providence forge was born in kansas city, mo, the only child of famed female river barge captain merciwinkle tetherball forge. he spent most of his childhood steaming up and down the missouri river, learning the arts of navigation and cursing from his mother and hand-to-hand combat from the nefarious river pirates that counted merciwinkle's barge as a safe house. it has been suggested that one of these pirates was his father but all involved will respectfully deny this contention—with blade in hand for emphasis.
on his 15th birthday, his mother encouraged him to make his own way in the world by getting him drunk and depositing his comatose figure upon the stern of a passing paddle steamer. when he finally awoke, the boat had already entered the mississippi and was well on its way to new orleans. once there, providence used most of his money to buy steerage passage on a ship bound for belgium. not much is known about the three months he spent at sea, though upon arrival in europe, he exhibited the newfound skill of performing all of schubert's sonatas on the harmonica.
although schubert was not belgian, it turned out that the citizenry of brussels was absolutely crazy for his music and the child prodigy from kansas city soon became the toast of the town. count jean du jeaneaux, the famous belgian fencing champion, and his blind, 17 year old wife, patty, took a special interest in young providence, introducing him to the upper echelons of brussels society, as well as the wonders of absinthe and 32 distinct positions from the kama sutra. later that year, he, the count and patty embarked on a seven month tour of europe that ended abruptly in berlin with the mortal wounding of the count in a duel with a spanish real estate mogul. patty fled back to brussels where she assuaged her grief with lavish parties and multi day shopping sprees, leaving providence to fend for himself in the city of sin.
the rest, of course, is history, with providence abandoning the harmonica for the bass guitar and the wall-shaking power of his heavenly endowed voice. to this day, mention his name in one of berlin's cafes and you will be inundated with stories of smokey venues, broken hearts, wild orgies and, always, the voice, with each teller claiming some connection to the man, be it through a handshake in the street, a glance on the trolley or an anonymous tryst beneath the chestnuts in the tiergarten. for it was here that providence forge, the kid from kansas city, became "the berlin bomber" and claimed his rightful place on that city's long list of godlike denizens.