Rodgers donates to music education

Paul Rodgers did his part on Monday, April 3rd, to help further music education. Before his show with Queen at Arrowhead Pond in Anaheim, California, Rodgers made a donation to Kids Rock Free, which gives young people hands-on, professional-level training at little or no cost, and he's given 100 tickets to kids and parents in the program. Rodgers previously donated money to the program back in 2004, and he told us that he knows full well how important music can be to a young person looking for some direction: "I was born in, in Middlesbrough, in the northeast of England, which was heavy industry, steel works, chemicals, and ship building, and coal mining, and all that kind of thing. And really, you were educated in order to go into one of the above. And I used to look around and think, 'God, is there no other way?'"

The non-profit Kids Rock Free program teaches guitar, bass, piano, drums, and vocals to kids age 7 to 17. It's housed at the Fender Museum Of Music And The Arts in Corona, California.

The Queen + Paul Rodgers tour wraps up next Thursday (April 13th) in Vancouver, British Columbia. The singer has already started mapping out solo dates beginning May 20th in Mashantucket, Connecticut.