Jack White has announced the death of his older brother, Edward ‘Eddie’ Gillis on social media.
Gillis, who died after a battle with cancer, wasn’t just another relative; he was central not just to White’s Third Man empire, but also played a decisive role in encouraging his younger brother to pursue a career in music. He later became the manager of the Third Man pressing plant in Detroit, a position he held for ten years.
“The world lost a beautiful soul today,” White wrote on Instagram. “Ed was such a caring, funny and generous person that everybody loved.”
White is the youngest of ten children, and apparently when the young siblings were assembling a band, Eddie was the guitarist, whilst Jack was on drums. “In his youth Eddie was the guitar player in the family when we were all growing up back when I was on drums only, and he was just great at the instrument,” White wrote.
“I was lucky to play music together with him at times throughout our lives, once even for the Detroit Tigers while they were at spring training in Florida with our old band that included Dominic Davis on bass.”
The ex-White Stripe continued: “He taught me so many wonderful and simple things over the years that I’ll never forget; how to string a guitar, how to fish on the Detroit River, how to drive a stick shift. He was an amazing big brother to me and I just hate to see him leave, but I’m glad he is at peace.”
White recently released his seventh solo album Frozen Charlotte and starts a US tour promoting it in November. He recently reunited with his bandmates in The Raconteurs for the first time in several years at a show in Nashville – Brendon Benson, Jack Lawrence and Patrick Keeler joined White on stage to play five songs.
