Clarence Clemons Net Worth

Clarence Clemons's Quotes

• [on first playing with Bruce Springsteen in 1971] I swear I will never forget that moment. I felt like I was supposed to be there. It was a magical moment. He looked at me, and I looked at him, and we fell in love. And that's still there.
• You had your black bands and you had your white bands and if you mixed the two you found less places to play.
• I grew up with a very religious background. I got into soul music, but I wanted to rock. I was a rocker. I was born rock 'n' roll sax player.
• I am not out to get laid every night, not looking for the bomb cocaine or weed. I just want to clear my head and see what living on the planet is really like as a normal, well almost normal, human being.

Interesting Facts about Clarence Clemons

1. Clemons was born in Norfolk, Virginia but grew up in and around Chesapeake, Virginia, the eldest of the three children of Thelma and Clarence Clemons, who owned a fish market. He began playing the saxophone after his father bought him an alto instrument one Christmas, and enrolled him in music lessons at a local college. He switched to the beefier-toned baritone sax, but then decided the tenor sax was the way to go after feeling inspired to imitate the scorching R&B playing of King Curtis.
2. He was a noted saxophone player for E Street Band, featuring 'Bruce Springsteen'.
3. He appeared in the music video and sang in the choir on the song "Voices That Care."
4. Introduced as the "Minister of Soul", "Secretary of the Brotherhood" on the "Live in New York" album with Bruce Springsteen & E Street Band.
5. Joined E Street Band in October of 1972.
6. Clemons had two knee replacements in 2008, and also needed spinal surgery. He suffered a serious stroke in June 2011. He died later that month at age 69.
7. He studied at Maryland State College (now the University of Maryland Eastern Shore) on a football and music scholarship. A knee injury interrupted his football career.
8. He was a youth counselor in Newark, New Jersey in the 1960s and 1970s at the Jamesburg State Home For Boys when he began playing with Bruce Springsteen and the E Street Band on the Jersey Shore. He first played with him in Asbury Park in 1971 during a lightning storm.
9. He was married five times and divorced four times. His fifth wife, Victoria Clemons survived him. He is survived by four sons, Clarence Clemons Jr; Charles Clemons; Christopher Clemons; and Jarod Clemons.
10. He and the E Street Band are inducted into the 2012 New Jersey Hall of Fame for their contributions to Arts and Entertainment. They are the first group to be nominated for the honor. They include Steve Van Zandt, Garry Tallent, Vini Lopez, David Sancious, Max Weinberg, Roy Bittan, Nils Lofgren, Patti Scialfa, Ernest "Boom" Carter, and the late Danny Federici.
11. Prior to hooking up with Springsteen, Clarence played with the Jersey Shore bar band Norman Seldin and the Joyful Noyze. One of the venues they played in was the Wonder Bar in Asbury Park which is still in business to this day (2019).
12. In 2012, Clemons' family filed a lawsuit against three doctors who treated the saxophonist before his death. The doctors are accused of malpractice in their treatment of his carpal tunnel syndrome as they omitted medication that could have prevented his stroke, according to the lawsuit.