Danny Federici, 58, the longtime keyboard player for Bruce Springsteen whose stylish work helped define the E Street Band's sound on hits from "Hungry Heart" through "The Rising," died Thursday in New York. He had battled melanoma for three years. News of his death was posted late Thursday on Springsteen's official website.
According to published reports, Federici last performed with Springsteen and the band last month, appearing during portions of a March 20 show in Indianapolis.
He was born in Flemington, N.J., a long car ride from the Jersey shore haunts where he first met kindred musical spirit Springsteen in the late 1960s. The pair often jammed at the Upstage Club in Asbury Park, N.J., a now-defunct after-hours club that hosted the best musicians in the state.
Portrait artist George Pollard, 88, whose subjects included Presidents Harry Truman and John Kennedy, Pope John Paul II, and Muhammad Ali, died in his sleep Thursday at his home in Kenosha, Wis.
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