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| Saxophonist Clarence Clemons (left) grabs Bruce Springsteen during an appearance with the E-Street Band at the “Today” show in New York, in this September 28, 2007 file photograph. Clemons died on Saturday. He was 69 |
“It is with overwhelming sadness that we inform our friends and fans that at 7:00 tonight, Saturday, June 18, our beloved friend and bandmate, Clarence Clemons passed away,” Springsteen said on his website, adding the cause was complications from Clemons’ stroke last Sunday.
“His loss is immeasurable and we are honoured and thankful to have known him and had the opportunity to stand beside him for nearly 40 years,” Springsteen added.
Clemons, dubbed the “Big Man,” started working with Springsteen in 1971 and was a charter member of the backing group that came to be known as the E Street Band.
His gritty, evocative saxophone solos powered such notable Springsteen songs as Born to Run, Jungleland, Prove It All Night, Tenth Avenue Freeze Out, and Badlands.
On stage, Clemons proved a worthy foil for Springsteen and his bandmates. In a 1975 concert review, Rolling Stone said Clemons betrayed an “ominous cool” in contrast to guitarist Steven Van Zandt’s “strange hipster frenzy.”
“Clarence was the big black saxophone player who completely represented the tradition of rock ‘n’ roll and R&B,” Van Zandt told Britain’s Mojo magazine in 2006.