Thundercat at Esplanade - Theatres on the Bay

Thundercat, born Stephen Bruner in 1984, found his instrument at the age of four. That made him a late bloomer in the house of Ronald Bruner, Sr., who drummed with The Temptations among others. Bruner joined thrash legends Suicidal Tendencies as a teenager before switching lanes to funk, soul, progressive R&B, psychedelia and jazz-fusion, going on to cement his legacy as one of the most prolific and sought-after collaborators in contemporary music today. This virtuoso bassist has worked with countless musicians on stage, tour and in studio, everyone from Stanley Clarke and Herbie Hancock to Leon Ware, N.E.R.D., Travis Scott, HAIM, Flying Lotus, Red Hot Chilli Peppers, Smino, Silk Sonic (Bruno Mars & Anderson .Paak), Kaytranada, Steve Lacy, Victoria Monet, Ariana Grande, Stevie Wonder and Erykah Badu, just to name a few.

Some highlights include his work on Kendrick Lamar’s critically-acclaimed hip hop album, To Pimp A Butterfly (2015), of which he was deemed its “creative epicentre” and where he won a GRAMMY award for his collaboration on the track These Walls. His vocals and bass performance were heavily featured on Gorillaz’s chart-topping 2022 single Cracker Island. He continued his global expansion with several tours spanning five continents that included stops at Glastonbury, Paris Fashion Week, Summer Sonic (Japan), Newport Jazz Fest and Red Rocks Amphitheatre to name a few. He also released the highly acclaimed single No More Lies with Tame Impala, and co-wrote and featured on the track The End from French duo Justice’s 2024 album, Hyperdrama.

Live highlights include duetting with Ariana Grande at Adult Swim Festival 2020, a sold out week-long residency at London’s KOKO, a sold out Greek Theatre show in LA that featured appearances by Childish Gambino, Steve Lacy, Suicidal Tendencies, Tame Impala and more. An appearance at the Nile Rodgers curated Meltdown Festival held at the Southbank Centre, London (2019); and previous festival highlights for Thundercat include Glastonbury, Coachella, Sónar, Fuji Rock, Newport Jazz Festival, Primavera Sound and Governors Ball. In 2019, Thundercat was invited by legendary jazz institution Blue Note in New York to play a 14-show residency over the space of six days.

He has numerous solo albums under his belt, the most significant being 2017’s Drunk which featured hits like Them Changes and Walk On By, and 2020’s It Is What It Is. The latter won Best Progressive R&B Album at the 63rd GRAMMY Awards, and featured Ty Dolla $ign, Childish Gambino, Steve Lacy, Lil B, Kamasi Washington, Steve Arrington, BADBADNOTGOOD, Louis Cole, Pedro Martins and Zack Fox. The record was produced by Thundercat and his longtime partner Flying Lotus, who was GRAMMY-nominated as Producer of the Year, Non-Classical, for his work on the album.

The name Thundercat is a reference to the cartoon he has loved since childhood and an extension of his wide-eyed, vibrant, often superhuman approach to his craft. In 2020, things came full circle when Bruner voiced a character (and penned a song) named Grune the Destroyer in Cartoon Network’s Thundercats Roar animated series.