Bruce Springsteen biographer and music critic Dave Marsh dies at 76
[August 18, 2026]
By LINDSEY BAHR
Dave Marsh, a longtime music critic who wrote several influential books
about Bruce Springsteen, including the early biography “Born to Run,”
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’s death on his social media accounts.
Springsteen paid tribute to Marsh in an Instagram post, writing that the
loss had left the band “heartbroken.”
“My great friend Dave, with his straight out of Detroit attitude, was a
true Rock ‘n’ Roll lifer. He was soulful, intelligent, heartfelt,
opinionated, bruising and often fantastically argumentative,”
Springsteen wrote. “He deeply believed in what I was trying to
accomplish and his lifetime of support meant the world to me.”
Steven Van Zandt also wrote a remembrance on Instagram, writing “he was
fearless, relentless, arrogant, everything you'd want in a RocknRoll
troublemaker. And by the way, a tremendous writer.”
Marsh was an early champion of Springsteen, writing about him for Creem
magazine and penning his first Rolling Stone cover story in 1978. In
1979 his biography “Born to Run: The Bruce Springsteen Story” was
released and became a best seller. He followed it in 1986 with “Glory
Days: Bruce Springsteen in the 1980s.” Legend has it that he was the one
responsible for getting Jon Landau, Springsteen's longtime manager and
record producer, to his first Springsteen concert.
[to top of second column]
|
This image provided by The Kristen Ann Carr Fund shows Dave Marsh
speaking at the KACF "A Night to Remember" event at the Tribeca
Grill in New York, April 20, 2013. (Marc Levine/The Kristen Ann Carr
Fund via AP)
 Born in Pontiac, Michigan, in 1950,
Marsh dropped out of Detroit’s Wayne State University in 1969 to
write for the new rock magazine “Creem,” where Lester Bangs was
among his friends and mentors. Springsteen wasn’t Marsh’s only
subject, but he was always close by. In 1979, he married Barbara
Carr, who would go on to be Springsteen’s 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 “The Heart of Rock & Soul: The 1001 Greatest
Singles Ever Made,” a biography of The Who, and a book about The
Kingsmen hit “Louie Louie.” In recent years he was a frequent
co-host and guest on the E Street Nation SiriusXM channel.
___
National Writer Hillel Italie contributed from New York.
All contents © copyright 2026 Associated Press. All rights reserved |
