DANNY FEDERICI, 1950 – 2008
Danny Federici, the E Street Band’s organist and keyboard player since its inception, died this afternoon, April 17, 2008 at Memorial Sloan-Kettering Cancer Center in New York City after a three-year battle with melanoma.
The Federici family and the E Street family request that, in lieu of flowers, donations be made to the Danny Federici Melanoma Fund; more details on the Fund will be forthcoming.
The Bruce Springsteen and the E Street Band concerts scheduled for Friday in Ft. Lauderdale and Saturday in Orlando are being postponed. Replacement dates will be announced shortly.
We extend our deepest sympathies to Danny’s family, friends, bandmates, and blood brothers; we here at Backstreets, and surely all those fans touched by his spirit, mourn with you.
This is Danny’s last appearance on stage with the band, March 20,08
March 20th, 2008;
Danny returns to the stage to rave reviews.
Indianapolis, Indiana
by Jason Federici
While my Dad was going through treatment on March 19th in NY, he was visited by Bruce and later Max, who, through a lot of talking, bribing, and begging (and finally the kicker — Becky Weinburg, who came from NJ by boat that night) to persuade him to play, he agreed to do the show in Indy.
The next thing we knew, we where picked up by a limo from Sloan-Kettering, joined by my dad’s wife, Maya, Dr. Chapman and Virgina Murphy and we proceeded down FDR highway to an awaiting helicopter that whisked us away to Newark airport in about 8 minutes (a good time by all, except maybe Dr. Chapman who was gripping the arm rests like a baseball bat). Before we knew it, we were in the jet with the boys.
Danny was greeted with a lot of hugs and smiles, to say the least. An hour and a half later, we pulled into Conseco arena. When my father stepped on stage the crowd started chanting “Danny! Danny! Danny!”. You could physically feel the “Magic” in the air (excuse the pun). My father proceeded to do what he does best – rock out! He played with such a natural ease. The feeling of the evening was electric. The visible bond between the fellas was so special to watch.
Nils spent most of the night next to him, Clarence kept turning around to give him props during the night, and Bruce was so visibly happy to have him there. I couldn’t stop smiling all night. After the exciting encore, he left the stage, went straight to the car, then to the plane, and was fast asleep in NY by 2am. It really was like a dream. In the morning, over coffee, we looked at each other and realized the magnitude of the night.
It was a great day! My father has always been such an inspiration to me, I can only imagine what an inspiration he is to others.
