The music world, lost another great one. Clarence Clemons, known for being the prominent member of Bruce Springsteen & The E Street Band from 1972 until now. He was most recognizable for his talent in his incredible sax playing. Whenever he plays the sax, you know it’s Clarence playing right away. He was also one of the coolest sax players who was such a badass on stage. He was an important member of the E Street Band.

Clarence had other projects over the years, other than the E Street Band though. He made several solo albums in his career. He also did side projects being a special guest sax player for Aretha Franklin on “Freeway of Love” and he even played for Twister Sister on their song, “Be Chrool for Your Scuel”.He even performed in concert with the Grateful Dead once.

Clarence was also a part time actor in Hollywood. He had cameos in TV shows such as “Diff’rent Strokes”, “Nash Bridges”, “The Simpsons”, and “The Wire”. He also had acting roles in films such as “New York, New York” and “Bill & Ted’s Excellent Adventure”.He also appeared on an episode of Weird Al’s children’s show “The Weird Al Show”.

As a child, Clarence grew up listening to jazz music and he first picked up the sax at the age of 9. In Sept. of 1971, that’s when Clarence first met Bruce Springsteen. Clarence was recommended to check out Bruce Springsteen play with his band at a club called, The Student Prince. Clarence asked Bruce if he could join his band, so Bruce gave him an audition, of course, Clarence was in.

Clarence suffered a stroke on June 12, he died from complications of the stroke on Sat. June 18th. RIP Big Man. My heart goes out to Springsteen, the E Street Band, his family, friends and fans. This is a sad day in the music world. I’m sure the E Street Band will continue without him, but honestly, it’s not the E Street band without him. The E Street Band will never be the same, no matter who replaces him as a sax player. This sucks. He was the reason I listened to the Street Band.

Kev