Patti Scialfa
Encyclopedia
United States
The United States of America is a federal constitutional republic comprising fifty states and a federal district...
singer, songwriter
Songwriter
A songwriter is an individual who writes both the lyrics and music to a song. Someone who solely writes lyrics may be called a lyricist, and someone who only writes music may be called a composer...
, and guitarist
Guitarist
A guitarist is a musician who plays the guitar. Guitarists may play a variety of instruments such as classical guitars, acoustic guitars, electric guitars, and bass guitars. Some guitarists accompany themselves on the guitar while singing.- Versatility :The guitarist controls an extremely...
. She is married to Bruce Springsteen
Bruce Springsteen
Bruce Frederick Joseph Springsteen , nicknamed "The Boss," is an American singer-songwriter who records and tours with the E Street Band...
and they have three children.
Early life
Scialfa was born in Deal, New JerseyDeal, New Jersey
Deal is a borough in Monmouth County, New Jersey, United States. As of the 2010 Census, the borough population was 750.Deal was incorporated as a borough on March 7, 1898, by an act of the New Jersey Legislature, from portions of Ocean Township....
. She was the middle child of Joseph Scialfa and Patricia (née Morris) Scialfa. Her father was of Sicilian ancestry and her mother is of Scots-Irish ancestry. She also has half-siblings from her father's second marriage. Her father was a successful local entrepreneur, who started with a single television
Television
Television is a telecommunication medium for transmitting and receiving moving images that can be monochrome or colored, with accompanying sound...
store and became a real estate developer.
Scialfa was writing songs from an early age and first worked professionally as a back-up singer for New Jersey bar bands after she completed high school. In 1994, she stated in a Lear's Magazine
Lear's Magazine
Lear's Magazine was a women's magazine, intended for women over 35. It covered many celebrity interviews, women's issues, and many progressive issues. Its slogan was "For The Woman Who Wasn't Born Yesterday". It was published from 1988 until early 1994....
interview that she had little talent for anything but music and that she attended college as a way to further her ambitions as a performer while also satisfying parental expectations. She has a music degree from New York University
New York University
New York University is a private, nonsectarian research university based in New York City. NYU's main campus is situated in the Greenwich Village section of Manhattan...
, earned after she transferred from the University of Miami
University of Miami
The University of Miami is a private, non-sectarian university founded in 1925 with its main campus in Coral Gables, Florida, a medical campus in Miami city proper at Civic Center, and an oceanographic research facility on Virginia Key., the university currently enrolls 15,629 students in 12...
's highly-respected jazz
Jazz
Jazz is a musical style that originated at the beginning of the 20th century in African American communities in the Southern United States. It was born out of a mix of African and European music traditions. From its early development until the present, jazz has incorporated music from 19th and 20th...
conservatory at the Frost School of Music
Frost School of Music
The Phillip and Patricia Frost School of Music or Frost School of Music of the University of Miami in Coral Gables, Florida, known from 1926 to 2003 as University of Miami School of Music, is a music school in the United States....
.
Music career
While in college, Scialfa was submitting original material to other artists in the hope that it would be recorded. However, none of her songs were recorded and after graduating, Scialfa worked as a buskerBusking
Street performance or busking is the practice of performing in public places, for gratuities, which are generally in the form of money and edibles...
and waitress in Greenwich Village
Greenwich Village
Greenwich Village, , , , .in New York often simply called "the Village", is a largely residential neighborhood on the west side of Lower Manhattan in New York City. A large majority of the district is home to upper middle class families...
. Together with Soozie Tyrell
Soozie Tyrell
Soozie Tyrell, , formerly known as Soozie Kirschner, is an American violinist and vocalist, most known for her work with Bruce Springsteen in the E Street Band.-Biography:...
and Lisa Lowell, she formed a street group known as Trickster. For many years, she struggled to make her way in the songwriting and recording industry in New York and New Jersey before playing at Kenny’s Castaway in Greenwich Village, as well as Asbury Park's The Stone Pony
The Stone Pony
The Stone Pony, located in Asbury Park, New Jersey, is one of the world's best known music venues. It is known as a starting point for many musicians, first and foremost for Southside Johnny and the Asbury Jukes, who were the house-band for much of the mid-seventies, but also for New Jersey natives...
. Scialfa had a brief role in The Stone Pony's house band Cats on a Smooth Surface
Cats on a Smooth Surface
Cats on a Smooth Surface is an American rock group, that starting in 1978 and throughout the 1980s was the house band at The Stone Pony in Asbury Park, New Jersey...
. These gigs won her notice and, eventually, recording work with Southside Johnny
Southside Johnny
Southside Johnny is an American singer-songwriter, who usually fronts his band Southside Johnny & The Asbury Jukes.-Early days:...
and David Johansen
David Johansen
David Roger Johansen is an American rock, protopunk, blues, and pop singer, as well as a songwriter and actor. He is best known as a member of the seminal protopunk band The New York Dolls and also achieved commercial success under the pseudonym Buster Poindexter.-Early life:Johansen was born in...
.
In 1984, Scialfa joined the E Street Band
E Street Band
The E Street Band has been rock musician Bruce Springsteen's primary backing band since 1972.The band has also recorded with a wide range of other artists including Bob Dylan, Meat Loaf, Bonnie Tyler, Air Supply, Dire Straits, David Bowie, Peter Gabriel, Stevie Nicks, Tom Morello, Sting, Ian...
, three or four days before the opening show of the Born in the U.S.A. Tour
Born in the U.S.A. Tour
The Born in the U.S.A. Tour was the supporting concert tour of Bruce Springsteen's massively popular Born in the U.S.A. album. It was his longest and most successful tour to date. It featured a physically transformed Springsteen. After two years of bodybuilding, Springsteen had bulked up...
, either because Springsteen wanted to expand the emotional range of the band (Marsh
Dave Marsh
Dave Marsh is an American music critic, author, editor and radio talk show host. He was a formative editor of Creem magazine, has written for various publications such as Newsday, The Village Voice, and Rolling Stone, and has published numerous books about music and musicians, mostly focused on...
, Glory Days) or because Nils Lofgren
Nils Lofgren
Nils Hilmer Lofgren is an American rock music recording artist, songwriter, and multi-instrumentalist...
contracted mononucleosis
Infectious mononucleosis
Infectious mononucleosis is an infectious, widespread viral...
, which made it impossible for him to sing his backing vocals;. In 1986, she appeared on the Rolling Stones' Dirty Work album, leaving her unique vocal mark on "One Hit (To the Body)" as well as other tracks. She worked with Keith Richards
Keith Richards
Keith Richards is an English musician, songwriter, and founding member of the Rolling Stones. Rolling Stone magazine said Richards had created "rock's greatest single body of riffs", and placed him as the "10th greatest guitarist of all time." Fourteen songs written by Richards and songwriting...
on his first solo disc Talk is Cheap
Talk Is Cheap
Talk Is Cheap is the solo album debut by Keith Richards of The Rolling Stones, released in 1988. Recorded and released following a brief creative and personal fallout with Mick Jagger, Talk Is Cheap received glowing reviews upon its release....
. Steve Jordan
Steve Jordan (musician)
Steve Jordan is an American multi-instrumentalist, composer, musical director and Grammy Award-winning artist, who has made a name for himself as a producer from the Bronx in New York City. A graduate of the Fiorello H...
, who co-produced the Richards record, was a friend of Scialfa's from her Greenwich Village days.
Scialfa maintains her music industry friendships over many years. Her friendship with Soozie Tyrell
Soozie Tyrell
Soozie Tyrell, , formerly known as Soozie Kirschner, is an American violinist and vocalist, most known for her work with Bruce Springsteen in the E Street Band.-Biography:...
and Lisa Lowell pre-date their mutual work as background vocalists and musicians on the Buster Poindexter 'aka' David Johansen
David Johansen
David Roger Johansen is an American rock, protopunk, blues, and pop singer, as well as a songwriter and actor. He is best known as a member of the seminal protopunk band The New York Dolls and also achieved commercial success under the pseudonym Buster Poindexter.-Early life:Johansen was born in...
album (featuring "Hot-Hot-Hot") of 1987; Lowell and Tyrell have since worked on various Springsteen-Scialfa recording projects and Tyrell, violinist, has recorded and toured with Springsteen and the E Street Band.
Scialfa has recorded three solo albums, 1993's Rumble Doll
Rumble Doll (album)
"Rumble Doll" is the name of the debut full-length album from Bruce Springsteen's wife, singer-songwriter Patti Scialfa. It features twelve tracks, eleven of which she wrote herself...
, 2004's 23rd Street Lullaby and 2007's Play It as It Lays. Her first two albums received four-star reviews from Rolling Stone
Rolling Stone
Rolling Stone is a US-based magazine devoted to music, liberal politics, and popular culture that is published every two weeks. Rolling Stone was founded in San Francisco in 1967 by Jann Wenner and music critic Ralph J...
, while the third got three and a half. Her records are a mix of confessional songwriting, impressive vocal range, and traditional country, folk and rock music. Springsteen and fellow E Street bandmates like Lofgren and Roy Bittan
Roy Bittan
Roy Bittan is an American keyboardist, best known as a member of Bruce Springsteen's E Street Band, which he joined on August 23, 1974...
contributed backing work. Following the release of her second album, Scialfa played a series of club dates along the East Coast
East Coast of the United States
The East Coast of the United States, also known as the Eastern Seaboard, refers to the easternmost coastal states in the United States, which touch the Atlantic Ocean and stretch up to Canada. The term includes the U.S...
and she was also the opening act of the post-final night of the Vote for Change
Vote for Change
The Vote for Change tour was a politically-motivated American popular music concert tour that took place in October 2004. The tour was presented by MoveOn.org to benefit America Coming Together. The tour was held in swing states and was designed to encourage people to register and vote...
tour.
When asked during the press conference for the NFL Super Bowl in 2009 whether she was working on a new album, she confirmed that she was. She confirmed again, during an interview on the radio show "Bruce Brunch" on 105.7 Hawk radio, on 10 April 2011 that she had written most of the songs for her 4th album and just need to find time to record it.
Private life and public image
Patti Scialfa and Bruce Springsteen met through the New Jersey Shore music sceneJersey Shore sound
The Jersey Shore sound is a genre of rock and roll popularized at the Jersey Shore on the Atlantic Ocean coast of New Jersey, United States, that goes by a variety of names or, more often, is defined by its artists...
. The two remained casual friends in the early '80s. In a September 2007 Rolling Stone
Rolling Stone
Rolling Stone is a US-based magazine devoted to music, liberal politics, and popular culture that is published every two weeks. Rolling Stone was founded in San Francisco in 1967 by Jann Wenner and music critic Ralph J...
interview, Scialfa stated her and Bruce's relationship at that time "would have to have been the real deal, or nothing at all."
During the 1988 Tunnel of Love Express Tour
Tunnel of Love Express Tour
The Tunnel of Love Express was a concert tour featuring Bruce Springsteen and the E Street Band that took place in 1988. It followed by four and a half months the release of Springsteen's 1987 album, Tunnel of Love.-Itinerary:...
, Scialfa took a central role in the sexually-charged stage performances, such as "You Can Look (But You Better Not Touch)," "Tougher than the Rest" and "I'm a Coward", thereby displacing Springsteen's traditional on-stage foil, saxophonist Clarence Clemons
Clarence Clemons
Clarence Anicholas Clemons, Jr. , also known as The Big Man, was an American musician and actor. From 1972 until his death, he was a prominent member of Bruce Springsteen's E Street Band, playing the tenor saxophone. He released several solo albums and in 1985, had a hit single with "You're a...
. Springsteen and Scialfa were later pictured together in tabloid photographs on a hotel balcony in Rome. Springsteen was separated at the time from model Julianne Phillips
Julianne Phillips
Julianne Phillips is an American model and actress. She is the ex-wife of Bruce Springsteen.-Biography:Born in Chicago, Illinois, Phillips was raised in the Portland suburb of Lake Oswego, Oregon, the daughter of insurance broker, William Phillips, and wife, Ann Phillips. She was the youngest of...
, although this news was not released to the press or fans. Springsteen's divorce from Phillips was finalized in 1989.
On July 25, 1990 Scialfa gave birth to the couple's first child, Evan James Springsteen. On June 8, 1991 Springsteen and Scialfa married at their Beverly Hills home. Their second child, Jessica Rae Springsteen, was born on December 30, 1991; and their third child, Samuel Ryan Springsteen, was born on January 5, 1994. The family owns and lives on a horse farm in Colts Neck, New Jersey. They also own homes in Wellington, Florida
Wellington, Florida
Wellington is a village in Palm Beach County, Florida, United States. As of 2006, the village had a population of 55,584 according to the U.S. Census Bureau. Wellington is part of the South Florida Metropolitan Statistical Area.-History:...
, a wealthy horse community near West Palm Beach, Los Angeles
Los Ángeles
Los Ángeles is the capital of the province of Biobío, in the commune of the same name, in Region VIII , in the center-south of Chile. It is located between the Laja and Biobío rivers. The population is 123,445 inhabitants...
and Rumson, New Jersey
Rumson, New Jersey
Rumson is a borough in Monmouth County, New Jersey, United States. As of the 2010 United States Census, the borough population was 7,122.Rumson was formed as a borough by an act of the New Jersey Legislature on March 15, 1907, from portions of Shrewsbury Township, based on the results of a...
. Their eldest son, Evan, attends Boston College
Boston College
Boston College is a private Jesuit research university located in the village of Chestnut Hill, Massachusetts, USA. The main campus is bisected by the border between the cities of Boston and Newton. It has 9,200 full-time undergraduates and 4,000 graduate students. Its name reflects its early...
. Their daughter Jessica is a nationally-ranked champion equestrian
Equestrianism
Equestrianism more often known as riding, horseback riding or horse riding refers to the skill of riding, driving, or vaulting with horses...
, and attends Duke University
Duke University
Duke University is a private research university located in Durham, North Carolina, United States. Founded by Methodists and Quakers in the present day town of Trinity in 1838, the school moved to Durham in 1892. In 1924, tobacco industrialist James B...
.
The Springsteen-Scialfa union weathered the initial media attention, and their partnership in music and life is seen as one of the strongest in the entertainment world, in spite of Springsteen being named in a married mother's divorce papers by the woman's husband. Nevertheless, Scialfa has been forced to tolerate, if not overcome, the impression that her own career as a lead singer is a result of her marriage to Springsteen and not a result of her own talent. She might be best known as the woman who inspired Springsteen to write the bawdy "Red Headed Woman". He also dedicates his famous cover of Tom Waits
Tom Waits
Thomas Alan "Tom" Waits is an American singer-songwriter, composer, and actor. Waits has a distinctive voice, described by critic Daniel Durchholz as sounding "like it was soaked in a vat of bourbon, left hanging in the smokehouse for a few months, and then taken outside and run over with a car."...
' "Jersey Girl
Jersey Girl (song)
"Jersey Girl" is a song composed and originally sung by American singer-songwriter Tom Waits from his 1980 album Heartattack and Vine.-Waits original:Waits wrote the song with his future wife Kathleen Brennan, who had been living in New Jersey...
" to her in concert (although his initial performances of the song pre-dated his relationship with her).
Colts Neck Township, New Jersey
Colts Neck is a township in Monmouth County, New Jersey, United States. As of the 2010 United States Census, the population was 10,142.What is now Colts Neck Township was established by an act of the New Jersey Legislature as Atlantic Township on February 18, 1847, from portions of Freehold...
in New Jersey
New Jersey
New Jersey is a state in the Northeastern and Middle Atlantic regions of the United States. , its population was 8,791,894. It is bordered on the north and east by the state of New York, on the southeast and south by the Atlantic Ocean, on the west by Pennsylvania and on the southwest by Delaware...
. Scialfa is most recently a member of Springsteen's The Sessions Band
The Sessions Band
The Sessions Band is an American musical group that has periodically recorded and toured with roots rock musician Bruce Springsteen in various formations since 1997.- History :The Sessions Band was first formed in October 1997...
, where she is reunited with Lisa Lowell. On that Sessions Band Tour
Bruce Springsteen with The Seeger Sessions Band Tour
The Bruce Springsteen with The Seeger Sessions Band Tour, afterward sometimes referred to simply as the Sessions Band Tour, was a 2006 concert tour featuring Bruce Springsteen and The Sessions Band playing what was billed as "An all-new evening of gospel, folk, and blues," otherwise seen as a form...
, as on tours since 1999–2000's Reunion Tour
Bruce Springsteen and the E Street Band Reunion Tour
The Bruce Springsteen and the E Street Band Reunion Tour was a lengthy, top-grossing concert tour featuring Bruce Springsteen and the E Street Band that took place over 1999 and 2000....
, she sometimes misses shows or stretches of shows to return home and take care of the couple's children. As Springsteen once told a Rotterdam
Rotterdam
Rotterdam is the second-largest city in the Netherlands and one of the largest ports in the world. Starting as a dam on the Rotte river, Rotterdam has grown into a major international commercial centre...
audience in 2003 during The Rising Tour
The Rising Tour
The Rising Tour was a lengthy, worldwide, top-grossing concert tour featuring Bruce Springsteen and the E Street Band that took place in arenas and stadiums over 2002 and 2003...
, when she began a five-show absence, "Patti sends her regards, she couldn't be here. The kids need her more right now than the band."
During the opening leg of Springsteen and the E Street Band's 2007–2008 Magic Tour
Magic Tour (Bruce Springsteen)
The Magic Tour was Bruce Springsteen and the E Street Band's 2007–2008 concert tour of North America and Western Europe.The tour began October 2, 2007, in Hartford, Connecticut, and concluded August 30, 2008 in Milwaukee, Wisconsin...
, Scialfa achieved a breakthrough of sorts when for the first time one of her songs, "Town Called Heartbreak", was played in its entirety during the set. However she missed much of the rest of the tour due to domestic responsibilities. During the first leg of the 2009 Working on a Dream Tour
Working on a Dream Tour
The Working on a Dream Tour was a concert tour by Bruce Springsteen and the E Street Band, which began in April 2009 and ended in November 2009...
, she missed a number of shows due to injuries suffered when she fell off her horse, and missed most of the shows after that to take care of her children and their personal activities.
Discography
- Rumble DollRumble Doll (album)"Rumble Doll" is the name of the debut full-length album from Bruce Springsteen's wife, singer-songwriter Patti Scialfa. It features twelve tracks, eleven of which she wrote herself...
(1993)- 1. Rumble Doll
- 2. Come Tomorrow
- 3. In My Imagination
- 4. Valerie
- 5. As Long as I (Can Be with You)
- 6. Big Black Heaven
- 7. Loves Glory
- 8. Lucky Girl
- 9. Charm Light
- 10. Baby Don't
- 11. Talk to Me Like the Rain
- 12. Spanish Dancer
- 23rd Street Lullaby23rd St. Lullaby23rd Street Lullaby is the second full-length album by singer-songwriter Patti Scialfa. Released in 2004, a full 11 years after her debut, Rumble Doll, it finds her writing all the songs by herself, as well as co-producing the disc with Steve Jordan....
(2004) - (#152, US Billboard 200Billboard 200The Billboard 200 is a ranking of the 200 highest-selling music albums and EPs in the United States, published weekly by Billboard magazine. It is frequently used to convey the popularity of an artist or groups of artists...
)- 1. 23rd Street Lullaby
- 2. You Can't Go Back
- 3. Rose
- 4. City Boys
- 5. Love (Stand up)
- 6. Yesterday's Child
- 7. Stumbling to Bethlehem
- 8. Each Other's Medicine
- 9. Romeo
- 10. State of Grace
- 11. Chelsea Avenue
- 12. Young in the City
- Play It As It LaysPlay It As It Lays (album)Play it as it Lays is the third full-length album by singer-songwriter Patti Scialfa.-Track listing:The Word, Town Called Heartbreak, and Like Any Woman Would use elements or samples of songs written or recorded by other artists...
(2007) - (#90, US Billboard 200)- 1. Looking for Elvis
- 2. Like Any Woman Would
- 3. Town Called Heartbreak
- 4. Play Around
- 5. Rainy Day Man
- 6. The Word
- 7. Bad for You
- 8. Run, Run, Run
- 9. Play It as It Lays
- 10. Black Ladder
- Contributed a song called Children's Song to the charity album Every Mother Counts, the song is a duet with her husband, Bruce Springsteen (2011)