Jack White has been revealed as the anonymous donor who recently paid the entire $142,000 balance in taxes to prevent Detroit’s Masonic Temple from falling into foreclosure.
The Detroit Free Press reports the Detroit-born White has performed on stage on several occasions at the Temple and partly grew up there when his mother served as an usher in the building.
“Jack’s donation could not have come at a better time and we are eternally grateful to him for it,” said Detroit Masonic Temple Association President Roger Sobran. “Jack’s magnanimous generosity and unflinching loyalty to this historic building and his Detroit roots is appreciated beyond words.”
“In light of Jack’s generosity and belief in the importance of a strong, vital Temple that should and will be available to future generations of Detroiters, the Masonic Temple Association will be naming, in Jack’s honor, our Cathedral Theater, the ‘Jack White Theater’," added Sobran. “We could not be more humbled to bestow this honor on Jack.”
The Jack White Theater is a 27,878-square-foot venue with a seating capacity of 1,586.
After a successful tour behind his debut solo album, “Blunderbuss,” White is working on new music for his next record.
"I've got about 20 to 25 tracks I'm working on right now – a lot of songs," White told Rolling Stone earlier this year. "It's a good time for writing for me."
White has been recording new material with the Buzzards and the Peacocks, his separate male and female bands, respectively.
Jack White See also:
Jack White to reissue The White Stripes' Elephant for Record Store Day
Jack White named Record Store Day 2013 Ambassador
Jack White working on follow up to Blunderbuss