John Symon Asher Bruce was a Scottish musician, singer, songwriter and composer.
47 Facts About Jack Bruce
2.
Jack Bruce put together a band of his own to perform material live and subsequently formed the blues rock band West, Jack Bruce and Laing in 1972, with ex-Mountain guitarist Leslie West and drummer Corky Laing.
3.
Jack Bruce reunited with Cream in 2005 for concerts at the Royal Albert Hall and at Madison Square Garden in New York.
4.
Jack Bruce was inducted in the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame in 1993, and was awarded the Grammy Lifetime Achievement Award in 2006, both as a member of Cream.
5.
Jack Bruce began playing jazz bass in his teens and won a scholarship to study cello and musical composition at the Royal Scottish Academy of Music and Drama while playing in Jim McHarg's Scotsville Jazzband to support himself.
6.
In 1962, Jack Bruce became a member of the London-based band Blues Incorporated, led by Alexis Korner, in which he played the upright bass.
7.
In 1963 the group broke up, and Jack Bruce went on to form the Graham Bond Quartet with Bond, Baker and guitarist John McLaughlin.
8.
Relations grew so bad between the two that Jack Bruce left the band in August 1965.
9.
Jack Bruce's stay in the band was brief, and he did not contribute to any releases at the time, but recordings featuring him were later released, initially on Looking Back and Primal Solos.
10.
Jack Bruce sang most of the lead vocals, with Clapton backing him up and eventually assuming some leads himself.
11.
Jack Bruce then recorded his third solo album Harmony Row, but this was not as commercially successful as Songs for a Tailor.
12.
The band's breakup was announced shortly before Live 'n' Kickins release in early 1974, and Jack Bruce released his fourth solo album Out of the Storm later that year.
13.
Jack Bruce was credited with bass and co-authorship on the improvised track.
14.
In 1973 Jack Bruce recorded bass guitar for Lou Reed's Berlin album, playing on all but two tracks.
15.
In 1976, Bruce formed a new band with drummer Simon Phillips and keyboardist Tony Hymas.
16.
Jack Bruce contributed as a session musician to recordings by Cozy Powell, Gary Moore and Jon Anderson to raise money.
17.
Jack Bruce played for Trevor Rabin on the album Wolf.
18.
In 1982, Jack Bruce played with a short-lived ensemble A Gathering of Minds, composed of Billy Cobham, Allan Holdsworth, Didier Lockwood and David Sancious at Montreux.
19.
In 1983, Jack Bruce sang on tracks 5 and 6 of the Allan Holdsworth album Road Games.
20.
In 1989, Jack Bruce secured his first major record deal in a decade, with Epic, and recorded A Question of Time.
21.
Jack Bruce played at the Montreux Jazz Festival in 1990, and was invited by the Irish blues rock performer Rory Gallagher to perform a couple of songs together on stage.
22.
Jack Bruce then began work producing and arranging the soundtrack to the independently produced Scottish film The Slab Boys, with; Lulu, Edwyn Collins, Eddi Reader and the Proclaimers.
23.
In 2001, Jack Bruce reappeared with a band featuring Bernie Worrell, Vernon Reid of Living Colour on guitar and Kip Hanrahan's three-piece Latin rhythm section.
24.
Jack Bruce had suffered a period of declining health, after many years of addictions which he finally beat with clinical treatment, and in 2003 was diagnosed with liver cancer.
25.
Jack Bruce recovered, and in 2004 re-appeared to perform "Sunshine of Your Love" at a Rock Legends concert in Germany organised by Leslie Mandoki.
26.
Subsequent concert appearances by Jack Bruce were sparse because of recovery after the transplant, but in 2006 he returned to the live arena with a show of Cream and solo classics performed with the German HR Big Band.
27.
In 2008, Jack Bruce collaborated again with guitarist Robin Trower on the album Seven Moons.
28.
In May 2008, Jack Bruce was 65 years old and to commemorate this milestone two box sets of recordings were released.
29.
Jack Bruce was supported by members of the late Who bassist John Entwistle's the John Entwistle Band, and headlined at a tribute concert to the bassist.
30.
In 2009, Jack Bruce performed in a series of concerts with Trower and Husband in Europe.
31.
Jack Bruce recovered and the band played summer concerts in Italy, Norway and the UK during 2009.
32.
In October 2009, Jack Bruce performed at the 50th anniversary of Ronnie Scott's Club with the Ronnie Scott's Blues Band.
33.
On 14 January, at the 2011 North American Music Merchants Show, Jack Bruce became only the third recipient of the International Bassist Award, a lifetime achievement award for bassists, after Jaco Pastorius and Nathan Watts.
34.
On 4 June 2011, Jack Bruce played a special concert at the Royal Festival Hall in London, which was celebrating its 60th anniversary.
35.
The evening celebrated the 50th anniversary of the blues in Great Britain, and Jack Bruce played with his Big Blues Band and special guest Joe Bonamassa.
36.
Jack Bruce started 2012 playing the Gerry Rafferty tribute concert in Glasgow, followed by a date with the traditional Celtic band Lau.
37.
BBC Scotland recorded a one-hour special on Jack Bruce, which included a performance with Lau.
38.
February 2012 saw Jack Bruce playing in Havana, Cuba, along with guitarist Phil Manzanera, supporting the mambo band of Augusto Enriquez.
39.
In March 2014, Jack Bruce released Silver Rails on the Esoteric Antenna label, his first solo studio album in over a decade.
40.
In 1964, Jack Bruce married Janet Godfrey, who had been the secretary of the Graham Bond Organisation fan club and had collaborated with Jack Bruce on two songs written for the band.
41.
The couple had two sons together, Jonas Jack Bruce, who grew up to play keyboards in his father's band and played with Afro Celt Sound System, and Malcolm Jack Bruce, who grew up to play the guitar with his father and played with Ginger Baker's son, Kofi.
42.
Jack Bruce died of liver disease on 25 October 2014, in Sudbury, Suffolk, England, aged 71.
43.
Jack Bruce was survived by his wife Margrit and four children.
44.
Jack Bruce's funeral was held in London on 5 November 2014 and was attended by Clapton, Baker and noted musicians Phil Manzanera, Gary Brooker, Vernon Reid and Nitin Sawhney among others.
45.
Jack Bruce's remains were later cremated and then interred at a private family ceremony on 31 December 2014 at the crematorium.
46.
Black Sabbath guitarist Tony Iommi said on Twitter that Jack Bruce had been his favourite bass player, saying "He was a hero to so many" and Black Sabbath bassist Geezer Butler regarded him as his "biggest influence and favourite bass player".
47.
Jack Bruce was one of my first bass heroes and was a major influence on my playing and my music.