Jason Buie. Photograph By BRUCE STOTESBURY, TIMES COLONIST.
Jason Buie, a mainstay in the Vancouver Island blues scene, has died at the age of 47.
Buie’s brother Chris confirmed Buie’s death on Facebook on Thursday.
“It is with our deepest sadness that I announce the passing of my brother Jason Buie at his home early this morning in Esquimalt, B.C.,” Chris said in the post.
Buie was an electric guitar player, who got his start during the 1980s in blues bands in Victoria. He played at many local venues and also lived in Vancouver for a period of time. In January, he was named New Artist of the Year at Toronto’s Maple Blues Awards. His most recent album was Driftin’ Heart.
In 2016, Buie was reunited with his 1973 Fender Stratocaster guitar stolen during a break and enter in 2010 when a stranger named Jason Webb contacted him on Facebook and said that he had bought a guitar that he thought was Buie’s.
Buie loved the Stratocaster, which has several autographs on the back it and his own name carved in the wood. Blues musicians including Buddy Guy, Jeff Healey, Otis Rush, Albert Collins, and Jimmie Vaughan had all signed the Stratocaster.
Messages of condolences are being posted on Jason’s Facebook page, as well as Chris’ page. No cause of death has been revealed.
With files from CBC and The Times Colonist
CHEK News
