The Man Who Lived a Life!

        Eulogy from Greg Bravo

What can anyone say about a man like Freddie Scott, a man who has been so much to so many!  A man so talented that most major artists he played on the same bill with worried about following him because he was a very tough act to follow!   He was a man who had boundless energy and moved like a cat well into his seventies.  There was only one like him. 

A lot can be said about Freddie and his career and the superb body of work that he left behind, including some unreleased music that is truly marvelous.  And a lot can be found on the Internet and in music history books on that subject.  However, there is also the man who lived a "life” and made every day count.  What’s more, the Freddie who was my best friend for over two decades was a very giving person to all he met, and that is the man I would like to talk about just now.

No wonder why all living creatures seemed to love him!  Birds, children and animals, and people in general would take to him instantly.  He was surrounded by an aura of goodness that was truly a gift from the Author of All That Is Good.  He had unparalleled charisma, but also knew that all the best things in life were the simplest ones.  Even in some of the worst of times I would observe him enjoying the day, living in the moment, and singing harmony with the birds as they serenaded him from the trees and benches in the park as we were strolling around. 

He followed a life path of Faith, Hope and Charity, and gave not just of money but of himself.  He did not just do benefit concerts, but visited elderly veterans in the hospital.  He not only collected toys for needy and hospitalized children, but personally delivered them at the hospitals, shelters, churches, and to individual homes.  He not only had compassion for the homeless living in the streets, but he brought them food, water and clothing. 

Freddie would always give you hope when there was none in site.  He would always give comfort when you were at your lowest point, whether you were right or wrong, even if he did not exactly approve of what you did.  When all else around you had long abandoned you except perhaps, God, all you had to do is look around and see Freddie standing right next to you as your guardian angel.  Day and night.  He would also have the right things to say at the right time, and could make you smile and laugh in any situation just like magic.  He not only knew the scriptures, but he was a living embodiment of them!  That was the Freddie Scott that I knew, and many others of yesterday and today also knew.

In retrospect, I have to say that he was most likely was an angel among us sent from on high, a seraphim which is the one that gives the voice of God, who has now been called home.  I will surely miss him all the rest of my days on earth, but he smiles down upon me from a better place today, and lives on in all of those who knew him and enjoyed his music.  Each song truly a classic.  At his funeral, Bobby Jay (Teenagers and CBS FM 101.1) said something to the effect that as with all classics, “generations from now many will continue to enjoy the music he leaves behind.” 

Prophetic, Bobby!  He is immortalized by those recordings that will never go away, and will continue to bring joy to many who are yet unborn!  What’s more, in his lifetime he’s touched the lives of many children and young adults -- who are the future -- in very positive ways as a mentor.  They, too, will do their part to carry out a legacy left by the great man the world knew as Freddie Scott.