Oak Ridge native to bring musical message home
The Oak Ridge/Anderson County Community is invited to attend two programs on Oct. 13 featuring Bruce White.
The first program will be at 11 a.m. at Oak Valley Baptist Church, 194 Hampton Road, Oak Ridge, where the Rev. Derrick Hammond is the pastor. White will share with vocals and play his instrument, the vibraphone.
The second program will be at Spurgeon Chapel A.M.E. Zion Church, 100 South Benedict Avenue, Oak Ridge, which will include music and a recent health concern, sponsored by the Love Thy Neighbor Ministry where the Rev. Churchill Moore is the pastor.
“I plan to include piano, vibraphone, and vocals in the October performance,” said White in a recent interview. White contracted an infection while being hospitalized. He shares his miraculous recovery, inspirational insights, and his mastery of music as a vocalist and instrumentalist.
White grew up in the Scarboro Community in Oak Ridge where he was active in civic and educational organizations at Oak Ridge High School.
In school he was involved in sports and Boys Club. He was also active in activities at Spurgeon Chapel A.M.E. Zion Church. While at Tennessee State University his dad thought he would major in engineering.
“My dad’s mouth just opened wide when I told him while a freshmen at Tennessee State University I would major in music,” said White. White was active in the Oak Ridge High School Band and remembers reading music while in high school and playing the Afro-Latin percussion congas and bongos.
“I remembered first being introduced to music in elementary school with Mrs. Vivian Fleming,” he said.
White graduated from Tennessee State University, Nashville, with honors, completing a degree in music education. He has played on the Bobby Jones Gospel Show and has recorded his first CD music work, titled “Seeds of Promise.”
He recently published a CD dedicated to his late mom and dad and experiences growing up in the Scarboro Community.
For the past three years it has been difficult for him to work during recovery from his disability, which ended his work in long-term pediatrics and home health which interfered with his ability to share his music.
“My medical issues began with me getting an infection in the bone of my leg. It is called osteomyelitis at Oak Ridge Hospital when I was 16 and it damaged the bone of my leg. I later suffered an injury at work where a patient ran into the side of my leg,” said White.
He hopes the community will come and learn more about this infection and recovery efforts.
White is also a detailed photographer. His concert will also display a photographic expression of the earlier part of his life, adding a multi-dimensional artistic expression of his experiences.
White is the son of the late Leroy White, who retired from Oak Ridge National Laboratory and was an avid community activist and singer, and the late Vera White, active at Spurgeon Chapel Church and the YWCA in Oak Ridge.
His aunt, Eunice Wilkerson, was an avid singer and sang as part of the trio with the late Leroy and Paul White during the 1950s. His daughter is Courtney White. Bruce and Courtney live in Homestead, Florida.
White’s goal is to bring a full concert to Oak Ridge in the near future to include his family members who are musicians and some prominent entertainment artist.
“I would like to see all my classmates at the program so we can rekindle old experiences and I can share my personal testimony,” said White.
The public is invited to this educational and musical program. White appreciates any donations to assist with his medical finances.
For additional information contact Rose Weaver