{"id":47538,"date":"2026-08-15T23:18:35","date_gmt":"2026-08-15T18:18:35","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/usnews-14267fa.ingress-comporellon.ewp.live\/?p=47538"},"modified":"2026-08-15T23:18:35","modified_gmt":"2026-08-15T18:18:35","slug":"bruce-springsteen-biographer-critic-dies-at-76","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/usnews-14267fa.ingress-comporellon.ewp.live\/?p=47538","title":{"rendered":"Bruce Springsteen Biographer, Critic Dies at 76"},"content":{"rendered":"<p><script>\r\n  atOptions = {\r\n    'key' : '644b717812d811d6a1c1fc5b6ccd6fa6',\r\n    'format' : 'iframe',\r\n    'height' : 90,\r\n    'width' : 728,\r\n    'params' : {}\r\n  };\r\n<\/script>\r\n<script src=\"https:\/\/www.highperformanceformat.com\/644b717812d811d6a1c1fc5b6ccd6fa6\/invoke.js\"><\/script>\r\n<br \/>\n<\/p>\n<div>\n<p class=\"paragraph larva \/\/ lrv-u-margin-lr-auto  lrv-a-font-body-m   \">\n\tDave Marsh, one of the most influential music writers of his generation and a passionate activist for health care, social justice and freedom of expression, died on Friday (Aug 14).<\/p>\n<p class=\"paragraph larva \/\/ lrv-u-margin-lr-auto  lrv-a-font-body-m   \">\n\tThe cause of his death has not been reported but he had been in declining health in recent years.<\/p>\n<p class=\"paragraph larva \/\/ lrv-u-margin-lr-auto  lrv-a-font-body-m   \">\n\tBorn in Pontiac, Michigan, in 1950, Dave grew up immersed in the sounds of Detroit \u2014 Motown, R&amp;B, and rock \u2018n\u2019 roll \u2014 inspiring a lifelong belief in the power of music.<\/p>\n<p class=\"paragraph larva \/\/ lrv-u-margin-lr-auto  lrv-a-font-body-m   \">\n\tMarsh was among the first editors of <em>Creem <\/em>magazine when it launched in 1969. He wrote extensively for <em>Rolling Stone<\/em> and other publications and authored more than two dozen books on artists including <a href=\"https:\/\/www.billboard.com\/artist\/elvis-presley\/\">Elvis Presley<\/a>, <a href=\"https:\/\/www.billboard.com\/artist\/the-who\/\">The Who<\/a> and <a href=\"https:\/\/www.billboard.com\/artist\/bruce-springsteen-the-e-street-band\/\">Bruce Springsteen<\/a>.\u00a0His 1979 biography, <em>Born to Run: The Bruce Springsteen Story<\/em>, became a <em>New York Times<\/em> bestseller. In 1993, Marsh shared a Grammy for best album notes for <a href=\"https:\/\/www.billboard.com\/artist\/aretha-franklin\/\">Aretha Franklin\u2019s<\/a> <em>Queen of Soul.<\/em><\/p>\n<p class=\"paragraph larva \/\/ lrv-u-margin-lr-auto  lrv-a-font-body-m   \">\n\tHe also co-founded the newsletter <em>Rap &amp; Rock Confidential<\/em> and, in 2004, joined SiriusXM, hosting <em>Kick Out the Jams<\/em> for 19 years, along with <em>Live from E Street Nation<\/em> and <em>Live from the Land of Hope and Dreams<\/em>.<\/p>\n<p class=\"paragraph larva \/\/ lrv-u-margin-lr-auto  lrv-a-font-body-m   \">\n\tHe was married to Barbara Carr, longtime co-manager of Springsteen. Following the death of their daughter, Kristen Ann Carr, in 1993 at age 21 of sarcoma, a rare form of cancer, Marsh co-founded and served as a trustee of the The Kristen Ann Carr Fund\u00a0 to advance sarcoma research and support families affected by cancer.<\/p>\n<p class=\"paragraph larva \/\/ lrv-u-margin-lr-auto  lrv-a-font-body-m   \">\n\t\u201cDave Marsh has always been a tireless advocate of justice, human rights and rock \u2019n\u2019 roll,\u201d wrote Tom Morello, co-founder of Rage Against the Machine, in 2023 upon the publication of an anthology of Marsh\u2019s work titled <em>Kick Out The Jams: Jibes, Barbs, Tributes, and Rallying Cries from 35 Years of Music Writing. <\/em>\u00a0<\/p>\n<p class=\"paragraph larva \/\/ lrv-u-margin-lr-auto  lrv-a-font-body-m   \">\n\t\u201cHis pen and voice are an important player in the history of the music we love and the struggle for a more just and decent world,\u201d Morello wrote.<\/p>\n<p class=\"paragraph larva \/\/ lrv-u-margin-lr-auto  lrv-a-font-body-m   \">\n\tLauren Onkey, the former senior director of NPR Music, in her introduction to <em>Kick Out the Jams, <\/em>wrote: \u201cDave Marsh has been writing about music like our lives depended on it.\u201d<\/p>\n<p class=\"paragraph larva \/\/ lrv-u-margin-lr-auto  lrv-a-font-body-m   \">\n\tIn 2021, a host of authors, activists and artists \u2014 including Morello, Pete Townshend, Springsteen, Nona Hendryx, Dion DiMucci, Jackson Browne and Steven Van Zandt \u2014 took part in online sessions billed as \u201d Land of Hope and Dreams: A Celebration of Dave Marsh\u2019s Work and Vision.\u201d<\/p>\n<p class=\"paragraph larva \/\/ lrv-u-margin-lr-auto  lrv-a-font-body-m   \">\n\tAcross more than five decades, through his writing about music, Marsh offered insights into issues of community, class, race, politics, health, the environment, the music industry and more. Marsh also was a generous mentor and advocate for many younger music writers.<\/p>\n<p class=\"paragraph larva \/\/ lrv-u-margin-lr-auto  lrv-a-font-body-m   \">\n\tMarsh \u201chelped build alliances that fought against racial and class bigotry and for free speech, voting rights, economic justice \u2014 inside and outside the music industry \u2014 environmental justice, universal health care, cancer research, as well as visions of human liberation,\u201d said longtime friend and anthology co-editor Danny Alexander at the time of that 2023 celebration. \u201cPerhaps more than anyone I know, he taught me what that old Woody Guthrie line meant:\u00a0\u2018Nobody wins unless everybody wins.\u2019\u201d<\/p>\n<p class=\"paragraph larva \/\/ lrv-u-margin-lr-auto  lrv-a-font-body-m   \">\n\tMarsh was predeceased by his daughters Kristen Ann Carr and Sasha Carr. He is survived by his wife, Barbara Carr.\u00a0A complete list of his survivors and plans for a service were not immediately available.<\/p>\n<p><a href=\"https:\/\/ubpass.co\/billboard\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer nofollow\"><br \/><img decoding=\"async\" src=\"https:\/\/i.imgur.com\/2HpFicp.png\" alt=\"Billboard VIP Pass\" style=\"max-width: 100%;height: auto\"\/><br \/><\/a><\/p>\n<\/div>\n<script async=\"async\" data-cfasync=\"false\" src=\"https:\/\/pl30214220.effectivecpmnetwork.com\/9ab3d4df8a7e1a6171e16ddbf732cc19\/invoke.js\"><\/script>\r\n<div id=\"container-9ab3d4df8a7e1a6171e16ddbf732cc19\"><\/div>\r\n\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>Dave Marsh, one of the most influential music writers of his generation and a passionate activist for health care, social justice and freedom of expression, died on Friday (Aug 14). The cause of his death has not been reported but he had been in declining health in recent years. Born in Pontiac, Michigan, in 1950,&#8230;<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":47539,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"fifu_image_url":"https:\/\/www.billboard.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/04\/Dave-Marsh-02-2018-billboard-1548-1619628368.jpg?w=1024","fifu_image_alt":"","footnotes":""},"categories":[20],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-47538","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-celebrity-gossip"],"brizy_media":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/usnews-14267fa.ingress-comporellon.ewp.live\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/47538","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/usnews-14267fa.ingress-comporellon.ewp.live\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/usnews-14267fa.ingress-comporellon.ewp.live\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/usnews-14267fa.ingress-comporellon.ewp.live\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/usnews-14267fa.ingress-comporellon.ewp.live\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=47538"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/usnews-14267fa.ingress-comporellon.ewp.live\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/47538\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/usnews-14267fa.ingress-comporellon.ewp.live\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/media\/47539"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/usnews-14267fa.ingress-comporellon.ewp.live\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=47538"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/usnews-14267fa.ingress-comporellon.ewp.live\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=47538"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/usnews-14267fa.ingress-comporellon.ewp.live\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=47538"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}