Bruce Springsteen was his parents’ first of three children. He has credited his mother, Adele, for giving him a love of music and for encouraging him to pursue a career in music. In recent years, Adele even became a social media star for a video that showed her dancing with her son at his concerts.
Now, The Boss has shared the sad news of his mother’s death. She was 98 years old. He did not include a cause of death, but USA Today reports that she suffered from Alzheimer’s disease.
On February 1, 2024, Springsteen shared a video on Instagram where he was dancing with his mother. In the caption, he wrote, “Adele Springsteen – May 4, 1925-January 31, 2024.”
Then he wrote a touching memory to his mother. He shared, “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. And the ladies at the office all lipstick, perfume and rustling skirts, how proud and happy you always looked walking home from work.”
Then he shared lyrics from his song “The Wish.” He wrote, “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.”
Previously in his stage show, “Springsteen on Broadway,” Springsteen explained that even though Alzheimer’s disease impacted his mom’s memory, music was even more powerful. He said that music is “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.”
In his memoir, “Born to Run,” Springsteen also wrote about his mother’s love for music. He explained, “My mom loved music, Top 40 music; the radio was always on in the car and in the kitchen in the morning.” He continued, “From Elvis on out, my sister and I shuffled out of bed and downstairs to be greeted by the hit records of the day pouring out of the tiny radio that sat on the top of our refrigerator.”
It was his mother who bought him his very first electric guitar, and she also kept a scrapbook of of his career successes.