Dead End on E Street

Hard though it may be to believe, but the E Street Band is now just one behind the Rolling Stones in terms of dead members as Danny Federici succumbed to melanoma at the age of 58. The band’s keyboardist from its formation, Federici began playing Jersey bars with Vini Lopez before asking a skinny guy with long hair and a ratty T-shirt with a decent voice and serious chops on the guitar to join. After Child begat Steel Mill begat Dr. Zoom and the Sonic Boom, that skinny guy recorded Greetings From Asbury Park, NJ, then introduced the E Street Band. For much of the 1980s, Springsteen kept the E Streeters on retainer while he fooled around with other musicians, and Federici came back like an abused girlfriend on Tunnel of Love, The Ghost of Tom Joad, The Rising and Born in the U.S.A. He also released two pop-jazz albums: Flemington and Sweet.

Accordian to my records, Steve@the movies was the only one with this hit and joins the dogpile at 12th.