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E Street Band member Danny Federici dies at 58
Friday, April 18, 2008 2:35:17 PM
Danny Federici, the longtime keyboard player for Bruce Springsteen whose stylish work helped define the E Street
Band's sound on hits from "Hungry Heart" through "The Rising," died Thursday. He was 58.
Federici, who had battled melanoma for three years, died at Memorial Sloan-Kettering Cancer Center in New York.
News of his death was posted late Thursday on Springsteen's official Web site.
He last performed with Springsteen and the band last month, appearing during portions of a March 20 show in Indianapolis.
"Danny and I worked together for 40 years -- he was the most wonderfully fluid keyboard player and a pure
natural musician. I loved him very much ... we grew up together," Springsteen said in a statement posted on
his Web site.
Springsteen concerts scheduled for Friday in Fort Lauderdale, Fla., and Saturday in Orlando were postponed.
Federici was born in Flemington, N.J., a long car ride from the Jersey shore haunts where he first met kindred
musical spirit Springsteen in the late 1960s. The pair often jammed at the Upstage Club in Asbury Park, N.J., a
now-defunct after-hours club that hosted the best musicians in the state.
It was Federici, along with original E Street Band drummer Vini Lopez, who first invited Springsteen to join their
band.
By 1969, the self-effacing Federici -- often introduced in concert by Springsteen as "Phantom Dan" --
was playing with the Boss in a band called Child. Over the years, Federici joined his friend in acclaimed shore
bands Steel Mill, Dr. Zoom and the Sonic Boom and the Bruce Springsteen Band.
Federici became a stalwart in the E Street Band as Springsteen rocketed from the boardwalk to international stardom.
Springsteen split from the E Streeters in the late '80s, but they reunited for a hugely successful tour in 1999.
"Bruce has been supportive throughout my life," Federici said in a recent interview with Backstreets
magazine. "I've had my ups and downs, and I've certainly given him a run for his money, and he's always been
there for me."
Federici played accordion on the wistful "4th Of July, Asbury Park (Sandy)" from Springsteen's second
album, and his organ solo was a highlight of Springsteen's first top 10 hit, "Hungry Heart." His organ
coda on the 9/11-inspired Springsteen song "You're Missing" provided one of the more heart-wrenching
moments on "The Rising" in 2002.
In a band with larger-than-life characters such as saxophonist Clarence Clemons and bandana-wrapped guitarist "Little"
Steven Van Zandt, Federici was content to play in his familiar position to the side of the stage. But his playing
was as vital to Springsteen's live show as any instrument in the band.
Federici released a pair of solo albums that veered from the E Street sound and into soft jazz. Bandmates Nils
Lofgren on guitar and Garry Tallent on bass joined Federici on his 1997 debut, "Flemington." In 2005,
Federici released its follow-up, "Out of a Dream."
Federici had taken a leave of absence during the band's tour in November 2007 to pursue treatment for melanoma,
and was temporarily replaced by veteran musician Charles Giordano.
At the time, Springsteen described Federici as "one of the pillars of our sound and has played beside me as
a great friend for more than 40 years. We all eagerly await his healthy and speedy return."
Besides his work with Springsteen, Federici played on albums by an impressive roster of other artists: Van Zandt,
Joan Armatrading, Graham Parker, Gary U.S. Bonds and Garland Jeffreys.
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Biography by William Ruhlmann
Keyboard player Danny Federici has been closely associated with Bruce Springsteen throughout his career. Although
Federici came from northern New Jersey, by the late '60s he was part of the community of musicians playing at the
Upstage Club in the south Jersey shore town of Asbury Park. His first band, the Storytellers, also featured Bill
Chinnock. He then moved on to the Downtown Tangiers Band, which included drummer Vini Lopez. In the summer of 1969,
he and Lopez formed the hard rock group Child with Springsteen and bassist Vinny Roslyn. The band was soon renamed
Steel Mill to avoid a name conflict with another group. It played around the eastern seaboard and, in the winter
of 1970, on the West Coast, but broke up in early 1971. Federici then joined Springsteen in two large, short-lived
groups, Dr. Zoom and the Sonic Boom and the Bruce Springsteen Band, but Springsteen broke up the latter outfit
in early 1972 to play solo acoustic shows. During this period, Springsteen acquired a manager and successfully
auditioned for Columbia Records. As a result of scoring a recording contract, he formed a permanent backup band
to record his debut album in the spring of 1972. It consisted of himself on guitar and vocals, Clarence Clemons
on saxophone, Federici on organ and accordion, David Sancious on piano, Garry Tallent on bass, and Lopez on drums.
Eventually, this group came to be known as the E Street Band. They appeared with Springsteen on his first album,
Greetings from Asbury Park, N.J., released in January 1973, and on his second, The Wild, the Innocent and the E
Street Shuffle, released in September 1973. In February 1974, Lopez was fired and replaced by Ernest "Boom"
Carter. In August, Carter and Sancious left, replaced in September by drummer Max Weinberg and pianist Roy Bittan.
(Violinist Suki Lahav also joined the band at this point, remaining in the lineup until March 1975.)
Springsteen attracted critical favor but poor sales with his first two albums, and in the run-up to his third album
began to get raves for his live show with the E Street Band. In July 1975, second guitarist Miami Steve Van Zandt
joined the outfit, solidifying a lineup that would remain constant until he was replaced by Nils Lofgren in 1984.
Born to Run, released in August 1975, was a substantial hit and established Springsteen as a major star. After
a delay due to legal complications, it was followed by the best-sellers Darkness at the Edge of Town (June 1978)
and The River (October 1980). The world tour for The River concluded in September 1981, and the E Street Band was
relatively inactive in the early '80s, though Springsteen kept the band on retainer. He did not use them for his
solo album Nebraska (September 1982), but they did participate in the sessions for Born in the U.S.A. (June 1984),
and Springsteen launched another world tour with its release that ran through October 1985, for which singer/guitarist
Patti Scialfa (later Springsteen's wife) joined the band. In November 1986, Columbia released the five-LP/three-CD
box set Bruce Springsteen & the E Street Band/Live 1975-1985. Federici and the rest of the band participated
in the sessions for Tunnel of Love, Springsteen's next studio album, released in October 1987, on the brief (for
Springsteen) Tunnel of Love Express Tour from February to August 1988, and on the Human Rights Now! Tour with other
performers in September and October 1988. In late 1989, Springsteen took the E Street Band off retainer, essentially
breaking up the group.
Federici, always among the more self-effacing members of the E Street Band (Springsteen sometimes introduced him
in concert as "the mysterious Dan Federici" or "Phantom Dan -- now you see him, now you don't"),
was not heard from much after the breakup of the group, though he played occasional sessions. Along with Bittan,
Clemons, Lofgren, Scialfa, Tallent, Van Zandt, and Weinberg, he readily rejoined Springsteen on a moment's notice
to work on some new tracks for a Greatest Hits set in early 1995, and he also performed on Springsteen's next regular
album, The Ghost of Tom Joad, though Springsteen toured solo to support it. He finally surfaced on his own with
the solo album Flemington in 1997. (It was reissued with one extra track as Danny Federici in 2001.) In the spring
of 1999, he again rejoined Springsteen and the E Street Band for what turned out to be their longest tour ever,
running through the middle of 2000. The tour was chronicled on the 2001 release Live in New York City. (Though
Federici has never worked as a full-time session musician, he has occasionally backed other performers , appearing
over the years on albums by Joan Armatrading, Graham Parker, Gary "U.S." Bonds, Garland Jeffreys, Little
Steven and the Disciples of Soul, Evan Johns and His H-Bombs, and the BoDeans). Federici signed with V2 records
in 2004, releasing the smooth and jazzy Out of a Dream the following year.
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