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Clarence Clemons
Chesapeake
Rock/R & B
Clarence “Big Man” Clemons was once voted “Favorite
Band Member” for his mesmerizing vocals and distinctive saxophone solos in Bruce
Springsteen’s E Street Band. Clemons and Springsteen – Springsteen and Clemons –
the two are simply magic together and, while each man tells a slightly different
tale of how they met, each version bears elements of the inevitable – the two
were meant to make music together. They are also known for their banter on
stage.
Clemons was born in Norfolk County (now the city of
Chesapeake), Virginia, the grandson of a Baptist preacher, and raised on Gospel
music – music that reaches the soul. He attended the University of Maryland,
Eastern Shore on a football scholarship before leaving school to play with the
pros. A serious automobile accident as he was preparing to try out for a
position with the Cleveland Browns cut short his hopes of a professional sports
career and unleashed a musician. He had been playing the saxophone since his
father made him a gift of the instrument when Clemons was a child.
Clemons has worked with
such luminaries as Ringo Starr, Jackson Browne, Gary U. S.
Bonds, Joe Cocker and Aretha Franklin; and has produced
several projects of his own. He joined Bruce Springsteen’s
band in 1972. While continuing to play with Springsteen,
Clemons formed the Clarence Clemons Band (now called the
Temple of Soul) in 1998, releasing Live in Asbury Park
and Live in Asbury Park Volume Two in 2002 and
2004. Asbury Park, incidentally, was the location of the
Student Prince Club where Clemons went to hear Springsteen
perform and where the two first met. The rest, as they say,
is history.
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