The family of a Bedford woman who died in February have described how it felt to hear a tribute to her from Eddie Vedder, the lead singer of her favourite band, Pearl Jam.
Donna Goggins was well-known and hugely loved among Bedford’s music community, frequenting gigs at Esquires and supporting local performers.
She was a life-long Pearl Jam fan and, thanks to the power of Facebook, the band’s fan community reached out to them ahead of their Hyde Park concerts to share Donna’s story.
Donna’s sister, Amanda, told the Bedford Independent: “Donna was in a Pearl Jam fans’ Facebook group called Present Tense (the name of one of their songs) which has hundreds of members from all over the world.
“She made really strong connections there and she’d met a lot of the members in person and at gigs.”
One of Donna’s best friends from the group, Jay Worrall, emailed the band through their fan club, in the hope that they might dedicate the song Light Years to her.
However, at Hyde Park on 8 July, Pearl Jam’s lead singer paused to speak to the crowd and a photograph of Donna filled the screens on either side of the stage.
In a heartfelt tribute, he said: “I got a message that, uh, from some folks out there that they lost somebody very very close to them, in February and it was unexpected and she was too young, 42 and she was a Mom and, uh, she would come see us play and her and her friends would all come see us play, they were coming to see us here.
“Uh, I just wanted to introduce you to her and we could sing one for her, she was from Bedford England and her name is Donna Goggins.
“So this goes out to her son, to her Mom, to her sisters and all the people out here who are fans of ours but even bigger fans of hers.
“Um, we also suffered a loss in our family recently so tonight we’re going to play this one for both Donna and Carolyn.”
The band then played Light Years a song that Donna’s family and friends had chosen to play at her funeral.
“I was instantly in tears,” said Amanda. “I couldn’t believe they’d taken the time to learn so much about her – he wasn’t reading from anything.
“We are all so, so grateful to Eddie Vedder and Pearl Jam. It means so much more than they’ll probably ever know.”
Jay, who had made contact with Pearl Jam, told the Bedford Independent: “I had my heart set on the band dedicating a song to Donna, but had no idea how far they would go to pay tribute to her.”
Jay said that he got the idea to contact the band after, “waking up at 3am having a vision that Pearl Jam were playing the song for her.”
After getting permission from Amanda and their other sister, Amy, he emailed the band, summarising how much Donna meant to her friends and family as well as the online fan community.
“Before the gig, we knew that the band were aware of our aim to have them dedicate a song to Donna, but it was absolutely overwhelming the scale of it.”
Amanda, who was at the gig with her sister Amy, Jay and around 20 other friends, said Donna couldn’t have asked for a better tribute.
“It couldn’t have been timed better,” said Amanda. “And the reaction is still going. It feels wonderful to see how it has affected other people and to know how loved she was all over the world.”
“Donna was the best of us all,” said Jay.
“She gave everything to everybody she knew, all the time. To see her sharing the stage with her favourite band; she would have never believed it.”
