Danny Federici
Encyclopedia
Daniel Paul "Danny" Federici (January 23, 1950 – April 17, 2008) was an American
musician
, best known as the longtime organ, glockenspiel
, and accordion
player for Bruce Springsteen
's E Street Band
.
. When he mastered classical music
and polka
, his mother booked him at parties, clubs and on radio. While he continued his studies in classical accordion, he gained an interest in jazz
and blues
, after he heard a professor on Neupauer Conservatory of Music in Philadelphia play those styles on accordion.
During in-concert band intros, Springsteen often referred to him as "Phantom", sometimes said to be because of an incident in Asbury Park in the 1960s where Federici evaded a police crackdown that resulted in the arrest of numerous others. Federici attended high school at Hunterdon Central High School in New Jersey. When he, along with Vini Lopez
, started the band Child at the end of the 1960s, their choice for a singer fell on Bruce Springsteen; Federici also joined Springsteen in other early efforts such as Steel Mill
.
Federici's organ fills are a key component in the E Street sound, and sometimes take on a more prominent role, such as on the hit "Hungry Heart
". His use of the electronic glockenspiel is also an easily recognized E Street element; he subsequently used electronic keyboards to simulate the glockenspiel sound. Another notable performance is his accordion solo on "4th of July, Asbury Park (Sandy)
". It was reported in an interview in Backstreets Magazine
that Federici did not have the best working relationship while playing with pianist David Sancious
in the early days of the E Street Band; Sancious would comment on Federici's parts, constantly telling him what to play and what not to play. Keyboard Magazine
published an article in 2008 detailing the instrumentation Danny used.
During the long time the E Street Band was inactive during the 1990s, Federici recorded a solo album of jazz instrumentals called Flemington
, after his hometown of Flemington, New Jersey
. E-Street bandmates, bassist Garry Tallent
and guitarist Nils Lofgren
supplied backup on the album. This was released on the Music Masters Jazz label in 1997; it was later re-worked and re-issued as Danny Federici on Hip-O Records
in 2001. Federici followed this up with a smooth jazz
album Sweet, self-released on Backstreets.com in 2004; it was re-issued as Out of a Dream on V2 Records
in 2005. Federici performed on other artists' records as well, including those of Joan Armatrading
, Graham Parker
, Gary U.S. Bonds
and Garland Jeffreys
.
he had met on the Born in the USA tour, in Janesville, Wisconsin
in 1987. After years of failed adoption attempts, they were successful in adopting two daughters, Madison and Harley; however, the marriage did not last, and the couple separated in 2000 and divorced in 2002. Kathlynn suffered from Crohn's disease
and died in 2007.
Mr. Federici lived in Upper Black Eddy, PA until his death in 2008.
to pursue treatment for melanoma
, and was temporarily replaced by veteran musician Charles Giordano
. Springsteen stated at the time: "Danny is one of the pillars of our sound and has played beside me as a great friend for more than 40 years. We all eagerly await his healthy and speedy return." Federici made his only return to the stage on March 20, 2008, when he appeared for portions of a Springsteen and E Street Band performance at Conseco Fieldhouse
in Indianapolis
. Federici died on April 17, 2008 at the Memorial Sloan-Kettering Cancer Center
in New York City, having suffered for three years with melanoma
. Springsteen's album, Working on a Dream
, is dedicated to him.
through funding for clinical trials at Memorial Sloan-Kettering Cancer Center
in New York. The fund also aims to help raise awareness for the disease.
On July 15, 2008, Bruce Springsteen
and the E Street Band
, through Columbia Records
, released an EP
of audio and video tracks for digital download
, entitled Magic Tour Highlights
, with all proceeds going to the fund. The tracks are taken from the Magic Tour
, and feature a performance of "4th Of July, Asbury Park (Sandy)
" from Federici's final March 20 Indianapolis appearance with the band.
United States
The United States of America is a federal constitutional republic comprising fifty states and a federal district...
musician
Musician
A musician is an artist who plays a musical instrument. It may or may not be the person's profession. Musicians can be classified by their roles in performing music and writing music.Also....* A person who makes music a profession....
, best known as the longtime organ, glockenspiel
Glockenspiel
A glockenspiel is a percussion instrument composed of a set of tuned keys arranged in the fashion of the keyboard of a piano. In this way, it is similar to the xylophone; however, the xylophone's bars are made of wood, while the glockenspiel's are metal plates or tubes, and making it a metallophone...
, and accordion
Accordion
The accordion is a box-shaped musical instrument of the bellows-driven free-reed aerophone family, sometimes referred to as a squeezebox. A person who plays the accordion is called an accordionist....
player for Bruce Springsteen
Bruce Springsteen
Bruce Frederick Joseph Springsteen , nicknamed "The Boss," is an American singer-songwriter who records and tours with the E Street Band...
's E Street Band
E Street Band
The E Street Band has been rock musician Bruce Springsteen's primary backing band since 1972.The band has also recorded with a wide range of other artists including Bob Dylan, Meat Loaf, Bonnie Tyler, Air Supply, Dire Straits, David Bowie, Peter Gabriel, Stevie Nicks, Tom Morello, Sting, Ian...
.
Career
Federici started to play accordion when he was seven years old, which he learned from watching The Lawrence Welk ShowThe Lawrence Welk Show
The Lawrence Welk Show is an American televised musical variety show hosted by big band leader Lawrence Welk. The series aired locally in Los Angeles for four years , then nationally for another 27 years via the ABC network and first-run syndication .In the years since first-run syndication...
. When he mastered classical music
Classical music
Classical music is the art music produced in, or rooted in, the traditions of Western liturgical and secular music, encompassing a broad period from roughly the 11th century to present times...
and polka
Polka
The polka is a Central European dance and also a genre of dance music familiar throughout Europe and the Americas. It originated in the middle of the 19th century in Bohemia...
, his mother booked him at parties, clubs and on radio. While he continued his studies in classical accordion, he gained an interest in jazz
Jazz
Jazz is a musical style that originated at the beginning of the 20th century in African American communities in the Southern United States. It was born out of a mix of African and European music traditions. From its early development until the present, jazz has incorporated music from 19th and 20th...
and blues
Blues
Blues is the name given to both a musical form and a music genre that originated in African-American communities of primarily the "Deep South" of the United States at the end of the 19th century from spirituals, work songs, field hollers, shouts and chants, and rhymed simple narrative ballads...
, after he heard a professor on Neupauer Conservatory of Music in Philadelphia play those styles on accordion.
During in-concert band intros, Springsteen often referred to him as "Phantom", sometimes said to be because of an incident in Asbury Park in the 1960s where Federici evaded a police crackdown that resulted in the arrest of numerous others. Federici attended high school at Hunterdon Central High School in New Jersey. When he, along with Vini Lopez
Vini Lopez
Vini "Mad Dog" Lopez is an American drummer. Between 1968 and 1974 Lopez backed Bruce Springsteen in several bands, including Steel Mill and the E Street Band. He also played on Springsteen’s first two albums, Greetings from Asbury Park, N.J. and The Wild, the Innocent and the E Street Shuffle...
, started the band Child at the end of the 1960s, their choice for a singer fell on Bruce Springsteen; Federici also joined Springsteen in other early efforts such as Steel Mill
Steel Mill
Steel Mill was an early Bruce Springsteen band. Other members of the band included three future members of the E Street Band - Vini Lopez, Danny Federici and Steve Van Zandt. As well as playing on the Jersey Shore, Steel Mill also played regularly in Richmond, Virginia and played gigs in California...
.
Federici's organ fills are a key component in the E Street sound, and sometimes take on a more prominent role, such as on the hit "Hungry Heart
Hungry Heart
"Hungry Heart" is a song written and performed by Bruce Springsteen on his fifth album, The River. It was released as the album's first single in 1980 and became Springsteen's first big hit of his own on the Billboard Hot 100 chart.-History:...
". His use of the electronic glockenspiel is also an easily recognized E Street element; he subsequently used electronic keyboards to simulate the glockenspiel sound. Another notable performance is his accordion solo on "4th of July, Asbury Park (Sandy)
4th of July, Asbury Park (Sandy)
"4th of July, Asbury Park ", often known just as "Sandy", is a 1973 song by Bruce Springsteen, originally appearing as the second song on his album The Wild, The Innocent and The E Street Shuffle....
". It was reported in an interview in Backstreets Magazine
Backstreets Magazine
Backstreets Magazine is a published quarterly Bruce Springsteen fanzine that has been covering the music of Springsteen and other Jersey Shore sound artists since 1980.- History :...
that Federici did not have the best working relationship while playing with pianist David Sancious
David Sancious
David Sancious is an American musician. He was an early member of Bruce Springsteen's backing group, the E Street Band, and contributed to the first three Springsteen albums, and again on the 1992 album Human Touch. Sancious is a multi-instrumentalist but is best known as a keyboard player and...
in the early days of the E Street Band; Sancious would comment on Federici's parts, constantly telling him what to play and what not to play. Keyboard Magazine
Keyboard Magazine
Keyboard Magazine is a magazine that originally covered electronic keyboard instruments and keyboardists, though with the advent of computer based recording and audio technology, they have added digital music technology to their regular coverage, including those not strictly pertaining to the...
published an article in 2008 detailing the instrumentation Danny used.
During the long time the E Street Band was inactive during the 1990s, Federici recorded a solo album of jazz instrumentals called Flemington
Flemington (album)
Flemington is the debut solo record from Bruce Springsteen's E Street Band keyboardist Danny Federici. It was released in 1997 on Musicmasters Records...
, after his hometown of Flemington, New Jersey
Flemington, New Jersey
Flemington is a borough in Hunterdon County, New Jersey, United States. As of the United States 2010 Census, the borough population was 4,581. It is the county seat of Hunterdon County....
. E-Street bandmates, bassist Garry Tallent
Garry Tallent
Garry Wayne Tallent , sometimes billed as Garry W. Tallent, is an American musician and record producer, best known for being the longtime bass player in Bruce Springsteen's E Street Band....
and guitarist Nils Lofgren
Nils Lofgren
Nils Hilmer Lofgren is an American rock music recording artist, songwriter, and multi-instrumentalist...
supplied backup on the album. This was released on the Music Masters Jazz label in 1997; it was later re-worked and re-issued as Danny Federici on Hip-O Records
Hip-O Records
Hip-O Records is a record label, currently part of Universal Music Group, which specializes in reissues and compilations. Their Hip-O Select label is currently in the midst of releasing the Complete Motown Singles, a series of fourteen box sets which include both sides of every 45 from Motown...
in 2001. Federici followed this up with a smooth jazz
Smooth jazz
Smooth jazz is a genre of music that grew out of jazz fusion and is influenced by R&B, funk, rock, and pop music styles ....
album Sweet, self-released on Backstreets.com in 2004; it was re-issued as Out of a Dream on V2 Records
V2 Records
V2 Records is a record label that is owned by Universal Music Group as of October 2007. The label was founded in 1996 by Richard Branson, five years after he sold Virgin Records to EMI....
in 2005. Federici performed on other artists' records as well, including those of Joan Armatrading
Joan Armatrading
Joan Anita Barbara Armatrading, MBE is a British singer, songwriter and guitarist. Armatrading is a three-time Grammy Award-nominee and has been nominated twice for BRIT Awards as Best Female Artist...
, Graham Parker
Graham Parker
Graham Parker is a British rock singer and songwriter, who is best known as the lead singer of the popular British band Graham Parker & the Rumour.-Early career :...
, Gary U.S. Bonds
Gary U.S. Bonds
Gary U.S. Bonds is an American rhythm and blues and rock and roll singer. He is also a prolific songwriter.-Career:...
and Garland Jeffreys
Garland Jeffreys
Garland Jeffreys is a part African-American, and Puerto Rican American, singer and songwriter, transversing the musical genres of rock and roll, reggae, blues and soul.-Career:...
.
Personal life
Federici had a son, Jason, with his first wife, Flo, in 1969; they divorced soon after. He later married Kathlynn Helmeid, a flight attendantFlight attendant
Flight attendants or cabin crew are members of an aircrew employed by airlines primarily to ensure the safety and comfort of passengers aboard commercial flights, on select business jet aircraft, and on some military aircraft.-History:The role of a flight attendant derives from that of similar...
he had met on the Born in the USA tour, in Janesville, Wisconsin
Janesville, Wisconsin
Janesville is a city in southern Wisconsin, United States. It is the county seat of Rock County and the principal municipality of the Janesville, Wisconsin Metropolitan Statistical Area. As of the 2010 census, the city had a population of 62,998.-History:...
in 1987. After years of failed adoption attempts, they were successful in adopting two daughters, Madison and Harley; however, the marriage did not last, and the couple separated in 2000 and divorced in 2002. Kathlynn suffered from Crohn's disease
Crohn's disease
Crohn's disease, also known as regional enteritis, is a type of inflammatory bowel disease that may affect any part of the gastrointestinal tract from mouth to anus, causing a wide variety of symptoms...
and died in 2007.
Mr. Federici lived in Upper Black Eddy, PA until his death in 2008.
Illness and Death
On November 21, 2007, it was announced that Federici would take a leave of absence from Springsteen and the E Street Band's ongoing Magic TourMagic Tour (Bruce Springsteen)
The Magic Tour was Bruce Springsteen and the E Street Band's 2007–2008 concert tour of North America and Western Europe.The tour began October 2, 2007, in Hartford, Connecticut, and concluded August 30, 2008 in Milwaukee, Wisconsin...
to pursue treatment for melanoma
Melanoma
Melanoma is a malignant tumor of melanocytes. Melanocytes are cells that produce the dark pigment, melanin, which is responsible for the color of skin. They predominantly occur in skin, but are also found in other parts of the body, including the bowel and the eye...
, and was temporarily replaced by veteran musician Charles Giordano
Charles Giordano
Charles Giordano is an American keyboardist and accordionist. Giordano is known primarily as the newest member of Bruce Springsteen's E Street Band, playing keyboards and organ following the serious illness and subsequent death of longtime E Street organist Danny Federici in 2008...
. Springsteen stated at the time: "Danny is one of the pillars of our sound and has played beside me as a great friend for more than 40 years. We all eagerly await his healthy and speedy return." Federici made his only return to the stage on March 20, 2008, when he appeared for portions of a Springsteen and E Street Band performance at Conseco Fieldhouse
Conseco Fieldhouse
Conseco Fieldhouse is a multi-purpose arena located in downtown Indianapolis, Indiana, United States. Opened in November 1999 to replace Market Square Arena, it is home to the Indiana Pacers of the National Basketball Association and the Indiana Fever of the Women's National Basketball Association...
in Indianapolis
Indianapolis
Indianapolis is the capital of the U.S. state of Indiana, and the county seat of Marion County, Indiana. As of the 2010 United States Census, the city's population is 839,489. It is by far Indiana's largest city and, as of the 2010 U.S...
. Federici died on April 17, 2008 at the Memorial Sloan-Kettering Cancer Center
Memorial Sloan-Kettering Cancer Center
Memorial Sloan–Kettering Cancer Center is a cancer treatment and research institution founded in 1884 as the New York Cancer Hospital...
in New York City, having suffered for three years with melanoma
Melanoma
Melanoma is a malignant tumor of melanocytes. Melanocytes are cells that produce the dark pigment, melanin, which is responsible for the color of skin. They predominantly occur in skin, but are also found in other parts of the body, including the bowel and the eye...
. Springsteen's album, Working on a Dream
Working on a Dream
Working on a Dream is the 16th studio album by Bruce Springsteen, released on January 27, 2009 through Columbia Records. It has sold more than 3 million copies worldwide, with over 585,000 in the United States as of September 2010.-History:...
, is dedicated to him.
The Danny Federici Melanoma Fund
The Danny Federici Melanoma Fund was started after his death, and is dedicated to the research and development treatments for melanomaMelanoma
Melanoma is a malignant tumor of melanocytes. Melanocytes are cells that produce the dark pigment, melanin, which is responsible for the color of skin. They predominantly occur in skin, but are also found in other parts of the body, including the bowel and the eye...
through funding for clinical trials at Memorial Sloan-Kettering Cancer Center
Memorial Sloan-Kettering Cancer Center
Memorial Sloan–Kettering Cancer Center is a cancer treatment and research institution founded in 1884 as the New York Cancer Hospital...
in New York. The fund also aims to help raise awareness for the disease.
On July 15, 2008, Bruce Springsteen
Bruce Springsteen
Bruce Frederick Joseph Springsteen , nicknamed "The Boss," is an American singer-songwriter who records and tours with the E Street Band...
and the E Street Band
E Street Band
The E Street Band has been rock musician Bruce Springsteen's primary backing band since 1972.The band has also recorded with a wide range of other artists including Bob Dylan, Meat Loaf, Bonnie Tyler, Air Supply, Dire Straits, David Bowie, Peter Gabriel, Stevie Nicks, Tom Morello, Sting, Ian...
, through Columbia Records
Columbia Records
Columbia Records is an American record label, owned by Japan's Sony Music Entertainment, operating under the Columbia Music Group with Aware Records. It was founded in 1888, evolving from an earlier enterprise, the American Graphophone Company — successor to the Volta Graphophone Company...
, released an EP
Extended play
An EP is a musical recording which contains more music than a single, but is too short to qualify as a full album or LP. The term EP originally referred only to specific types of vinyl records other than 78 rpm standard play records and LP records, but it is now applied to mid-length Compact...
of audio and video tracks for digital download
Music download
A music download is the transferral of music from an Internet-facing computer or website to a user's local computer. This term encompasses both legal downloads and downloads of copyright material without permission or payment...
, entitled Magic Tour Highlights
Magic Tour Highlights
Magic Tour Highlights is an EP by Bruce Springsteen and the E Street Band, which consists of four live audio tracks and their accompanying videos, and was released for digital download on July 15, 2008...
, with all proceeds going to the fund. The tracks are taken from the Magic Tour
Magic Tour (Bruce Springsteen)
The Magic Tour was Bruce Springsteen and the E Street Band's 2007–2008 concert tour of North America and Western Europe.The tour began October 2, 2007, in Hartford, Connecticut, and concluded August 30, 2008 in Milwaukee, Wisconsin...
, and feature a performance of "4th Of July, Asbury Park (Sandy)
4th of July, Asbury Park (Sandy)
"4th of July, Asbury Park ", often known just as "Sandy", is a 1973 song by Bruce Springsteen, originally appearing as the second song on his album The Wild, The Innocent and The E Street Shuffle....
" from Federici's final March 20 Indianapolis appearance with the band.
Solo releases
- FlemingtonFlemington (album)Flemington is the debut solo record from Bruce Springsteen's E Street Band keyboardist Danny Federici. It was released in 1997 on Musicmasters Records...
1997 - Danny Federici 2001
- Sweet 2004
- Out of a Dream 2005
External links
- Official Site of the Danny Federici Melanoma Fund
- Interview with Chorus and Verse (Oct. 2005)
- Interview with Chorus and Verse (June 2002)