Patti Scialfa

Patti Scialfa got her big break in 1984 when Nils Lofgren, guitarist for the Bruce Springsteen's E Street Band, got mononucleosis in the days preceding the Born In The USA tour and was unable to sing his backing vocal parts. At the time Scialfa was a struggling songwriter from Deal, New Jersey who had sung in bar bands as a teenager, graduated with a music degree from New York University and then toiled without much success in Greenwich Village and on the Jersey shore. She was known to the Boss through her work with Southside Johnny, who exemplified the New Jersey sound," and she eased into the job of sidewoman and sultry foil to Springsteen, whom she would marry seven years hence. Before releasing her first solo album in 1993, Rumble Doll, Scialfa sang on the Rolling Stones' Dirty Work and Keith Richards' Talk Is Cheap. There is an unfortunate misconception that she owes her career to her celebrity marriage. In fact it is her fiery talent, a voice that resounds with weather-beaten honesty, which won her a spot in one of history's best rock bands and also the heart of its leader.