Bruce Springsteen is one of a handful of musicians – add The Beatles, The Rolling Stones, Elton John, Elvis Presley, The Beach Boys – who created the classic songs of a generation. Yet Springsteen is the first to credit much of his music’s success to the E Street Band. True, Springsteen has worked with other backing musicians, but the E Street Band has worked with him almost continuously since they formed. Here are five of the key members of Springsteen’s band:
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1. Clarence Clemons, Saxophone
Even those with a passing familiarity with the E Street Band can easily identify the unmistakable saxophone accompaniment provided by Clarence Clemons. His tenor sax’s unique resonance takes center stage in Springsteen classics such as “Born to Run” and “Spirit in the Night.”
What makes the musical partnership between Springsteen and Clemons even more magical is that it came about almost through happenstance one night in the early 1970s. That’s when Clemons, sax in hand, made a serendipitous visit to Asbury Park, New Jersey, to check out an artist named Springsteen.
“I had my saxophone with me, and when I walked in this club — no lie — a gust of wind just blew the door down the street. Boof!,” Clemons told People magazine. “I sat in with him that night. It was phenomenal. We’d never even laid eyes on each other, but after that first song, he looked at me, I looked at him, and we said, ‘This is it.’ After that, I was stoked.”
Clemons went on to front his band and play on recordings by other notable musicians, including Aretha Franklin (“Freeway of Love”), Jackson Browne (“You’re a Friend of Mine”), and Ringo Starr and his All-Starr Band, during the E Street Band hiatus. When Springsteen regrouped, Clemmons rejoined until he died in 2011.
“That’s the way we always work,” Clemons once told a reporter. “You get that call, you show up.”
2. Patti Scialfa, Vocals/Guitar
Patti Scialfa was a struggling singer-songwriter in New York’s Greenwich Village when her sound caught the ears of Southside Johnny and David Johansen. Until then, she worked as a waitress and busked to make ends meet.
One night after Scialfa performed at the iconic Stone Pony in Asbury Park, Springsteen introduced himself. They became friends, and in 1984, Springsteen asked her to audition as the first female member of the E Street Band.
A few days before the E Street Band opened the Born in the U.S.A. Tour, Springsteen invited her to join the E Street Band.
“When I joined the band, I had known Bruce’s music. I’d seen him play once live, but I had a lot of learning to do. I didn’t know the songs. He asked me to join the band three days before the first show,” she told The Los Angeles Times. “We never really had time to rehearse. So, when I was working with him the first few months, I was just catching up. When I went out there to sing for the first time, I didn’t even know where they were gonna stand me on stage.”
Scialfa’s musical artistry thrived when she became a band member, and her shimmering vocals and guitar playing added another distinctive sound to Springsteen’s sound.
3. Garry Tallent, Bass
Garry Tallent spent his childhood in New Jersey and became friends with two up-and-coming New Jersey bar scene musicians, Southside Johnny and Springsteen. As teens, Tallent played bass, and Springsteen played lead guitar for the New Jersey band The Castiles. Critics have said that Tennant was a natural choice for Springsteen to invite to join the E Street Band.
The two knew each other personally and musically. That’s one reason Tallent’s bass playing was a key component of Springsteen’s sound since the early days of the E Street Band.
“Springsteen’s band consists of six pieces, focusing around Springsteen on guitar, Clarence Clemons on sax, and Gary Tallent on bass,” wrote John W. Wilson in the Houston Chronicle when he reviewed a March 7, 1974, show. “This is the mainspring that makes the rock machine move. Tallent’s bass patterns, of unbelievable force and simplicity, create easily recognizable moods with the fewest notes possible.”
Tallent has played on every Springsteen album since its inception.
4. Steven Van Zandt, Guitar/Mandolin
After a 1965 performance at the Hullabaloo Club in Middletown, New Jersey, where Steven Van Zandt had played a rendition of the Turtles’ track “Happy Together,” he crossed paths with Bruce Springsteen.
The friendship developed into the two becoming bandmates in various local bands before they struck out on individual musical paths. After Van Zandt co-founded Southside Johnny and the Asbury Dukes, he reconnected with Springsteen and worked on the horn arrangements on Springsteen’s “Tenth Avenue Freeze Out” that was included on the Born to Run album.
He joined the E Street Band soon after. His successes include prominent playing and singing on the songs “Glory Day,” “Two Hearts,” and “Land of Hope and Dreams.” Fans know he often trades vocals with Springsteen during live performances on “Prove It All Night” and sings the chorus on “Glory Days.”
His deep connection to the band and Springsteen was showcased during the 2009 Super Bowl when he was the most prominently featured band member, playing a guitar solo and sharing vocals and quips with Springsteen.
5. Nils Lofgren, guitar/vocals
A 1984 spat with Springsteen caused Van Zandt to leave the band temporarily. Springsteen recruited his long-time friend Nils Lofgren to fill the slot in time for the Born to Run Tour and the recording of the Tunnel of Love (1987) album.
Since Van Zandt rejoined the E Street Band in 1995, he has worked in partnership with Lofgren.
“He plays very melodically, and he has a lot of techniques,” Springsteen told MOJO about Lofgren’s musical strengths. “Steve [Van Zandt] and I are both rock guitarists – we squeeze the neck until it squeals – but there’s a musicalness to Nils’ playing that is uniquely his.”
Photo by Diena/Brengola/WireImage
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