Clarence Anicholas Clemons Jr. (January 11, 1942 – June 18, 2011), also known asThe Big Man, was an American saxophonist. From 1972 until his death in 2011, he was the saxophonist forBruce Springsteen andThe E Street Band.

Clarence Clemons
Clemons performing in November 2009
Born	(1942-01-11)January 11, 1942 Norfolk County, Virginia, U.S.
Died	June 18, 2011(2011-06-18) (aged 69) West Palm Beach, Florida, U.S.
Other names	The Big Man
Occupations	Musician actor
Years active	1961–2011
Spouse	Victoria Clemons ​ ​ (m. 2008)​
Children	4, includingNick
Relatives	Jake Clemons (nephew)
Musical career
Genres	Rock R&B
Instruments	Saxophone percussion vocals
Formerly of	E Street Band Ringo Starr & His All-Starr Band
Website	clarenceclemons.com

Clemons released several solo albums. In 1985, he had a hit single with "You're a Friend of Mine", a duet withJackson Browne. As a guest musician, he featured onAretha Franklin's song "Freeway of Love". As an actor, Clemons appeared in several films, includingNew York, New York andBill & Ted's Excellent Adventure. He also made cameo appearances in several TV series, includingDiff'rent Strokes,Nash Bridges,The Simpsons,My Wife and Kids andThe Wire. Clemons publishedBig Man: Real Life & Tall Tales (2009) with his friendDon Reo. The book is a semi-fictional autobiography told in the third person.

Clemons died in 2011 at the age of 69. In 2014, he was posthumously inducted into theRock and Roll Hall of Fame as a member of theE Street Band.

Clarence Anicholas Clemons Jr. was born on January 11, 1942, inNorfolk County, Virginia (later the city ofChesapeake),^[1] the son of fish market owner Clarence Clemons, Sr., and his wife Thelma.^[2][3][4] He was the oldest of their three children. His grandfather was aBaptist preacher and, as a result, the young Clemons grew up in a very religious environment listening togospel music.^{[citation needed]} When he was nine, his father gave him analto saxophone as a Christmas present and paid for music lessons. He later switched totenor saxophone^[2] and played in a high schooljazz band. His uncle also influenced his early musical development when he bought him his firstKing Curtis album. Curtis, and his work withthe Coasters in particular, would become a major influence on Clemons and led to him switching totenor saxophone.^[5]

As a youth, Clemons also showed potential as afootball player, and graduated fromCrestwood High School (now Crestwood Middle) before attendingMaryland State College^[2] on both music andfootball scholarships. At 6' 4" and 240 pounds,^[5] he played as alineman on the same team asArt Shell andEmerson Boozer and attracted the attention of theCleveland Browns, who offered him a trial. Clemons also tried out for theDallas Cowboys.^[6] However, the day before, he was involved in a serious car accident which effectively ended any plans of a career in theNational Football League.^{[7][8][9][10]} He would eventually be posthumously inducted into the university's Athletics Hall of Fame on February 24, 2012.^[11]

At age 18, Clemons had one of his earliest studio experiences, recording sessions with Tyrone Ashley's Funky Music Machine, a band fromPlainfield, New Jersey, that includedRay Davis,Eddie Hazel andBilly Bass Nelson, all of whom later played withParliament-Funkadelic. He also performed with Daniel Petraitis, a New Jersey and Nashville legend. These sessions were eventually released in 2007 byTruth and Soul Records asLet Me Be Your Man.^[12][13] While atMaryland State College, Clemons also joined his first band, the Vibratones, which playedJames Brown covers and stayed together for about four years between 1961 and 1965. While still playing with this band, he moved toSomerset, New Jersey, where he worked as a counselor for children at the Jamesburg Training School for Boys, ayouth detention center, between 1962 and 1970.^[14]

The story of how Clemons first metBruce Springsteen has entered intoE Street Band mythology. "The E Street Shuffle" contains a monologue about how they met, and the event was also immortalized in "Tenth Avenue Freeze-Out". They allegedly met for the first time in September 1971. At the time, Clemons was playing with Norman Seldin & the Joyful Noyze at The Wonder Bar inAsbury Park, New Jersey. Seldin was aJersey Shore musician/entrepreneur who, as well as playing piano and leading various bands, had his own record label, Selsom Records. In 1969, Clemons had recorded aneponymous album with this band. In 2008, tracks from this album were reissued on an anthology,Asbury Park — Then and Now, put together by Seldin. It was Karen Cassidy, lead vocalist with the Joyful Noyze, who encouraged Clemons to check out Springsteen, who was playing with the Bruce Springsteen Band at the nearby Student Prince.^[15][16][17] Clemons recalled their meeting in various interviews:

One night we were playing in Asbury Park. I'd heard The Bruce Springsteen Band was nearby at a club called The Student Prince and on a break between sets I walked over there. On-stage, Bruce used to tell different versions of this story but I'm aBaptist, remember, so this is the truth. A rainy, windy night it was, and when I opened the door the whole thing flew off its hinges and blew away down the street. The band were on-stage, but staring at me framed in the doorway. And maybe that did make Bruce a little nervous because I just said, "I want to play with your band," and he said, "Sure, you do anything you want." The first song we did was an early version of "Spirit in the Night". Bruce and I looked at each other and didn't say anything, we just knew. We knew we were the missing links in each other's lives. He was what I'd been searching for. In one way he was just a scrawny little kid. But he was a visionary. He wanted to follow his dream. So from then on I was part of history.^[18]

However, well before this meeting, Clemons and Springsteen had moved within the same circle of musical acquaintances. Norman Seldin had managed and promoted several local bands, including The Motifs^[19] who featuredVinnie Roslin, later to play with Springsteen inSteel Mill. On April 22, 1966, Seldin had also organized aBattle of the Bands competition at the Matawan-Keyport Roller Drome inMatawan, New Jersey. Springsteen was among the entrants playing with his then band, The Castiles.^[20] Billy Ryan, who played lead guitar with The Joyful Noyze,^[21] also played in The Jaywalkers withGarry Tallent andSteve Van Zandt. Clemons himself had also played with Tallent in Little Melvin & The Invaders.^[22]

In July 1972, Springsteen began recording his debut albumGreetings from Asbury Park, N.J. and during breaks from recording, he jammed with Clemons and The Joyful Noyze on at least two occasions at The Shipbottom Lounge inPoint Pleasant, New Jersey. When Springsteen then decided to use a tenor saxophone on the songs "Blinded by the Light" and "Spirit in the Night", he called Clemons. By October Springsteen was ready to tour and promoteGreetings… and he put together a band featuring Clemons, Tallent,Danny Federici andVini Lopez. Clemons played his last gig with Norman Seldin & The Joyful Noyze at the Club Plaza inBayville, New Jersey, on October 21, 1972. Four days later Clemons made his debut with the formativeE Street Band at an unadvertised, impromptu performance at The Shipbottom Lounge.^[23][24]

Throughout the 1970s and 1980s, Clemons featured prominently on Springsteen's albums.^[25] OnBorn to Run he provided memorable saxophone solos on thetitle track, "Thunder Road", "She's the One", "Night" and "Jungleland".Darkness on the Edge of Town featured notable solos by Clemons on "Badlands" and "The Promised Land".The River saw Clemons featured on songs such as "The Ties That Bind", "Sherry Darling", "I Wanna Marry You", "Drive All Night" and "Independence Day" whileBorn in the U.S.A. saw solos on "Bobby Jean" and "I'm Goin' Down".^[26][27]

Springsteen and other members of the band referred to Clemons as "The Big Man".^[28] At the end of shows, while recognizing members of the E Street Band, Springsteen referred to Clemons as "The Biggest Man You Ever Seen".^[29] He sometimes changed this depending on where the E Street Band performs — at their 2009 concert inGlasgow he introduced Clemons as "the biggestScotsman you've ever seen".^[30]

In April 2014, the E Street Band were inducted into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame. Clemons' widow accepted on his behalf.^[31]

Outside of his work with the E Street Band, Clemons recorded with many other artists and had a number of musical projects on his own. The best known of these are his 1985 vocal duet withJackson Browne on the Top-20 hit single "You're a Friend of Mine", and his saxophone work onAretha Franklin's 1985 Top-10 hit single "Freeway of Love". He was managed briefly in the 1980s by formerCrawdaddy editorPeter Knobler, at whose wedding Clemons played with his band, Clarence Clemons & the Red Bank Rockers. During the 1980s, Clemons also owned aRed Bank, New Jersey, nightclub calledBig Man's West. He toured in the first incarnation ofRingo Starr & His All-Starr Band in 1989, singing "You're a Friend of Mine" (dueting withBilly Preston) and an updated rap arrangement of "Quarter to Three."

In the late 1980s, he developed a friendship withJerry Garcia and played a number of concerts with theGrateful Dead, including notable appearances during their New Year's Eve concert in 1988, anAIDS benefit concert in May 1989, and a live pay-per-view broadcast of their summer solstice concert on June 21, 1989. Clemons also did a tour with theJerry Garcia Band. One of these performances, from September 16, 1989 was officially released in 2020 asGarcia Live Volume 13.

In the mid-1990s, he recorded a Japan-only CD release calledAja and the Big Man "Get It On" with Los Angeles singer/songwriterAja Kim. In 1992 he was involved in the sessions for the album Zoom byAlvin Lee. At this time he also recorded an instrumental record withAlan Niven producing,Peacemaker.

In the 2000s, Clemons along with producer Narada Michael Walden, put together a group called The Temple of Soul, releasing a single called "Anna". He also recorded with philanthropic teen bandCreation. Clemons collaborated withLady Gaga on the songs "Hair" and "The Edge of Glory" from her albumBorn This Way, providing a saxophone track and solo.^[32] In April 2011, Clemons sat in on several tunes with the Grateful Dead "spinoff" bandFurthur during a concert inBoca Raton, Florida. Just days before he suffered a major stroke, he shot a music video with Lady Gaga for "The Edge of Glory".

Clemons appeared in several movies and on television, making his screen debut inMartin Scorsese's 1977 musical filmNew York, New York, in which he played a trumpet player.^[33] He played one of the 'Three Most Important People In The World' in the 1989 comedy filmBill & Ted's Excellent Adventure.^[33] In 1985, Clemons was a special guest star inDiff'rent Strokes episode "So You Want to Be a Rock Star", in which he played the role of Mr. Kingsley, a young saxophonist helping Arnold Jackson to learn to play his sax.^[33]

In 1990, he co-starred in the pilot episode ofHuman Target, aRick Springfield action series intended for ABC.^[34] He played the role of Jack inSwing starring oppositeLisa Stansfield andHugo Speer, directed by Nick Mead. He appeared alongsideMichael McKean andDavid Bowe as a miner in one episode of musician"Weird Al" Yankovic'schildren's television showThe Weird Al Show.^[33] Clemons is a guest voice in "Grift of the Magi", a 1999 episode ofThe Simpsons. He made a cameo appearance in the sequel toThe Blues Brothers,Blues Brothers 2000 (1999), as part of the metal section of super blues band The Louisiana Gator Boys. He appeared in the episode "Michael's Band" ofDamon Wayans' television showMy Wife and Kids as a musician, and performed "One Shadow In The Sun", an original composition co-written with bassist Lynn Woolever.^[33]

Clemons twice appeared as a Baltimore youth-program organizer in theHBO crime dramaThe Wire.^[35][36] He appeared in an episode ofBrothers and in the "Eddie's Book" episode of'Til Death as himself.^[33]

Clemons publishedBig Man: Real Life & Tall Tales (2009) with his friendDon Reo. It is a semi-fictional autobiography told in the third person.^[37]

Clarence Clemons was married five times. He fathered four sons: Charles, Christopher, Jarod, and Clarence III (known asNick).^[38] His nephew,Jake Clemons, was introduced as the new saxophone player of the E Street Band in 2012 after Clemons' death.^[39]

Clemons resided in Florida where he became involved with charitable organizations.^[40] Although he considered himself aBaptist,^[18] Clemons was also associated with spiritual guruSri Chinmoy,^[41] who gave him the spiritual name Mokshagun.^[42] His songwriting and performing are credited to Mokshagun Clarence Clemons on his 1985 albumHero.

Clemons had his knees and his hips replaced.^[43] He also had surgery for a detached retina and suffered from chronic pain.^[44] Clemons described his final tour with the E Street Band as "pure hell" due to his health challenges. Following that tour, he had his knees replaced a second time and also underwent spinal fusion surgery.^[43] In the summer of 2011, Clemens had surgery for carpal tunnel syndrome.^[44]

Clemons suffered a massivestroke at his home in Florida, on June 12, 2011.^[45] While initial signs had been hopeful after his hospitalization and two subsequent brain surgeries, his condition worsened later in the week, and he died on June 18^[46][47] at age 69.^[48] Upon announcement of his death, New Jersey GovernorChris Christie ordered state flags to be lowered tohalf staff in his honor.^[49]

Following his death, Clemons's family sued his physicians for medical malpractice, claiming that mismanagement of his medications led to his stroke.^[44]

Springsteen said of Clemons: "He carried within him a love of people that made them love him.... with Clarence at my side my band and I were able to tell a story far deeper than those simply contained in our music."^[50]

At their concert inPortsmouth, Virginia, on June 19, 2011,Phish covered "Thunder Road" as a tribute to Clemons.^[51] At anEddie Vedder concert inHartford, Connecticut, on June 18, 2011, upon hearing of Clemons' health struggles, Vedder wished Clemons well, and Vedder was soon notified by a sound tech that Clemons had died. Vedder later played a tribute to Clemons during thePearl Jam song "Better Man", changing the lyrics to include, "Can't find a Bigger Man" (paying homage to Clemons' nickname "The Big Man"). During a subsequent performance on theLate Show with David Letterman, Vedder played aukulele with "Clarence" written across the front of it.^[52] Before singing "Moment of Surrender" at theU2 concert in Anaheim on June 18, 2011,Bono paid tribute to Clemons. He read lyrics from Springsteen's "Jungleland" near the end of the song, and repeated them at the song's conclusion.^[53] Bono repeated this dedication and tribute during "Moment of Surrender" at the U2 concert in New Jersey on June 21^[54] and again in Baltimore on June 22.^[55]Bon Jovi performed "Tenth Avenue Freeze-Out" as the first encore during their concert inHorsens on June 19, 2011. While playing that song, photos of Clemons were shown on the giant video screen behind the band.^[56][57]Jimmy Buffett added verses that included Clemons in "The Stories We Could Tell" during his final encore during his concert on June 21, 2011. The rest of the band left the stage and it was Buffett playing and singing alone.^[58] Duringthe Gaslight Anthem's set at the2011 Glastonbury Festival, frontmanBrian Fallon dedicated their song "The '59 Sound" to Clemons.^[59] In October 2011,Lady Gaga paid tribute to him when she accepted the "Big Man of the Year" fromLittle Kids Rock.^[60] In a June 21, 2012, concert inSydney, Gaga dedicated her song "The Edge of Glory" in which Clemons had contributed.^[61]

On July 17, 2011, a tribute concert was held at the Wonder Bar inAsbury Park, New Jersey. Springsteen performed a 45-minute set playing some of Clemons' songs. Clemons' son, Clarence III, (known asNick), opened the show with his band, The Nick Clemons Band.^[62] On October 1, 2011, a tribute to Clemons took place at theSeminole Hard Rock Hotel and Casino inHollywood, Florida. Traditionally an annual charity event hosted by Clemons called The Classic Rock & Roll Party, the event paid tribute to Clemons' life and all he did for Home Safe, a non-profit organization helping victims of child abuse and domestic violence.^[63][64]

In January 2012, Clemons' hometown paid tribute with memorial concerts featuring members of the E Street Band. The concert took place atThe NorVa concert hall.^[65] On July 28, 2012, inGothenburg, Springsteen and the E Street Band performed "Jungleland" for the first time on theWrecking Ball World Tour, with Clemons' nephewJake Clemons playing the saxophone solo and the song being dedicated to Clemons.^[66]

A documentary about his life directed by Nick Mead, titledClarence Clemons: Who Do I Think I Am? was released in August 2019.^[67]

^[68][69]

• New York, New York (1977)
  • Cecil Powell
• Bill & Ted's Excellent Adventure (1989)
  • One of the Three Most Important People in the World
• Fatal Instinct (1993)
  • Clarence
• Blues Brothers 2000 (1998)
  • The Louisiana Gator Boys
• Swing (1999)
  • Jack

• Diff'rent Strokes
  • Mr. Kingsley: "So You Want to Be a Rock Star" (1985)
• Jake and the Fatman
  • Blue Danny Boyd: "Why Can't You Behave?" (1989)
• The Flash (1990)
  • Darrell Hennings: "Honor Among Thieves" (1990)
• Nash Bridges
  • Big Barry inthree episodes : "25 Hours of Christmas", "Aloha Nash" and "Javelin Catcher" (1996)
• The Sentinel
  • Workman: "Dead Drop" (1997)
• The Weird Al Show
  • Miner: "Mining Accident" (1997)
• Viper
  • Leo Duquesne: "The Getaway" (1998)
• Penn & Teller's Sin City Spectacular
  • one episode (1998)
• The Simpsons
  • Narrator: "Grift of the Magi" (1999)
• My Wife and Kids
  • Johnny Watson: "Michael's Band" (2003)
• The Wire
  • Roman: "Moral Midgetry" and "Hamsterdam" (2004)
• 'Til Death
  • Himself : "Eddie's Book" (2009)

• "You're a Friend of Mine" WithJackson Browne (1985)
• "The Edge of Glory" byLady Gaga (2011)

• List of saxophonists

• Official website
• The Best of Clarence Clemons – public radio special
• VH1 site
• Clarence Clemons atIMDb
• Interview with Chorus and Verse (Jan. 2004)
• Interview Clarence Clemons on Meeting Bruce Springsteen onYouTube
• Remembering Clarence ClemonsArchived December 13, 2011, at theWayback Machine — slideshow.Life
• "Remembering Springsteen's Saxman, Clarence Clemons"On Point
• "Bruce Springsteen's Eulogy for Clarence Clemons".Rolling Stone. June 29, 2011. Archived fromthe original on February 24, 2018. RetrievedAugust 25, 2017.