About our Mission

Net Proceeds of the “Rhythms of Life” Concert will benefit MUSIC THERAPY within the Child Life Program at Children’s Hospital of Pittsburgh

Make checks payable to: 
THE SONNY PUGAR MEMORIAL, INC.

Last year, the 2005 “RHYTHMS OF LIFE” BENEFIT CONCERT proceeds provided patients at Children’s Hospital of Pittsburgh with many hours of musical and interactive storytelling performances and entertainment, sheet music and songbooks, a new guitar and accessories, small musical instruments, and assorted musical cassettes.

Music therapy has been shown to reduce anxiety, stimulate the senses, and empower the healing process (“Striking a chord at Children’s,” Pittsburgh Post-Gazette, March 24, 2006).                     

The “Rhythms of Life” Benefit Concert’s birth sprang from the 2004 passing of Sonny Pugar, one of the area’s noted drummers.  As he battled cancer for six years, he became recognized for his perseverance, humor, and courage.  To honor these qualities, his friends organized the concert that is becoming a Pittsburgh tradition.  Remembering Pugar with the concert also gives Pittsburgh artists the chance to help the kids at Children’s Hospital and to encourage the growth of live regional music, two missions that Pugar would have fully supported.
Pugar’s career took him from playing jazz in his early years on the road to performing in a country rock band in Los Angeles, from studio recording to stage concerts, from club gigs to Gateway to the Arts school assemblies, from R&B to rock. His versatility and skill placed him on stages or tours with the Coasters, Dion & the Belmonts, Buddy Emmons, the Friends of Distinction, the Four Tops, Jan & Dean, the Skyliners, and many others.