Clarence Clemons' Passes Away In Palm Beach
MIAMI (CBS4) - The soulful sax of Bruce Springsteen's E Street Band member Clarence Clemmons has gone silent.
Clemons, 69, passed away Saturday in Palm Beach hospital six days after he suffered a stroke at his Singer Island home.
A fixture at Miami Heat games, guard Dwyane Wade wrote "Great man" Saturday night in a Twitter message.
"His loss is immeasurable and we are honored and thankful to have known him and had the opportunity to stand beside him for nearly 40 years," Springsteen said in a statement on his website.
Clemons' loss cuts deeply into the soul of the band. His importance was acknowledged whenever Springsteen performed "Tenth Avenue Freeze-out," when he sang, "We made that change uptown and the Big Man joined the band," inevitably followed by a wail of Clemons' sax and a roar from the crowd.
The two men met in 1971 on the New Jersey bar band circuit, and when Springsteen released his debut album two years later, Clemons left a more successful outfit for a new Boss.
Inevitably Clemons' introduction was the climax every night when Springsteen presented the individual band members to the audience, accompanied by a variety of regal nicknames like "Master of the Universe" and "King of the World."
"Do I have to say his name?" Springsteen would shout to the crowd.
"No!" came the roar back. He did anyway.
Last fall's release of "The Promise," which included a DVD of a 1978 Springsteen concert performance, underscored the central role of Clemons in the act. The two men were a marked physical contrast: a bedgraggled, slightly scrawny white guitar player and a 6-foot-5-inch, 270-plus-pound black man with a sax — known simply as the Big Man —who would be intimidating if he didn't so often carry a smile.
They would stalk each other on the stage, staring with ferocious eyes, and play their instruments as they stood back to back, leaning on the other for support. They'd even kiss, their relationship sending a message of brotherhood, family and — given racial undertones — tolerance and respect for all.
The relationship was captured memorably with a giant photo of the two men on the cover of Springsteen's "Born to Run" album.
Clemons was musically vital, too, particularly given the longer, structurally ambitious songs Springsteen was writing in the 1970s, a potent mixture of rock, soul, jazz and folk. Clemons' sax kicked "Born to Run" into overdrive, and his solo was a key moment in the majestic "Jungleland."
He had a deep, booming voice not often displayed, although he added hearty "ho-ho-ho's" during seasonal renditions of "Santa Claus is Comin' to Town."
Truth be told, Clemons' role in the E Street Band diminished as the years went on. Springsteen's simpler song structures left less space for the sax, and the instrument competed to be heard in a dense wall of sound anchored by three electric guitar players. Clemons would add maracas or tambourines to some of Springsteen's compositions.
Clemons' physical ailments also made him a less active presence onstage. He underwent spinal surgery last year after many years of back pain and spent time in a wheelchair after double knee replacement surgery.
Clemons' death is unlikely to bring an end to the E Street Band, which Springsteen alluded to in a statement posted on his website Saturday announcing the death.
"He was my great friend, my partner and with Clarence at my side, my band and I were able to tell a story far deeper than those simply contained in our music. His life, his memory, and his love will live on in that story and in our band."
The saxophone is such a major presence in Springsteen's music that it's difficult to imagine many of his songs being performed without it. They will be big shoes for anyone to fill.
(©2011 CBS Local Media, a division of CBS Radio Inc. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten, or redistributed. The Associated Press contributed to this report.)
