Jack White was Katey Sagal's ex-husband as well as a drummer and actor from "Sons of Anarchy" and the ABC and CMT series "Nashville."
"This guy taught me everything. We had ups and downs, as a man has with their father. But in the end it was just love," Jackson White wrote in the caption of an Instagram post Tuesday. "He was an open book, a fighter, genuinely the funniest person my sister and I knew, and single handedly invented the loudest most powerful back beat of any drummer I've ever seen."
White added, "He's not in pain anymore. And we get to remember him, 6 foot 4 with a denim shirt and a Starbucks muffin, driving us around, teaching us every important song ever written. I'm wearing his shoes every day. Not a metaphor he had really cool shoes. Big Jack White. 1954-2024. I love you dad forever."
The post included archival videos and photos of his dad, who played with dozens of musicians, most notably Rick Springfield in 1976, the early '80s and the '90s through the early 2000s, per Jack White's website. He and Sagal were married in the 1990s and shared children Sarah and Jackson.
Sagal commented on her son's post, writing, "Beautiful Jackson and Beautiful Sarah I will always be grateful to your dad for you! Thank you Jack❤️🙏 Finally free."
A cause of death was not given. USA TODAY has reached out to Jackson White and Sagal's representatives for comment.
Rick Springfield pays tribute to Jack White: 'Hit the big time together'
In a statement shared with USA TODAY Wednesday, Springfield said the two spent some "healing" time together right before White's passing.
"'I hit things for a living' is how Jack described his life as a drummer. We met in 1976 and hit the big time together in 1980. We were young and hungry and up for the challenge and we traveled the world for years," Springfield said.
"I saw him two days before he passed. He was loving and cracking jokes and high as a kite on morphine. After almost 50 years together there were some things that needed healing and when he took my hand and kissed it, all was forgiven on both sides. As it should be. Thanks for having me in your wild wild life my brother."
White alluded to having health issues in a May 2023 Facebook post that included a photo of him with his kids. In the caption he shared, "Just a beautiful day with the 2 most amazing and important people in my life! Sarah and Jackson have shown up for every treatment! Love heals and lasts forever."
On his now-defunct website, White described himself as a high school dropout who "took my chances" and hitchhiked from Detroit to California to pursue his dreams of being a drummer. Within six months, he wrote, he was playing drums with "the best R&B act in the country, Ike and Tina Turner."
