Bruce Springsteen shared on Instagram that his mother, Adele Springsteen, died on Jan. 31, 2024.
The announcement was accompanied by a video of the mother and son dancing outdoors, and in the caption of the video were the lyrics to his song "The Wish, which movingly details memories of his mother and their relationship.
"I remember in the morning mom hearing your alarm clock ring. I’d lie in bed and listen to you getting ready for work, the sound of your makeup case on the sink. And the ladies at the office all lipstick, perfume and rustling skirts, how proud and happy you always looked walking home from work," the lyrics read.
"It ain’t no phone call on Sunday, flowers or a Mother’s Day card. It ain’t no house on the hill with a garden and a nice little yard. I’ve got my hot rod down on Bond Street I’m older but you’ll know me in a glance. We’ll find us a Little rock ‘n roll bar and we’ll go out and dance."
While no cause of death was given, he spoke emotionally about his mother during his acclaimed return to Broadway in 2021, and candidly talked about her decade-long struggle with Alzheimer's disease.
The New Jersey native opened up at the time about his mother's personality and presence when he was growing up, highlighting her "jolly old soul." It was her love of music and dancing that influenced Springsteen and his sisters as they grew up. She even nudged him down a musical path and rented him his very first guitar when he was 7 years old.
"My mother loves to dance," Springsteen said during one of his Broadway shows. "She grew up in the '40s ... (with) the big bands and the swing bands, and that was a time when dancing was an existential act.
"She's 95 and she's 10 years into Alzheimer's and that’s taken a lot away from us," he continued. "But the need to dance hasn't left her."
Springsteen said that despite her Alzheimer's, his mother still recognized him at the moment.
"She can't speak. She can't stand. She can't feed herself. But when she sees me, there is always a smile. Still a smile. And there's still a kiss," Springsteen said. "And there's a sound which she makes when she sees me. It's just the sound but I know it means 'I love you.'
"And when I put on Glen Miller and she starts moving in her chair — she does, she does — she starts reaching out for me, to take her in my arms once more and to dance with her across the floor."
Springsteen continued, "This is an essential part of mom’s spirt, it’s who she is. It’s beyond language and it’s more powerful than memory. It’s the embodiment. This is what she has put her trust in and lived her life by and which, despite all she has suffered, she carries on with to this moment, as if life’s beauty never deserted her. I love her."
