AC/DC frontman, Sarasota resident Brian Johnson donates $335,000 property

The proceeds from the property’s sale will go to Sarasota’s All Star Children’s Foundation, which plans to soon open its Campus of Hope & Healing

A rock star who calls the Sarasota area home recently made a big donation back to the community.

AC/DC frontman and Sarasota resident Brian Johnson, along with his wife, Brenda, recently donated property they owned to Sarasota nonprofit organization All Star Children’s Foundation. The property sold for net proceeds of $335,000.

The mission of the All Star Children’s Foundation is to create a safe place for children to heal from the trauma of child abuse, including a soon-to-open five-acre Campus of Hope & Healing in Sarasota.

"They have brought a community together in a common cause to help children who have grown up in unpredictable households where violence and neglect may have occurred," Johnson said in a statement. "There is no greater good than what they have achieved in building the All Star Children’s Foundation campus, and Brenda and I are honored to be a part of it."

The campus at 3300 17th St. will include a clinical treatment center, six single-family foster homes, a clubhouse with a computer learning lab and other community amenities such as a playground and outdoor movie theater. Dennis McGillicuddy, the foundation’s vice chair and president, said staff recently moved into the clinical building, and the rest of the campus should be completed by the end of January.

Johnson joined AC/DC in 1980 as lead singer and lyricist, including on the album "Back to Black," one of the best-selling records of all time. Recently, Johnson has been hosting the show "Brian Johnson’s A Life on the Road" on AXS TV, traveling to interview other music icons including Billy Joel, Dolly Parton and Sting.

He’s not the only local celebrity to donate to All Star Children’s Foundation. When Sarasota resident and comedy icon Dick Smothers reunited onstage with his brother Tom for their first publicized show in nearly a decade at McCurdy’s Comedy Theatre, proceeds from the sold-out event went to the organization.

Yet McGillicuddy said he thinks of them less as celebrities and more as one of several friends he and his wife, Graci, have made after living in Sarasota for nearly 50 years who’ve contributed to their foundation’s goal.

"These are people who are dear friends that have supported our mission to heal the effects of child abuse for a long time," McGillicuddy said.