Dave Marsh, longtime music historian and critic, has passed after a long illness. It was Marsh’s 1979 best-selling book, Born to Run: The Bruce Springsteen Story, which formalized Springsteen’s early career and set in motion the now library-large collection of Springsteen biographies and other works that fill the Archives’ shelves here at the Bruce Springsteen Center for American Music.
Marsh was Springsteen’s first true literary champion, recognizing in book form Bruce’s uncanny talent to unleash the power of rock & roll on the club and concert stage. Best friends with fellow critic Jon Landau at the time, Marsh and Landau both believed what Landau wrote after seeing Springsteen in a Boston club in spring 1974: “I saw rock & roll future, and its name is Bruce Springsteen.”
But Marsh’s real literary strength was music criticism. His incisive, often biting record and concert reviews pulled no punches in Creem, Rolling Stone, and the other periodicals he wrote for. He became a mentor for many a music critic who followed in his footsteps, including me.
Marsh also penned Glory Days: Bruce Springsteen in the 1980s (1987), his follow-up to Born to Run; as well as Bruce Springsteen: Two Hearts, The Definitive Biography (2004), and Bruce Springsteen on Tour: 1968-2005 (2006). In all, he authored more than two dozen books and co-founded the influential newsletter Rock and Rap Confidential. Through his writing, Marsh gave voice to what so many rock & roll fans felt but struggled to put into words: the deep emotional connection they had to the music.
Dave did that for them, and more.
As a young writer, I read Dave’s words with the eyes of an eager student, hoping to find the right way to express what I felt about Bruce and his music the way he did. When I was struggling with my first book, Aquarius Rising: The Rock Festival Years (1980), it was Dave who patiently guided me through the book-writing process. I never forgot his friendship or generosity.
Dave Marsh detailed the cultural complexities and wonderful joy of American popular music and did so much to define Springsteen’s contribution to it. His spirit resonates in the galleries and exhibits of the Springsteen Center. Rest in peace, Dave.
Bob Santelli
Founding Executive Director
Bruce Springsteen Center for American Music
8/15/2026
Photo Courtesy of Danny Clinch