Jack Bruce, the former lead singer and bass player for the supergroup Cream, has passed away following a lengthy battle with liver disease. He had received a transplant in 2003. Bruce was 71.

Born in Scotland, Bruce was a classically trained musician at the Royal Scottish Academy of Music who fell in love with jazz and blues during the early 1960’s. He cut his teeth with Alexis Korner’s Blues Inc., John Mayall and The Bluesbreakers and Manfred Mann before rising to the top with Cream which famously included Bruce, drummer Ginger Baker and guitar legend Eric Clapton.

While Cream mostly covered blues standards, Bruce and lyricist Pete Brown contributed a number of original songs such as “White Room”, “I Feel Free” and “Sunshine of Your Love”.

After Cream went its separate ways, Bruce gravitated towards avante-garde jazz and back to his roots in classical music. He would also collaborate with the likes of Frank Zappa, Lou Reed and participated in Ringo Starr’s All-Star Band. In 2005, Cream would reunite for a series of concerts at the Royal Albert Hall in London. 

Here is a short clip of Bruce discussing the break up of Cream during an appearance at the Hudson Union Society in 2013. Sadly, all good things must come to an end.