Word up from Backstreets, courtesy of King from Neptune:

DANNY FEDERICI, 1950 - 2008

Danny Federici, the E Street Band's organist and keyboard player since its
inception, died this afternoon, April 17, 2008 at Memorial Sloan-Kettering
Cancer Center in New York City after a three-year battle with melanoma.

The Federici family and the E Street family request that, in lieu of flowers,
donations be made to the Danny Federici Melanoma Fund; more details on the
Fund will be forthcoming.

The Bruce Springsteen and the E Street Band concerts scheduled for Friday in
Ft. Lauderdale and Saturday in Orlando are being postponed. Replacement dates
will be announced shortly.

We extend our deepest sympathies to Danny's family, bandmates, and blood
brothers; we here at Backstreets, and surely all those fans touched by his
spirit, mourn with you.
.

Crushed by this. Obviously they made sure the fans didn't know how sick Danny really was, as evidenced by his guest appearance a few weeks ago in Indianapolis.

I had tickets for all 3 Florida shows this weekend and was shocked to see the news tonight.

Read this on another message board and the official website. A truly huge part of Bruce's band. He will be missed. RIP Phantom Dan.

Wow, just wow... I always figured Clarence would be the first to go, he always looks so out of shape.

You should have seen Clarence on this tour. He could barely walk to the center of the stage. He's had two hip replacements and he just hobbles around. They had to put a throne on the stage for him to sit down most of the show. It was pretty sad.

Gone at 58...terrible news. R.I.P.

Tanned too much?

Wow, that seems so out of the blue. Wouldn't have expected him to have even played a few weeks ago. I'm going in a week here in Atlanta. Doesn't seem like much of a cause to celebrate in a live show so soon (which to me, Springsteen shows are mostly big celebrations).

I'm going to the Atlanta one too. Where are your seats?

This is really sad news. I am so glad he was able to pop back in for that show last month and have a final moment to shine. RIP Phantom.

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Terrible terrible news.

Off to the side a bit behind the stage. Kind of close up. Scored some tix on Ebay way below face value. It's an interesting place to sit and doesn't really bother me to not be in front.

Here's a clip from 30 years ago that features Danny's accordian prominently (the same song from Matto's clip, but this is a more vintage performance):

Great seats you got, IMO. I got lowers in section 202...sorta far back. Still, should be an amazing show.

Sad news indeed. What would the openings of Thunder Road and Tenth Ave Freeze Out be without Danny's wonderful work?

Pretty much the same. Roy Bittan plays the piano intros to those songs. Danny Federici was the organist in the E. Street band.

Yeah, Danny only played on Born To Run on the title track in the studio. Of course, as Springsteen's career progressed so did Danny's involvement in the studio.

Man after rewatching some clips and such...do you suppose it was evident how much time he had left and hence why he made his guest appearance that night? Perhaps he and the band knew that his time left was short, and this was his last hoorah with the band?

It's still very sad to see E Street lose a member.