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Bruce Gary

April 7, 1951 - August 22, 2006

"Well Respected Man," influential and noted rock ’n’ roll drummer and percussionist Bruce Gary died on August 22, at the Tarzana Regional Medical Center in Tarzana, California, of non-Hodgkin’s lymphoma, after battling the disease for most of this decade. The lovable Gary recorded and performed with hundreds of local and international musicians in his colorful journey and uniquely created, ongoing forty-year professional career behind the skins.

Bruce was a Southern California native, twice nominated for a Grammy as a member of The Knack, was born in Burbank, California on April 7, 1951, to William and Helen Gary. He is survived by his mother, Helen, a current Calabasas resident, and a sister, Felice Catena, living in Encino.

Prescott Nile's Reflections on Bruce Gary's Birthday

I awoke today with thoughts of Bruce etched in my mind. I still can't believe or accept the reality of Bruce's (too soon) "exit, stage left" heavenly departure home. It is now April 7th, and that would have prompted a call from Bruce to make sure I didn’t forget just how special this day was. Of course, I knew it was his Birthday (like I would have forgotten after being his rhythm buddy for 20+ years). But Bruce was being Bruce, and had to reassure himself that I did not have temporal amnesia and somehow would not have called to wish him a Happy Birthday. Well Bruce, wherever your spirit may presently reside, I with countless friends, fans and admirers will pause from the mundane affairs of this day and offer you the sincerest of sincere Birthday wishes ever imaginable!! Though you are not here in your flesh, your spirit will pick up on the magnitude of our love for all you meant to us while here, and now in loving remembrance. We are all victims, as Bruce was, in opposition to what is, rather than what isn't, according to our own version of what is expected to happen in our lives. I would have never imagined that this April 7th, Bruce’s Birthday, would be celebrated without him with us in this earthly place. I know in my heart and spirit that Bruce is more than okay and lives in a wonderful peace that not one of us now can ever comprehend or grasp until our own departure day. The longing we're left with is but a dim reflection of our dis-ease with the temporal duration of our earthly stay. With God, we can't have it our way or at our time, since what we don't know is a universe in itself, and since God has spun our universe into existence, who are we to challenge, correct, analyze, resent or question, when what is known is but a drop in life's bucket when compared to what we don't yet even fathom. All in all, our birth and our too soon earthly departure is as it should be if God’s eternal wisdom is all it's cracked up to be. I will not try to ascend the Holy Mountain in arrogant protest, but in submissive reverence for the beauty and grandeur of His creation. Yet, after all that I have written, and with all the Spiritual Maturity that I claim to possess, I still moan and groan, and wish, with the purist of loving intentions, that you were here just one more time to Celebrate your Birthday with me and with the many who truly loved you!!! Catch you later Bruce ... AND AGAIN ... HAPPY BIRTHDAY!!!! Prescott