RIP

From Brucespringsteen.net:

DANNY FEDERICI

"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." —Bruce Springsteen

Danny Federici, for 40 years the E Street Band's organist and keyboard player, died (Thursday) 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. A web site for the Fund is being established and we'll post its link when it is on line.

Bruce Springsteen's concerts scheduled for Friday in Ft. Lauderdale and Saturday in Orlando performance are being postponed. Replacement dates will be announced shortly.

Danny Federici's accordion playing on "4th of July, Asbury Park (Sandy)" might be the reason that I developed the love that I have for that instrument. I listened to it over and over in my formative years, and remember it seeming exotic at the time. Accordian? In a rock 'n' roll band?

It's Danny's glockenspiel that you hear on some E Street Band tracks, too.

Damn.

A video of his last performance with the E Street Band is available on YouTube. That performance was just 4 weeks ago.