Clarence Clemons, 1942–2011

If you believe Bruce Springsteen, his first encounter with saxophonist Clarence Clemons, in 1971, was the stuff of rock ’n’ roll legend: On a stormy night in Asbury Park, N.J., a gust of wind ripped open the door of a club where “the Boss” was playing, and in walked Clemons. He stepped onstage, and the two musicians began making magic. The story was likely embellished, but larger-than-life accounts were the norm for the 6-foot-5-inch Clemons, who played with the E Street Band for 40 years. “Mere facts,” Springsteen wrote in the foreword to Clemons’s 2009 autobiography, “will never plumb the mysteries of the Big Man.”

Born in Norfolk, Va., where his grandfather was a Baptist preacher, Clemons grew up surrounded by gospel music. He was given his first saxophone at age 9, and after hearing R&B great King Curtis in high school, became “captivated by rock ’n’ roll,” said The New York Times. A gifted athlete, he attended Maryland State College on a scholarship for football and music, and tried out for the Dallas Cowboys and the Cleveland Browns. “But a knee injury ended his hopes for a football career.”

“From then on,” said the Newark, N.J. Star-Ledger, “Clemons dedicated himself to his horn.” He played with a series of Asbury Park outfits in the early ’70s before joining Springsteen in 1972. His soaring solos soon “became a pillar of the E Street sound,” dominating songs such as “Jungleland” and “Born to Run.” His presence was just as powerful in concert, where his stoical demeanor served as the perfect foil to the Boss’s high-energy antics.

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As Springsteen stripped back his sound in the 1980s, Clemons’s role in the group diminished. But his “work with the E Street Band brought him other opportunities,” said The Washington Post. He appeared in Martin Scorsese’s 1977 film New York, New York and in the HBO series The Wire, and guested on tracks by artists as diverse as Aretha Franklin and Lady Gaga. In recent years, Clemons suffered ill health—he underwent double knee-replacement surgery in 2009—but continued to play with Springsteen. “As long as my mouth, hands, and brain still work I’ll be out there doing it,” he told Rolling Stone earlier this year. “I’m going to keep going ’til I’m not there anymore.”