Bruce Springsteen gets a lot of the attention and for good reason. He has written some of the most iconic songs of our day.
Patti Scialfa, Bruce Springsteen’s wife, tends to stay in the background but she has recently shared something that is a surprise to many. In 2018, she was diagnosed with multiple myeloma.
After being diagnosed, she had more and more difficulty touring with her husband and the E Street Band. That is when she decided to step back.
She said: “This affects my immune system, so I have to be careful what I choose to do and where I choose to go. Every once in a while, I come to a show or two and I can sing a few songs on stage, and that’s been a treat. That’s the new normal for me right now, and I’m OK with that.”
In the current Springsteen tour which began in February 2023, she decided to only play in a few of the shows. This is because, as she said, she wanted to spend more time with her granddaughter.
“I didn’t feel as needed in a way because there were a lot of musicians on stage,” she said, “I did the first couple of shows, and as I saw how it was all rolling, I thought, ‘This is good. This is completely intact. There’s not much room for me to add anything special.’”
“And the main thing was I have a record that I couldn’t have finished when Bruce was home because he’s in the studio all the time. So I took that opportunity to do my record.”
Springsteen also had health issues that caused him to postpone the remaining tour dates from 2023 due to a peptic ulcer. In 2024, during the summer, he had vocal issues but only three dates were affected.