Bridgette Annette Banks

Last November Submerge lost our beloved Bridgette. She had been fighting cancer for many months. On Saturday December 7th, 2024 there was an intimate gathering of friends and family to celebrate her life. Below is her official obituary courtesy of Cornelius Harris.

Bridgette A. Banks was born in Detroit, Michigan on March 26, 1964 from the union of her father Walter S. Banks and her mother Belle Banks. She was the middle child, with her older brother, Michael, and younger sister, Brenda and her older sister Barbara from an earlier marriage.

From Bagley Elementary, to Hampton Middle School, to Renaissance High, Bridgette was a proud graduate the Detroit Public Schools, graduating from Renaissance in 1982. Bridgette continued her education at the University of Michigan, which she attended for two years studying art and history.

Bridgette enjoyed traveling with her sister Brenda, and was a deep lover of art. One of her cherished memories was of being able to visit the Louvre in Paris to experience it first hand.

In 1990, Bridgette began working with her brother Michael at Submerge, a techno music distribution company. As she oversaw the mailorder business, fans of the music from all over the world came to know Bridgette as the point of contact for Detroit electronic music. Over the years, even though most had never seen her, many had come to know her through email and chat. Indeed, many who would come to Detroit to experience the birthplace of techno music, would make a special stop at Submerge, hoping to meet the woman behind the screen.

Bridgette was also known for her love of dogs. Stray, abused, hungry, she would take them in and care for them with all her heart. They would become her adopted children and as much as she loved them, they loved her right back! Rocky, Jordan, and Zeus were her babies!

Bridgette would find a creative outlet in Exhibit 3000, the techno music museum that she curated along with Prof. Carla Vecchiola. Together they helped shape the exhibit to tell the story of Detroit and its relationship to the music that took the world by storm. Her work with the nonprofit has been critical to its success as for years prior she would archive materials for the future endeavor. The concepts she developed at the University of Michigan would find life in the exhibit.

As much as she was a workaholic, she also loved spending time with family, hanging out with her cousins Debby, Jackie, KK, Donna, Eryn, and their kids. She also cherished spending time up north at her great uncle’s farm with her father and beloved uncle Alfonzo and his kids. That’s where she developed her love for animals.

Bridgette passed away on Thursday, November 14, 2024. Her father, Walter Banks, preceded her in 2016. She leaves to mourn…

Her mother, Belle Alexander Banks, her brother Michael Banks (Fayette Garth), her sister, Brenda Banks, and older sister, Barbara Banks. She also leaves to mourn her longtime partner, James Delaine, her niece, Rosalind Nicole Simpson; and great nieces and nephews, Teraniyah Alexis Williamson, Raphael Antonio Starks II, Cornelius Webb, and Sumayyah Simmons.

She also leaves a host of other relatives, neighbors, friends, and fans from around the world.

— Submariner —