Bruce Springsteen’s mum has died aged 98 after an Alzheimer’s battle.
Bruce Springsteen’s mum has died aged 98 after an Alzheimer’s battle
The ‘Thunder Road’ rocker, 74, announced Adele Springsteen’s passing on Thursday (01.02.24) by posting a video online of his parents enjoying a dance that he titled “Adele Springsteen – May 4, 1925–January 31, 2024.”
He said alongside the message: “I remember in the morning mom hearing your alarm clock ring. I’d lie in bed and listen to you getting ready for work, the sound of your makeup case on the sink.”
Continuing to use lyrics from his track ‘The Wish’, Bruce added: “And the ladies at the office all lipstick, perfume and rustling skirts, how proud and happy you always looked walking home from work.
“It ain’t no phone call on Sunday, flowers or a Mother’s Day card.
“It ain’t no house on the hill with a garden and a nice little yard. I’ve got my hot rod down on Bond Street I’m older but you’ll know me in a glance.
“We’ll find us a Little rock ’n’ roll bar and we’ll go out and dance.”
During his acclaimed return to Broadway for his one-man autobiographical talking stage show in 2021, Bruce spoke emotionally about his mum and her then decade-long struggle with Alzheimer’s.
The New Jersey native shared how his mum’s personality and presence shined bright during his youth, highlighting her “jolly old soul”.
He said: “My mother loves to dance. She grew up in the ’40s... (with) the big bands and the swing bands, and that was a time when dancing was an existential act.
“She’s 95 and she’s 10 years into Alzheimer’s and that’s taken a lot away from us. But the need to dance hasn't left her.”
Bruce added at the time his mum still recognised him despite her dementia.
He said: “She can’t speak. She can’t stand. She can’t feed herself. But when she sees me, there is always a smile. Still a smile. And there’s still a kiss.
“And there’s a sound which she makes when she sees me. Its just the sound but I know it means ‘I love you.’
“And when I put on Glen Miller and she starts moving in her chair – she does, she does – she starts reaching out for me, to take her in my arms once more and to dance with her across the floor.
“This is an essential part of mom’s spirt, it’s who she is. It’s beyond language and it’s more powerful than memory. It’s the embodiment.
“This is what she has put her trust in and lived her life by and which, despite all she has suffered, she carries on with to this moment, as if life’s beauty never deserted her. I love her.”
Bruce’s dad Douglas Springsteen died in 1998 and the singer said in his Broadway show despite their complex relationship his father was still his “hero”.
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