ASBURY PARK PRESS STAFF WRITERS
April 18, 2008
In this image released by Backstreets.com, Bruce Springsteen and Danny Federici perform on stage at the Mellon Arena in Pittsburgh, on Nov. 14, 2007.
NEW YORK — Danny Federici, the E Street Band's organist and keyboard player since its inception whose stylish work helped define the band's sound, died Thursday after a three-year battle with melanoma.
Federici, 58, a Flemington native, died at Memorial Sloan-Kettering Cancer Center in New York City. News of his death was posted late Thursday night on Bruce Springsteen's official Web site, www.brucespringsteen.net.
He had performed with Springsteen longer than any other E Streeter, playing with him in bands such as "Child," and "Steel Mill," before the E Street Band was formed.
Federici was also a regular at The Upstage, the legendary Asbury Park club where Shore artists honed their skills in all-night jam sessions. Among his most notable E Street performances were his organ playing on the hit "Hungry Heart" and the accordion solo on "4th of July, Asbury Park (Sandy)."
"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.
In November, Federici took a leave of absence from the E Street Band to battle melanoma following an emotional send-off at the Nov. 19 Boston show.
During that show, Springsteen frequently allowed Federici to take the spotlight during songs like "Kitty's Back" with its extended organ solo, "This Hard Land," "E Street Shuffle" and "Sandy."
Following the last song that night, Federici had tears in his eyes as the crowd chanted his name. Federici made only one more appearance with the E Streeters, on March 20 in Indianapolis, in which he again played "Sandy" and several other songs.
When he announced Federici's plan to take a leave of absence from the band, Springsteen described him as "one of the pillars of our sound." A clip of part of Federici's last E Street performance in Indianapolis can be seen on Springsteen's Web site, www.brucespringsteen.net.
In a 1998 interview with the Asbury Park Press, Federici spoke about the first time he saw Springsteen perform.
Said the musician: "When (drummer) Vini Lopez and I first saw Bruce play at The Upstage Club — because we were pretty much playing at the same time — we basically said, "We've gotta have this guy in our band.' So we decided to start a band.
"So he (Springsteen) quit Earth to put a band together with me and Vini. And we found a bass player, Vinnie Roslin. And that band was called Child. And that's how the whole switcheroo thing — getting him out of Freehold — began."
Danny Federici, keyboard player in Bruce Springsteen's E Street Band in Manhattan (2005).
Federici also reminisced about jobs he worked around the Shore area before joining Springsteen's E Street Band.
"I was an electrician for a while," Federici told the Press. "I worked construction. Actually, Allan Berger — he was the bassist with Southside (Johnny Lyon) for a while — his dad was the super on a construction job I worked. A couple of times, I worked at a paper place up in Wanamassa (in Ocean Township). And of course, I worked in a surfboard factory with "Tinker' (Carl West), Bruce's first manager — Steel Mill and Child's first manager. He'd throw us a few bucks."
Said Federici of his early Asbury Park days: "I lived on Bangs Avenue for a while, almost right across from the police station. I had to move closer to the buses and the trains — I lost my license as a kid."
Federici was often introduced in concert by Springsteen as "Phantom Dan," a nickname the keyboarder got following the night in 1970 Springsteen and his band Steel Mill went head to head with Middletown Police Chief Joe McCarthy.
When a concert at a swim club did not shut down promptly at 10 p.m., police stormed onstage and ended the performance. Twenty-one people, nine of them juveniles, were arrested on a variety of drug and assault charges.
"I could see the cops were getting ready to do something, so I went backstage and pulled the plug on the band," Richard Kleva, who arranged for the concert, said afterward.
The crowd immediately began to shout to turn the music back on. A roadie for Steel Mill plugged the amplifiers back in. Then the police took the stage, and bedlam broke loose.
McCarthy was injured when an amplifier toppled over onto him. Witnesses said one police officer on stage jabbed Springsteen in the ribs with a nightstick, while others chased Federici.
After the concert, warrants were issued for Federici's arrest, because the police believed he had purposely knocked the amplifier onto McCarthy.
"I was a fugitive," Federici recalled in an interview in a book on Springsteen published by the Springsteen fan magazine Backstreets. At several Steel Mill shows after the Middletown concert, police were waiting to arrest Federici, he said in the book. So Springsteen devised a plan.
Steel Mill usually closed its concerts with a song called "Resurrection," during which Springsteen would pull people out of the audience to dance onstage. When the stage was crowded with dancers, Federici would slip away, and the police would lose him in the crowd.
Federici eventually turned himself in, but nothing came of the charges.
In a band with larger-than-life characters like 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."
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.
Springsteen concerts scheduled for today in Fort Lauderdale, Fla., and Saturday in Orlando were postponed following the news of Federici's death.
The Associated Press contributed to this story. This story contains material previously published by the Press.
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