Danny Federici, keyboard player and an interegal member of the E Stree Band died yesterday at the age of 58 of melanoma. To most casual fans it's Bruce up there on stage and they probably couldn't name any of the musicians that Springsteen surrounds himself with. For a lot of musicians every tour is a new group of musicians to back them on stage. For Springsteen it is the same guys he started playing with before he was a Star.Yes, there was a break there, where Springsteen performed with other musicians and the E Street Band each went their own seperate ways, but the Boss called them all back together. Very few "real" groups survive in the music business with the same members, for a person that is basically is solo like Bruce it's very rare to be playing with the same guys for this long. Tom Petty and his Heartbreakers are one of the few other bands in the same situation that has stayed together are one of the only other acts I can think of.
Back years ago I remember impressing some friends when they were looking at pictures from someone's tour, it might have been Stevie Nicks, and her backing band was made up of members of Tom Petty and Bruce Springsteen's bands and I named them all. They were astounded that someone would know the names of what they considered faceless musicians, people there to just help shine the light on the main attraction.
But to many of us people like Danny were far from faceless and they contributed more than just holding a spotlight on the main act. They were part of a band that helped to shape and make the music that so many of us love and listen to.
Rest in peace, Danny.
2 comments:
Everybody starts somewhere...The Eagles backed up Linda Rondstadt and Barry Manilow wrote jingles, then played piano and wrote songs for Bette Midler.
This is a nice tribute for Danny.
Nice post for a nice guy. I know what you mean about people not seeing the band as part of the act. It's not fair.
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