Jack Bruce

John Symon Asher "Jack" Bruce (14 May 1943 – 25 October 2014) was a Scottish musician. He gained popularity as the primary lead vocalist and bassist of rock band Cream. After the group disbanded in 1968, he pursued a solo career and also played with several bands.

In the early 1960s, Bruce joined the Graham Bond Organisation (GBO), where he met future Cream bandmate Ginger Baker. After leaving the band, he briefly joined John Mayall & the Bluesbreakers, where he met Eric Clapton. In 1966, after a short time with Manfred Mann, Bruce formed Cream with lead guitarist Clapton and drummer Baker. Bruce co-wrote many of their songs (including "Sunshine of Your Love", "White Room" and "I Feel Free") with poet/lyricist Pete Brown.

After the group disbanded in the late 1960s, Bruce began recording solo albums. He put together a band of his own to perform material live and formed the blues rock band West, Bruce and Laing in 1972, with ex-Mountain guitarist Leslie West and drummer Corky Laing. Bruce's solo career spanned several decades. From the 1970s to the 1990s, he played with several bands as a touring member. He reunited with Cream in 2005 for concerts at the Royal Albert Hall and at Madison Square Garden in New York.

Bruce is considered one of the most important and influential bassists of all time. Rolling Stone magazine readers ranked him number eight on their list of "10 Greatest Bassists of All Time". He 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.

Bruce was born on 14 May 1943 in Bishopbriggs, Lanarkshire, Scotland, to Betty (née Asher) and Charlie Bruce, musical parents who moved frequently, resulting in the young Bruce attending 14 different schools, ending up at Bellahouston Academy. He 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.

Biography summary from English Wikipedia, photograph via Wikimedia Commons.