Dave Marsh, a longtime music critic who wrote several influential books about , including the early biography 鈥淏orn to Run鈥� has died. He was 76.
Marsh died Friday in Connecticut, his friend Jeffrey St. Clair, a co-editor of the online magazine Counterpunch, told The Associated Press. St. Clair said Marsh had been suffering from a degenerative brain disease for several years. Jim Rotolo, the SiriusXM radio host, announced Marsh鈥檚 death on his social media accounts.
Springsteen paid tribute to Marsh in an Instagram post, writing that the loss had left the band 鈥渉eartbroken.鈥�
鈥淢y great friend Dave, with his straight out of Detroit attitude, was a true Rock 鈥榥鈥� Roll lifer. He was soulful, intelligent, heartfelt, opinionated, bruising and often fantastically argumentative,鈥� Springsteen wrote. 鈥淗e deeply believed in what I was trying to accomplish and his lifetime of support meant the world to me.鈥�
Steven Van Zandt also wrote a remembrance on Instagram, writing 鈥渉e was fearless, relentless, arrogant, everything you’d want in a RocknRoll troublemaker. And by the way, a tremendous writer.鈥�
Marsh was an early champion of Springsteen, writing about him for and penning his first Rolling Stone cover story in 1978. In 1979 his biography 鈥淏orn to Run: The Bruce Springsteen Story鈥� was released and became a best seller. He followed it in 1986 with 鈥淕lory Days: Bruce Springsteen in the 1980s.鈥� Legend has it that he was the one responsible for getting , Springsteen’s longtime manager and record producer, to his first Springsteen concert.
Born in Pontiac, Michigan, in 1950, Marsh dropped out of Detroit鈥檚 Wayne State University in 1969 to write for the new rock magazine 鈥淐reem,鈥� where Lester Bangs was among his friends and mentors. Springsteen wasn鈥檛 Marsh鈥檚 only subject, but he was always close by. In 1979, he married Barbara Carr, who would go on to be Springsteen鈥檚 co-manager alongside Landau for decades. The rocker even attended their wedding.
He and Carr also devoted much effort to The Kristen Ann Carr Fund, a charity that they started named after their daughter who died from sarcoma at age 21 in 1993. Later that year, Springsteen hosted a benefit concert at Madison Square Garden, where they raised $1.5 million.
Marsh also wrote 鈥淭he Heart of Rock & Soul: The 1001 Greatest Singles Ever Made,鈥� a biography of The Who, and a book about The Kingsmen hit 鈥淟ouie Louie.鈥� In recent years he was a frequent co-host and guest on the E Street Nation SirusXM channel.
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National Writer Hillel Italie contributed from New York.
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