Gloria Estefan has paid tribute to her tour bus driver after he passed away following complications with coronavirus.
Gloria Estefan
The ‘Rhythm Is Gonna Get You’ hitmaker has mourned the loss of Ron "Bear" Jones - who had been her tour bus driver for decades - after his recent death as a result of COVID-19, and praised the driver as “one of the most loving humans” she has ever met.
She wrote on social media: "Ron (Bear) Jones was one of the sweetest, most loving humans that I’ve had the privilege to know.
"He was my favorite tour bus driver and was driving us on March 20, 1990 when we had a horrific accident while on the 'Cuts Both Ways' tour. He rode in the ambulance with me to the hospital holding my hand even though he was severely injured himself. He drove us on every tour after that including my final world tour in 2004.
"He lost his life yesterday to Covid. May he rest in peace in the knowledge that he was well loved & respected and we will miss him a lot on this earth. My sincerest condolences to his family and all who loved him. (sic)”
And fellow musician Peter Frampton, 70, commented on Gloria’s post to offer his own tribute to the driver, whom he also knew.
He wrote: "Thank you @GloriaEstefan I echo your kind words about our dear friend Bear Jones he was our favourite driver too. A very special, warm & caring person. He will be missed by so many. Much love Bear, Your 'little buddy' Peter. RIP. (sic)”
Meanwhile, 63-year-old Gloria recently opened up on her own experience with coronavirus, as she said she tested positive last month after she visited a restaurant with some of her family and had an encounter with a stranger whom she thinks gave her the virus.
She said: "In the past few weeks, I have been one of the victims of COVID. The reason I'm sharing this is that I want you to know how highly contagious this is - I wear my mask everywhere. I went to a restaurant outdoors with some family - three, four of us - and everybody was negative. We wore masks all the way to the table.
"When we left, the only thing that I can imagine happened is that someone came up to me when I was eating and tapped me on the shoulder. They were very close, they had no mask and they were telling me beautiful things. But that's the only thing that I have done outside of my enclosure here.”
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