Musicians Unite To Attack US Gun Violence

Bush vocalist Gavin Rossdale, Billie Eilish and Peter Gabriel are just three of the artists who have signed on to become ambassadors for the Artist For Action music coalition against gun violence in the US.

They’re joined by an abundance of artists, including Sheryl Crow, Nile Rodgers, Pixies, Little Big Town’s Karen Fairchild, Tedeschi Trucks Band, Young The Giant, Rufus Wainwright, Sofi Tukker, American rockers Halestorm, and more.

Artist For Action to Prevent Gun Violence was created by the co-founder of Sandy Hook Promise and musician Mark Barden, director of A Father’s Promise Rick Korn, and co-founders of Artist For Artist Matthew Reich and Neil Saini. Together, the trio are looking for volunteers, donations and voting for change.

The website statement adds that Artist For Action exists as a non-political movement that acts to prevent future preventable tragedies across the US. On Friday, 22 September, Artist For Action will host an event headlined by Bush at the Irving Plaza in New York.

“As a father, I am staggered by the gun violence in America, and as a musician, I am fortunate enough to be able to take a stand against it,” Rossdale said in a statement, per American Songwriter.

“This is a human rights crisis out of control. There have been more than 400 mass shootings in the US in 2023 – from stores to football games to parades to schools. Every person, especially children, deserves the right to be and feel safe.”

Eilish added, “As a community of artists, we need to band together to make common sense change,” while Gabriel said, “This needs to stop. So many needless deaths. So much suffering. It just needs a little common sense.”

The Guardian reports in 2023 alone, over 37,000 people have died due to gun violence in the US.

Last month, Billie Eilish achieved a new personal best on Australia’s Singles Chart as her Barbie soundtrack song, What Was I Made For? sat at #1 for three weeks.

Peter Gabriel has been releasing new songs from his upcoming album, i/o, on each full moon. 

I/o follows Gabriel's 2011 record, New Blood, his orchestral re-recording project. New Blood came a year after his cover album, Scratch My Back. His last album of solo-written material was 2002's Up, released an entire decade after 1992's Us.