Vivienne Patricia Scialfa ( ; born July 29, 1953) is an American singer-songwriter and guitarist. Scialfa has been a member of the

E Street Band The E Street Band is an American rock band, and has been musician Bruce Springsteen's primary backing band since 1972. The band was inducted into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame in 2014. For the bulk of Springsteen's recording and performing caree ...

since 1984 and has been married to Bruce Springsteen since 1991. In 2014, Scialfa was inducted into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame as a member of the

Early life

Scialfa grew up in Deal, New Jersey on the Jersey Shore.Stewart, Allison
"Patti Scialfa's Glory Days; With 'Lullaby,' the Boss's Wife Steps Into the Spotlight"
''

The Washington Post ''The Washington Post'' (also known as the ''Post'' and, informally, ''WaPo'') is an American daily newspaper published in Washington, D.C. It is the most widely circulated newspaper within the Washington metropolitan area and has a large nati ...

'', June 20, 2004. Retrieved July 18, 2012. "Scialfa (pronounced SKAL-fah) grew up in the affluent suburb of Deal, N.J., and attended the prestigious jazz program at the University of Miami before moving to New York." She was the middle child of Joseph Scialfa and Patricia (née Morris) Scialfa. Her father was of Sicilian ancestry and her mother is from

Belfast Belfast ( , ; from ga, Béal Feirste , meaning 'mouth of the sand-bank ford') is the capital and largest city of Northern Ireland, standing on the banks of the River Lagan on the east coast. It is the 12th-largest city in the United Kingdom ...

Northern Ireland Northern Ireland ( ga, Tuaisceart Éireann ; sco, label= Ulster-Scots, Norlin Airlann) is a part of the United Kingdom, situated in the north-east of the island of Ireland, that is variously described as a country, province or region. Nort ...

. She also has half-siblings from her father's second marriage. Her father was a successful local entrepreneur, who started a television store and became a real estate developer.

Asbury Park High School

Scialfa began writing songs at an early age. She graduated from

Asbury Park High School Asbury Park High School is a comprehensive, four-year community public high school serving students in ninth through twelfth grades. It is in a landmark building in Asbury Park, in Monmouth County, New Jersey, United States, that was cons ...

in 1971. Following high school, she first began working as a back-up singer for New Jersey bar bands.

University of Miami and New York University

She began college at the

University of Miami The University of Miami (UM, UMiami, Miami, U of M, and The U) is a private research university in Coral Gables, Florida. , the university enrolled 19,096 students in 12 colleges and schools across nearly 350 academic majors and programs, i ...

jazz Jazz is a music genre that originated in the African-American communities of New Orleans, Louisiana in the late 19th and early 20th centuries, with its roots in blues and ragtime. Since the 1920s Jazz Age, it has been recognized as a m ...

conservatory at the Frost School of Music, later transferring to

New York University New York University (NYU) is a private research university in New York City. Chartered in 1831 by the New York State Legislature, NYU was founded by a group of New Yorkers led by then- Secretary of the Treasury Albert Gallatin. In 1832, th ...

, where she earned an undergraduate degree in music. In 1994, she told '' Lear's Magazine'' that she had little talent for anything but music and that she attended college as a way to further her ambitions as a performer while also satisfying parental expectations.

Music career

While in college at the

and later at

, Scialfa began recording original music for other artists. However, none of her songs were recorded. After her college graduation, she worked as a busker and

waitress Waiting staff (British English), waitstaff (North American English), waiters (male) / waitresses (female), or servers (North American English), are those who work at a restaurant, a diner, or a bar and sometimes in private homes, attending ...

Greenwich Village Greenwich Village ( , , ) is a neighborhood on the west side of Lower Manhattan in New York City, bounded by 14th Street to the north, Broadway to the east, Houston Street to the south, and the Hudson River to the west. Greenwich Village ...

. Together with Soozie Tyrell and Lisa Lowell, she formed a street group known as Trickster. For many years, she struggled to make her way in the songwriting and recording industry in

New York City New York, often called New York City or NYC, is the most populous city in the United States. With a 2020 population of 8,804,190 distributed over , New York City is also the most densely populated major city in the Un ...

and

New Jersey New Jersey is a state in the Mid-Atlantic and Northeastern regions of the United States. It is bordered on the north and east by the state of New York; on the east, southeast, and south by the Atlantic Ocean; on the west by the Delaware ...

before playing at Folk City and Kenny's Castaways in Greenwich Village and

The Stone Pony The Stone Pony is a New Jersey music venue in Asbury Park, New Jersey known for launching the careers of many New Jersey music legends, including Bruce Springsteen, Jon Bon Jovi, and Southside Johnny and the Asbury Jukes.Asbury Park, New Jersey. Scialfa had a brief role in The Stone Pony's house band Cats on a Smooth Surface. These gigs won her notice and, eventually, recording work with

Southside Johnny John Lyon (born December 4, 1948), better known by his stage name Southside Johnny, is an American singer-songwriter who usually fronts his band Southside Johnny and the Asbury Jukes. Southside Johnny has long been considered the Grandfather of ...

and

David Johansen David Roger Johansen (sometimes spelled ''David Jo Hansen''; born January 9, 1950) is an American singer, songwriter and actor. He is best known as a member of the seminal proto-punk band the New York Dolls. He is also known for his work under ...

. In 1984, Scialfa joined the

, three or four days before the opening show of the

Born in the U.S.A. Tour The Born in the U.S.A. Tour was the supporting concert tour of Bruce Springsteen's '' Born in the U.S.A.'' album. It was his longest and most successful tour to date. It featured a physically transformed Springsteen; after two years of bodybuil ...

. In 1986, she appeared on the Rolling Stones' '' Dirty Work'' album, leaving her vocal mark on "One Hit (To the Body)" as well as other tracks. She worked with

Keith Richards Keith Richards (born 18 December 1943), often referred to during the 1960s and 1970s as "Keith Richard", is an English musician and songwriter who has achieved international fame as the co-founder, guitarist, secondary vocalist, and co-princi ...

on his first solo album '' Talk is Cheap''. Steve Jordan, who co-produced the Richards record, was a friend of Scialfa's from her Greenwich Village days. Scialfa's music industry friendships with Soozie Tyrell and Lisa Lowell are long-standing, pre-dating their mutual work as background vocalists and musicians on the 1987 Buster Poindexter album, featuring a Soca song by Arrow, " Hot Hot Hot"). Lowell and Tyrell have since worked on various Springsteen-Scialfa recording projects and Tyrell, a violinist, has recorded and toured with Springsteen and the E Street Band. Scialfa has recorded three solo albums, 1993's '' Rumble Doll'', 2004's '' 23rd Street Lullaby'' and 2007's ''

Play It As It Lays ''Play It as It Lays'' is a 1970 novel by the American writer Joan Didion. ''Time'' magazine included the novel in its " 100 Best English-Language Novels from 1923 to 2005". About the book, Joan Didion said, "I didn’t think it was going to mak ...

''. Her first two albums received four-star reviews from ''

Rolling Stone ''Rolling Stone'' is an American monthly magazine that focuses on music, politics, and popular culture. It was founded in San Francisco, California, in 1967 by Jann Wenner, and the music critic Ralph J. Gleason. It was first known for its ...

'', while the third received three and a half stars. Her records are a mix of confessional songwriting, impressive vocal range, and traditional country, folk and rock music. Springsteen and fellow E Street bandmates, like

Nils Lofgren Nils Hilmer Lofgren (born June 21, 1951) is an American rock musician, recording artist, songwriter, and multi-instrumentalist. Along with his work as a solo artist, he has been a member of Bruce Springsteen's E Street Band since 1984, a membe ...

and

Roy Bittan Roy J. Bittan (born July 2, 1949) is an American musician best known as a long-time member of Bruce Springsteen's E Street Band. Nicknamed "The Professor", Bittan joined the E Street Band in 1974. He plays the piano, organ, accordion and synthe ...

have contributed to her albums. Following the release of Scialfa's second album, she played a series of club dates on the East Coast and was the opening act of the post-final night of the Vote for Change tour. In 2009 and again in 2011, Scialfa confirmed that she had written most of the songs for her fourth album and was trying to find the time to record it.

Personal life

20081102Bruce_Springsteen_and_family_greet_Barack_Obama_and_family

Scialfa first met Bruce Springsteen in the early 1980s at

The Stone Pony The Stone Pony is a New Jersey music venue in Asbury Park, New Jersey known for launching the careers of many New Jersey music legends, including Bruce Springsteen, Jon Bon Jovi, and Southside Johnny and the Asbury Jukes.Asbury Park, New Jersey bar where Springsteen and his band regularly played. In 1984, Scialfa postponed recording her solo record to join Springsteen's

. After the tour, Scialfa started a short-term relationship with actor

Tom Cruise Thomas Cruise Mapother IV (born July 3, 1962), known professionally as Tom Cruise, is an American actor and producer. One of the world's highest-paid actors, he has received various accolades, including an Honorary Palme d'Or and three Go ...

. In August 1988, Springsteen's first wife

Julianne Phillips Julianne Phillips (born May 6, 1960Dave Marsh, ''Glory Days: Bruce Springsteen in the 1980s'', Pantheon Books, 1987; . pp. 303, 316-18.) is an American model and actress. She began her career as a model in the early 1980s before moving on to act ...

filed for divorce, and Scialfa and Springsteen started living together afterward in

and later in

before relocating to

Los Angeles Los Angeles ( ; es, Los Ángeles, link=no , ), often referred to by its initials L.A., is the List of municipalities in California, largest city in the U.S. state, state of California and the List of United States cities by population, sec ...

, where they started a family. Springsteen and Phillips's divorce was finalized in 1989. On July 25, 1990, Scialfa gave birth to the couple's first child, Evan James Springsteen. Scialfa and Springsteen married on June 8, 1991 at their Los Angeles home in a ceremony attended by family and close friends. Their second child,

Jessica Rae Springsteen Jessica Rae Springsteen (born December 30, 1991) is an American equestrian. The daughter of musicians Bruce Springsteen and Patti Scialfa, she is a show jumping champion rider who has represented the United States Equestrian Team in internatio ...

, was born December 30, 1991, and their third child, Samuel Ryan Springsteen, was born January 5, 1994. The family returned to New Jersey in the early 1990s and now lives in

Colts Neck, New Jersey Colts Neck Township is a township in Monmouth County, New Jersey, United States. It is located in the New York Metropolitan Area. As of the 2020 United States Census, the population was 9,957, down from the 10,142 counted in the 2010 census, i ...

. They also own homes in

Wellington, Florida Wellington is a village just west of West Palm Beach in Palm Beach County and north of Miami. As of 2019, the city had a population of 65,398 according to U.S. Census Bureau estimates, making it the most populous village in the state. It is th ...

, near

West Palm Beach West or Occident is one of the four cardinal directions or points of the compass. It is the opposite direction from east and is the direction in which the Sun sets on the Earth. Etymology The word "west" is a Germanic word passed into some R ...

, and Los Angeles. On July 17, 2022, Scialfa and Springsteen became first time grandparents with the birth of their granddaughter Lily Harper Springsteen, daughter of their son Sam.

Discography

* '' Rumble Doll'' (1993) * '' 23rd Street Lullaby'' (2004) – (#152, US ''Billboard'' 200) * ''

'' (2007) – (#90, US Billboard 200) * Contributed a song called "Children's Song" to the charity album ''Every Mother Counts'', the song is a duet with her husband, Bruce Springsteen (2011) * "Linda Paloma" (from the album ''Looking into You: A Tribute To Jackson Browne''), a duet with Bruce Springsteen (2014).

Notes

External links

Official website
* *
Patti Scialfa at MySpace
{{DEFAULTSORT:Scialfa, Patti 1953 births Living people American street performers American acoustic guitarists American women singers American rock guitarists American rock songwriters American rock singers Southside Johnny & The Asbury Jukes members Bruce Springsteen American people of Northern Ireland descent Asbury Park High School alumni American people of Italian descent Jersey Shore musicians Singer-songwriters from New Jersey New York University Gallatin School of Individualized Study alumni People from Colts Neck Township, New Jersey People from Deal, New Jersey People from Rumson, New Jersey E Street Band members University of Miami Frost School of Music alumni People from Wellington, Florida Guitarists from New Jersey 20th-century American guitarists 20th-century American women guitarists The Sessions Band members