Patti Scialfa

New Jersey singer/songwriter Patti Scialfa first earned widespread notice as a backing vocalist with husband Bruce Springsteen’s E Street Band, well before any solo albums reached the public. After finishing her degree at NYU she started performing on the streets of Sheridan Square in the heart of Greenwich Village. By the early 1980s she had moved into the Big Apple’s club circuit and was supplying background vocals on tour and in the studio for acts including David Johansen, the Rolling Stones, and Southside Johnny & the Asbury Jukes. Columbia Records signed her to a solo deal on the strength of her demos before she joined the E Street Band for the 1984 Born in the U.S.A. tour. The nonstop touring that followed the album’s enormous success, her 1988 marriage to Springsteen, and the family they started right away kept her debut, Rumble Doll, from appearing until 1993. Domestic responsibilities, continued songwriting, and the E Street Band’s 1999 reunion further postponed her solo work. Her second album, the excellent 23rd Street Lullaby, finally arrived in June 2004. Blues, soul, and gospel shaped her 2007 release Play It as It Lays.