The theme for Black History Month 2022 is February and Forever: Celebrating Black History today and every day. It’s an opportunity to celebrate the achievements of the Black community and reflect on experiences and accomplishments. So all month we’re highlighting some of the iconic black artists who’ve changed rock n’ roll.

Today we’ll be shining a spotlight on Rock and Roll Hall of Fame musician and actor Clarence “The Big Man” Clemons.

“To me, music is a river. I have lived my life beside the river. Every day, I get up and look at the river. I watch it and notice when it rises and falls.” – Clarence Clemons

At 9 years old Clemons would discover his love of playing music when his father gave him a saxophone as a Christmas present and enrolled Clemons in music lessons. At 29 Clemons would go on to play with Norman Seldin & the Joyful Noyze until one faithful night in 1971 when he would meet an up and coming, future Rock and Roll Hall of Famer, Bruce Springsteen. Clemons would recall there meeting in interviews later:

“One night we were playing in Asbury Park. I’d heard The Bruce Springsteen Band was nearby at a club called The Student Prince and on a break between sets I walked over there. On-stage, Bruce used to tell different versions of this story but I’m a Baptist, remember, so this is the truth. A rainy, windy night it was, and when I opened the door the whole thing flew off its hinges and blew away down the street. The band were on-stage, but staring at me framed in the doorway. And maybe that did make Bruce a little nervous because I just said, “I want to play with your band,” and he said, “Sure, you do anything you want.” The first song we did was an early version of “Spirit in the Night”. Bruce and I looked at each other and didn’t say anything, we just knew. We knew we were the missing links in each other’s lives. He was what I’d been searching for. In one way he was just a scrawny little kid. But he was a visionary. He wanted to follow his dream. So from then on I was part of history.”

From that moment on Clemons would be the saxophonist for Bruce Springsteen’s E Street Band for over forty years. He would also release several solo albums and in 1985 he had a hit single “You’re a Friend of Mine”, a duet with Jackson Browne.

Clemons also enjoyed acting and would appear in several films and TV series such as “New York, New York”, “Bill & Ted’s Excellent Adventure”, “Diff’rent Strokes”, “The Simpsons”, “My Wife and Kids”, and “The Wire”.

In 2011 Clemons would suffer a brain aneurysm and die of complications from it six days later at the age of 69. In 2014 he was posthumously inducted into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame as a member of the E Street Band. Springsteen later said this of Clemons:

“Clarence lived a wonderful life. He carried within him a love of people that made them love him. He created a wondrous and extended family. He loved the saxophone, loved our fans, and gave everything he had every night he stepped on stage. His loss is immeasurable, and we are honored and thankful to have known him and had the opportunity to stand beside him for nearly forty years. He was my great friend, my partner, and with Clarence at my side my band and I were able to tell a story far deeper than those simply contained in our music. His life, his memory, and his love will live on in that story and in our band.”