Former Child’s Play Singer Brian Jack Passes Away
I just learned that former Child’s Play singer Brian Jack has passed away. I am dumbfounded and shocked by this terrible news. I have been a fan of Child’s Play for years, and still love their album Rat Race to this very day. I had the pleasure of talking to former Child’s Play drummer John Allen Sunday night, and was just talking about Child’s Play with him.
John posted the following message today:
“I am completely shocked and saddened by the death of Brian Jack. He was one of the most gifted, charismatic artists I have ever had the pleasure of sharing the stage with. He along with the rest of the guys were the brothers I never had. I will miss him incredibly.”
For those of you who are not familiar with Brian, I have provided a bio on Brian below, courtesy of Gabi Records:
Brian Jack, a Baltimore, Maryland native, has been playing music since he was in high school. From 1984 until 1991, he played in the band Child’s Play, a back to the basics, rock’n roll band. Child’s Play went through several changes before their most known line up, which featured Brian as the lead singer and very dynamic front man, also playing lead and rhythm guitar on many of the songs.
Child’s Play had a very strong following in the Mid-Atlantic area. In 1990, they were signed by Chrysalis Records and soon released their debut album, Rat Race. Child’s Play toured nationwide in support of their release. They had one video, which was also the title track, the song called Rat Race. Their music was played on radio stations nationwide. Although Child’s Play was a great band, it was time to move on. Brian was ready to broaden his horizons and try something new. He had started to grow out of the band that gave him his start in music. He had been wanting to change his musical direction for a while, and had been working on his own material on the side. It was now time to let everyone hear the other side of Brian Jack. In 1991, Brian left Child’s Play to start his solo career in music.
This other side of Brian wanted to play music and sing songs with more mood and feeling to them. Brian has the kind of voice that sounds good whether singing a hard driving rock song or a timeless love song. He has a very strong voice, yet at the same time it has an airiness to it that gives him a very sexy sound. His new musical style features upbeat rock songs, as well as beautiful ballads.
In 1992, Brian independently released his first solo effort, a CD titled Promise of Love, which shows the softer side of Brian. With all the loads of requests, soon the major local radio station, 98Rock, was playing Brian’s CD like crazy. Before long, other radio stations throughout the Mid-Atlantic area got wind of it and were soon playing the CD also. For a unsigned musician, the CD got very heavy radio airplay and sold extremely well. In all, the CD sold over 10,000 copies!!! And that’s without a major record label backing him. Just by word of mouth, Brian became one of the hottest things in the Mid-Atlantic area!!!
Rest In Peace Brian, you will be missed by many!
I saw him at Steeltown and was blown away! I bought the cd that night and to this day dont know why the song, “Hard Goodbye”, wasn’t played on every radio station nationwide. What a well crafted song. I loved the song “My Bottle”…It reminded me of Van Halen’s “Take your whiskey home”. RIP Brian Jack…RIP
I always felt like the East Coasters like Kix, Child’s Play, Mannequin and to a lesser extent Himmel ( who played guitar on Brian’s CD ) were either late to the party or needed to go to the West Coast to get recognition. Kix did it with some degree of success with Blow my Fuse but it seemed like it was a day late and a dollar short with regard to National recognition. That said, “The Itch”, “Yeah, Yeah, Yeah” and “Cool Kids” ( I threw many a dime at Steve Whiteman ) are an indelible part of my youth that i wouldn’t trade
for any perceived National recognition. Brian Jack was a shining example of a musician that embraced the talented music scene that “Mid Atlanticers”
embraced. We knew he was better than 90% of the singers/musicians that were out there nationwide but in some weird way, somehow we didn’t want them to leave us. We wanted to ride along with him for the “struggle” telling anybody who would listen that this guy was awesome/unbelievable…but we also wanted to see him at Hammerjacks and Steeltown on a regular basis.
Thanks for all the smiles and good times….it truly is a Hard Goodbye.
Redroxx