Born and raised in New Zealand, Bruce has been playing drums publicly since he was eight years old. He has worked with most of the big names in NZ, including Sir Ray Columbus, Sir Howard Morrison, Maria Dallas, and John Grennell. He started his career with Roger Maclaughin in Rogers Dodgers, Roger going on to be a founding member of The Little River Band. He toured NZ several times with Gratis Kinetic, and played several sessions in Wellington. In 1993 Bruce moved to Melbourne, Australia and played with The Rosicrucians, appearing on their first two CDs. Bruce then teamed up with Australian legend Lobby Loyde (The godfather of Australian Heavy Rock) and formed Fish Tree Mother.
In 1998 Bruce moved to Cape Breton Island, Nova Scotia, Canada. He has recorded with several Maritime artists including Greg Verner, Beneath The Blue, Andrea Curry and Kelly MacIntyre. He has also worked with the cream of Maritime artists including Gordie Sampson, JP Cromier, Fred Lavery, Jamie Foulds, Carlo Spinazola, and many others. Bruce has shared the stage with the some of the world's best known drummers including Dom Famularo, Billy Ward, Zoro, Paul Wertico, Walfredo Reyes Jr., Jeff Salem, Denny Seiwell, Ndugu Chancler, Troy Luccketta, Vera Figueiredo, Mitch Dorge, Camille Gainer, Marco Minnemann, Bernard Purdie, Uriel Jones, and many more. Bruce is also a noted drum teacher with a roster of over sixty students per week. He and his wife Gloria Jean are the founders and organizers of the yearly Cape Breton International Drum Festival, the largest of its type in Eastern Canada.
From 2003 to 2005, Bruce was in the drum chair with Award winning Canadian Blues Artist John Campbelljohn (John Campbelljohn Trio). In addition to three Canadian Tours, the band recently completed a European Tour, performing in Germany, The Netherlands, Austria, and Switzerland. He previously was the drummer for Country Music singer Jason William. He now drums with well known Canadian guitartist Terry Edmunds and has just recorded their debut CD entitled "A Case Of The Blues
Bruce has also recently created Project A.D. with Keith Dawson of the ECMA Award winning band Forever. The drums and percussion duo just completed their debut CD, and plans are underway for a series of Clinic Tours throughout Eastern Canada in 2004-2005.
Bruce won the coveted 2004 Musician of the Year Award from the Music Industry Association of Nova Scotia (MIANS); his Cape Breton International Drum Festival was also nominated by MIANS for Event of The Year. He is a feature writer for Canadian Musician and Atlantic Volume, where he writes the column ‘A Drummer's View', and has appeared in Modern Drummer and Canadian Drum magazine Muzik/DrumsETC.
Bruce is on the latest edition (March/April/May) cover and the feature article in the premier New Zealand drum magazine Drum Connexions, he recently also appeared on the front cover of the Sydney Entertainment magazine Boardwalk, and is the subject of a national CBC tv program to be aired in September 2005.