Veteran musicians and singers will take to the stage with a special tribute to fathers this weekend.The Soulful Fathers concert will take place on Sunday at the Leopard’s Club.The line-up will include Bermudian singer and songwriter, Sylvee Whitter, who lives in Atlanta, Georgia.“I wrote a song for Father’s Day to honour my father,” she said. “His name was Cyril Whitter and he worked in construction. He was a really strong, tough man. The song is entitled ‘I Wish My Daddy Could Cry’.“As we were growing up we were taught men don’t cry, men don’t wear pink. There were all these stigmas. My father never showed emotion.“As I learned from doing prison ministry a lot of the guys are in there because they are angry and don’t know how to express their emotions.”The men sometimes cried while listening to her sing, said Ms Whitter, whose latest album is ‘A Tribute to My Parents’.“The mission is that each person must help to enhance the quality of life for everyone,” she said. “Whatever I do I want to make a difference in somebody’s life.”Two other performers in the concert will be veteran disc jockey Webster B Tucker and dancer and producer Cleveland (Outta Sight) Simmons.Mr Tucker said his 37-year-old son Jaron was the reason his record collection still exists.“Some years ago I had a trunk full of records. I was going to throw them out. He got mad and said, ‘Don’t touch nothing. Leave everything there’.“With me being in the music business and stuff he became addicted to the music I was playing and got to hear it all the time. He knows all about it. He remembers the Chuck Jacksons, Drifters and so on.”Mr Tucker was a stage manager and sound mixer in the Gazebo Lounge at the Hamilton Princess for several years.While there, he worked with everyone from the Talbot Brothers to American actress and singer Liza Minnelli.“She came in with a 14-piece band and I had to set up the stage at Hamilton Princess. I had to do all the sound mixing. We rehearsed through the whole day, 10am to 6pm. She was fantastic. It was really an experience.”Mr Tucker was also a father of sorts to people on the music scene in the 1960s and 1970s. He worked for the Bermuda Broadcasting Company and ran a popular event called the Battle of the Bands, at the Rosebank Theatre from 1963 to 1970.The event pitted music groups against one another with the crowd indicating the winner of the competition.It helped to make many musician’s careers, including that of Mr Simmons.“Webster has played a major part in my life through my own promotion,” said Mr Simmons. “Early in my career I became involved in Battle of Bands and became known as a James Brown impersonator.”His nickname refers to a James Brown song, ‘Out of Sight’. Its lyrics read in part: “Got your high heel sneakers on and your steppin now. And you’re more than all right, you’re outta sight.”“I used to do all the dance slides,” said Mr Simmons. “The name never left me. I was more of a dancer. Then I decided to sing.“With the help of musician and promoter Curtis Clarke, I learned how to hold the notes and put the right emphasis on the words.”His talent led him to New York City.“At the Manhattan Centre, I was doing [James] Brown’s ‘Try Me’ and this girl ran from the back of the room and shouted, ‘I’ll try you honey!’”Mr Simmons took over running the Battle of the Bands when Mr Tucker finished.“One of the things that hurts is we don’t have a venue in Bermuda to play anymore,” Mr Tucker said. “Twenty or 30 years ago there were many places for local entertainers to play.“You had the big names coming into the 40 Thieves Club but you had local entertainers who would play after the foreign show. Every hotel had a nightclub and local shows.“Now you have nothing. Everyone is interested in the almighty dollar and it hurts to think that on an island like ours all they don’t want to promote local talent.”Sunday’s concert will also include the Dennis Fox All Star Band, and pay tribute to the late Derrick (Cousin Juicy) Symonds.“He contributed so much to the jazz scene in Bermuda in terms of music education and development,” said Darlene Hartley, whose company My Thyme Productions organised the concert with Dale Butler’s group, Atlantic Publishing.“He was an amazing DJ and master of ceremonies. Any jazz concert you went to there was Juicy.“We will be paying tribute to him. It is a nice opportunity for people to come out and honour their fathers and pay respect to people who have given so much respect in our community.”Tickets are $50 from the Music Box. A light supper will be served.