Willie John McBride Willie John McBride William James McBride, MBE, better known as Willie John McBride (born 6 June 1940) is a former rugby union footballer who played as a lock for Ireland and the British and Irish Lions. He played 63 Tests for Ireland including eleven as captain, and toured with the Lions five times — a record that gave him 17 Lions Test caps. He also captained the most successful ever Lions side, which toured South Africa in 1974. McBride was born at Toomebridge, County Antrim. Owing to his father's death when he was five years old, he spent most of
Christian McBride Carly Simon, Bruce Hornsby, and James Brown. After starting on bass guitar, McBride switched to double bass and studied at the Juilliard School. McBride joined saxophonist Bobby Watson's group at the age of 17. From age 17 to 22, McBride played in the bands of older musicians such as Watson, Freddie Hubbard, Benny Golson, Milt Jackson, J. J. Johnson and Hank Jones, as well as his peers such as Roy Hargrove, Benny Green, and Joshua Redman. In 1996, jazz bassist Ray Brown formed a group called SuperBass with McBride and fellow Brown protégé John Clayton. The group released two albums: