Danny Federici, the E Street Band's longtime keyboard player, died Thursday night at Memorial Sloan-Kettering Cancer Center after a three-year battle with melanoma. He was 58.
"Danny and I worked together for 40 years - he was the most wonderfully fluid keyboard player and a pure natural musician," Bruce Springsteen said on his Web site. "I loved him very much...we grew up together."
Though Federici's organ and piano sounds may not have attracted as much attention as Clarence Clemons' sax solos or Little Steven's guitar riffs, they were just as important to the E Street Band sound. He will be missed.
Danny Federici takes a bow