Bruce Springsteen’s mother Adele, who danced at his shows, dies aged 98

‘Born to Run’ singer told fans in 2021 that his mother had been struggling with Alzheimer’s disease

Bruce Springsteen has paid tribute to his mother, Adele Zerilli Springsteen, following her death aged 98.

The longtime legal secretary, muse and concert dance partner who delighted fans of Bruce Springsteen and the E Street Band, died on Wednesday 31 January, the “Born to Run” singer announced.

In an Instagram post, Springsteen shared a video of the two of them dancing to the Glenn Miller swing-era standard “In the Mood”, captioning it: “Adele Springsteen, 4 May 1925 to 31 January 2024.”

He then shared a lengthy quote from “The Wish”, one of his songs that invoked Adele.

“I remember in the morning mom hearing your alarm clock ring. I’d lie in bed and listen to you getting ready for work, the sound of your makeup case on the sink,” the post said.

The cause of Adele’s death was not disclosed by Springsteen, but he told fans in 2021 that she had been struggling with Alzheimer’s disease for a decade and could no longer speak or stand.

Adele was a cornerstone of Bruce Springsteen’s anthem “American Land," which honours “the McNicholases, the Posalskis, the Smiths, Zerillis too”.

Bruce with his mum Adele (left) and aunts during his Ellis Island speech in 2010 (AP2010)

Born in New York City, one of three Italian-American Zerilli sisters, Adele moved with her family to Freehold as a child.

In another part of his 1998 song “The Wish”, Springsteen recalled how his mum scraped together some money to get him “a brand-new Japanese guitar” for Christmas: “Well it was me in my Beatle boots/ You in pink curlers and matador pants — pullin’ me up on the couch to do the twist for my uncles and aunts.”

Her free-spirited nature and palpable joie de vivre made her a Springsteen star in her own right, with Rolling Stone magazine finding video evidence of her “rocking out” onstage with her son as far back as 1992.

She lost her husband, Bruce’s father Douglas, also the subject of many of his songs, in 1998.

In 2012, she danced and sang background vocals on “Twist and Shout” at New Jersey’s MetLife Stadium; in March 2016, when she was 90, she hip-wiggled with Bruce to the rollicking “Ramrod” at New York’s Madison Square Garden.

“I took after my mom in a certain sense,” Springsteen told Uncut magazine in 2002. “Her life had an incredible consistency, work, work, work every day, and I admired that greatly.

“I’d visit her at her job sometimes, and it was filled with men and women who seemed to have a purpose. I found a lot of inspiration in those simple acts.”

The “Dancing in the Dark” singer told biographer Dave Marsh that his mother was “real smart, real strong, real creative” and had a “refusal to be disheartened”.

She "held our family together" through years of hardship, the musician said in a 2010 Ellis Island speech, while his beaming mother and her two sisters watched him from the stage.

“Thank you, mom,” he said. “I love you very much.”

Bruce Springsteen is mourning the death of his mother aged 98 (James Manning/PA) (PA Archive)

E Street Band member Steven Van Zandt tweeted on Thursday (1 February) that Adele was the “matriarch of our family and an unrelenting source of inspiring positive energy”.

“One of a kind,” he said. “She will always be there for us. Dancing in the audience.”

Adele is survived by Bruce, his sisters Pamela Springsteen and Virginia Shave, and their extended family.

Additional reporting by Associated Press