The Black Rock Coalition is shocked, saddened and absolutely devastated with the news that our brother, friend and co-founder Greg Tate made his transition on December 7, 2021. Thirty-six years to the day after the first official BRC event, Drop The Bomb.
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Greg, who along with Vernon Reid, Konda Mason and other musicians, journalists, and other visionary, well informed sBlack rock n roll heads, started the Black Rock Coalition in 1985 as a means to combat misinformation about the true of this rock n roll thing of ours, confront the subtle and overt racism that has, and continue to plague the music industry, and to champion those of color who carry the banner proudly and without apology.
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Greg wrote the original BRC manifesto and the words that changed the lives and perspectives of the many women and men of color who felt like outsiders within their own culture:
‘Rock n roll is Black music and we are its heirs.’
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Greg lived this manifesto in every aspect of his life, whether as a kid growing up in Dayton, as a student at Howard University and upon his arrival in New York in 1982 as a writer for The Village Voice. Greg led the wave of Black writers who, without apology, honored the past yet went full speed ahead into the future, giving dap to Black artists across the cultural spectrum who were not getting love within mainstream circles.
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Greg thought globally but acted locally, as evidenced by his books Flyboy In The Buttermilk, Everything But The Burden, Midnight Lightning: Jimi Hendrix and The Black Experience. He led the badass improvisation ensemble, Burnt Sugar: The Arkestra Chamber for over decades, which honored the legacy of the late and sadly missed Lawrence ‘Butch’ Morris, and showed some of the best and baddest players from all over the world.
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The footprint he left on The Black Rock Coalition is immeasurable.
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Everyone here at The Black Rock Coalition sends out its deepest sympathies and heartfelt condolences to his daughter Chinara, grandson Nile, sister Geri, brother Brian, sister-in-law Maureen, his niece, and all those who knew and loved him dearly.
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Peace be with you brother.
