Patti Scialfa, wife of Bruce Springsteen and a member of the E Street Band, has announced a diagnosis with blood cancer.
Speaking in a new film, Road Diary: Bruce Springsteen and the E Street Band, Scialfa says she was diagnosed with multiple myeloma in 2018, during the acclaimed Springsteen on Broadway concert residency.
She reflects on her illness in the film, which documents Springsteen and the E Street Band’s ongoing world tour, saying: “It felt so good to be back on stage. Touring has become a challenge for me … [The illness] affects my immune system so I just have to be careful what I choose to do and where I choose to go. Every once in a while, I come to a show or two and I can sing a few songs on stage, and that’s been a treat. That’s the new normal for me right now, and I’m OK with that.”
Scialfa joined the E Street Band in 1984, bringing backing vocals to the Born in the USA tour, and began a romantic relationship with Springsteen later that decade, following his divorce from first wife Julianne Phillips. Their creative partnership has endured, and they have had three children: Evan, Jessica and Samuel.
Springsteen has had his own health issues to contend with during the world tour, his first with the E Street Band since 2017. In September 2023 he postponed the remainder of that year’s dates while he had treatment for peptic ulcer disease, and in May this year he postponed four more due to “vocal issues” and subsequent advice from doctors.
The tour has been critically acclaimed, with the Guardian’s Alexis Petridis writing of the first UK date in May 2023: “They invariably give off the air of people who are there because they desperately want to be there, a bar band that can’t quite believe their luck to be playing a stadium, despite the fact that they’ve been playing stadiums since the early 80s.”
Road Diary: Bruce Springsteen and the E Street Band has premiered at the Toronto film festival, and will air on Hulu and Disney+ from 25 October.