Jack Bruce Tribute Raises £30,000-Plus
It’s just been announced that Sunshine Of Your Love, last month’s tribute concert to the great bassist-writer-performer Jack Bruce, has raised over £30,000 (in conjunction with the special Sotheby’s auction of his memorabilia) for his favourite charity, East Anglia’s Children’s Hospices (EACH).
The concert, from which you can see a short highlights clip above, starred Jack’s ex-bandmate in Cream, Ginger Baker; Phil Manzanera, Ian Anderson of Jethro Tull, Vernon Reid of Living Colour, Mark King of Level 42, Liam Bailey, vocalists Joss Stone and Fiona Bevan, Bruce’s own Big Blues Band, former Stranglers member Hugh Cornwell, Uli Jon Roth of Scorpions, Bernie Marsden of Whitesnake and Nico Bruce. The musical director for the evening was artist and composer Nitin Sawhney.
Level 42 frontman King, on hearing the news, tweeted: “Happy days! Loads of money raised for @EACH_hospices and a lot of love for @jackbrucemusic.”
Sunshine Of Your Love: A Life In Music, the two-CD anthology of Bruce’s peerless musical career, was released by UMC on 16 October. It features eight tracks from his days with Cream (including the title song), two with his later trio with Baker and Gary Moore, BBM, as well as many highlights from Jack’s solo catalogue, right up to his final album Silver Rails.
Jack’s wife and manager Margrit Bruce Seyffer said: “We are still feeling quite overwhelmed after the success of the concert and how special an evening it was. Thirty-five musicians coming together to pay tribute to my late husband and his musical legacy, donating their time and talents so very generously in Jack’s memory as well as raising such an incredible amount for EACH.
“I know the funds will make a huge difference to the children and their families in our area. I would like to thank everyone involved from the bottom of my heart in making this wonderful concert a possibility. 3000 people under one roof honoured Jack in the way he deserves it – an unforgettable evening.”
Gemma Smith, EACH Suffolk Corporate Fundraiser, added: “Over £30,000 has been raised for EACH in memory of Jack Bruce and we’re delighted by the amount. We’d like to thank absolutely everyone who has generously donated. Jack was a great supporter of EACH for many years and it’s lovely to know that his wishes were for people to continue to support us.
“Thanks to the dedicated support of Jack’s family, and in particular his daughter Natascha, the memory of Jack lives on and is helping to raise awareness and valuable funds to provide vital nursing care and support to life-threatened children, young people and their families. Not only is Jack’s legacy a musical one, it’s a charitable one too.”
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