a shaggy-topped heavy-metal crooner or a high-decibel guitar wizard, Forbes can probably sift through her black book and find them. For the past three years, Forbes and partner Sharon Levine have run Rock Congress, a talent agency for hard-rock musicians.

Forbes said the duo has about 80 clients around the country, including Mark Slaughter, the new singer in the Vinnie Vincent Invasion, and Ken Mary, who now drums for Alice Cooper. In return for the pair’s personal management skills, they receive a 10% commission over a three-year period of whatever each client earns.

“The key to success in hard rock is image and talent--for that kind of music it’s all in the packaging,” said Forbes, who would not divulge her age, but admitted to having a 25-year-old daughter (an Olympic free-style skier who she says is into “new-wave” music).

“Image is vital in hard rock today. I tell my clients--you gotta lose weight and get more hair. Youth is a big factor too. The prime age now is between 20 to 28. If you’re pushing 30, you’re almost over the hill. And playing ability still counts for a lot, because the kids know if you’re up on stage and don’t have the chops.

“But you’ve got to have the look--it’s just like being an actor or actress. You’ve got to be great looking, have long hair, a suntan and be thin. I don’t like fat guys for hard rock. It would be hard for someone like Ozzy Osbourne if he were starting out today. I don’t know, maybe he could do well in the country-music market.”

Forbes isn’t joking about the importance of appearance--especially when it comes to long hair. “I had a drummer from Texas come see me the other day, who was 25 and bald,” she explained. “I told him he had great gear (equipment), a great (audition) tape and great looks. But then I said--’You’ve got to get rid of that dome.’

“I told him, ‘Call this number and get some hair.’ He kinda turned red in the face. But he got $1,000 from his grandfather and got this great long, strawberry-blond wig and now he feels like a different guy. He’s got a job, and a new girlfriend and. . . .”

A former ad-agency exec and rock photographer who booked 90 heavy-metal shows at the Country Club in the mid-’80s (including Bon Jovi’s first California date), Forbes said that L.A. has become something of a mecca for metal musicians. “We had four drummers move out here last week alone,” she said. “Most of my talent is from the East Coast or the Midwest, where there just aren’t enough places to play. So they pack up their cars and drum kits and come out here.”

Business is brisk. During an hour interview, she was interrupted eight times by phone calls from aspiring rockers. After taking one call, she explained: “That was Craig Gruber, a bass player from New York, who’s just left Gary Moore’s band to form his own group. He’s looking for a singer. So I’m going to send him a tape of this great kid from Chicago--Andy Koto--who’s 20, has a great body and has a Lou Gramm-type voice, which is really popular now.

“His only problem is that he’s a hairdresser and he keeps chopping his hair off all the time, until he looks too mod. Now he’s got a hairpiece--actually a hair-extension--which is really popular with a lot of bands. You just can’t have too much hair these days. If you’re a front man for a band, you’ve got to have that lady-killer image, ‘cause that’s what sells albums.”

The hard-rock agency is doing so well that Forbes’ partner, Sharon Levine, is moving to Switzerland, where she’ll run a Rock Congress International overseas branch. Forbes acknowledges that a few clients have “burned their bridges” and left the fold, but added: “They usually end up coming back to us, realizing they’ve made a mistake.

“We’re in this to make a living, but a lot of these guys become friends as well as clients. In fact, sometimes I feel like a den mother. We get a lot of musicians who are searching and unsure of themselves, and it’s nice to find someone who’s talented and help them out.”