Vini Lopez of Jackson, a founding member of the E Street Band, will be inducted into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame during a ceremony in Brooklyn, N.Y., this year. SUZY GRAHAM PHOTO Past and present members of the E Street Band, the musical force behind Bruce Springsteen, will be inducted into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame on April 10 at the Barclays Center in Brooklyn, N.Y.
Springsteen was inducted into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame, which is based in Cleveland, in 1999 without the band.
In addition to the E Street Band, the 2014 Rock and Roll Hall of Fame inductees are performers Cat Stevens, Daryl Hall and John Oates, Nirvana, Kiss, Linda Rondstadt and Peter Gabriel, and producers/managers Andrew Loog Oldham and Brian Epstein.
Vini “Mad Dog” Lopez, a Jackson resident who was the E Street Band’s first drummer, will be inducted along with his fellow original band members, bassist Garry Tallent, pianist David Sancious, the late Danny Federici on organ, and the late Clarence Clemons on saxophone. Drummer Max Weinberg and pianist Roy Bittan, who replaced Lopez and Sancious in 1974, and guitarist Steve Van Zandt, who joined in 1975, as well as vocalist Patti Scialfa and guitarist Nils Lofgren, who joined in the early 1980s, will also be inducted.
The Rock and Roll Hall of Fame’s website states, “Through various incarnations, the ‘mighty men and women’ of the E Street Band, as Springsteen calls them, have provided a unique and powerful sonic template for Springsteen’s music, combining British invasion guitar-driven rock, the joy of 1950s rock and roll, and the drama and dynamics of soul music. They are showmen of the first order, and have more stamina than any rock band in the history of the music.”
Lopez, in a telephone interview from his home in Jackson, said he found out about the induction via an email from the office of Jon Landau, Springsteen’s manager, before the official announcement was made.
“It said, ‘E Street is going to be inducted and you’re included,’ ” Lopez said. “It’s crazy. I mean, I’m glad. Obviously it took a long time for the E Street Band — then and as it is now — to get in. I wish Clarence and Danny were around to enjoy it.”
Lopez said he plans to attend the induction ceremony in Brooklyn.
“I’m really looking forward to it,” Lopez said. “I think it’s going to be quite a show. I mean when I stop and think about it, Brian Epstein is getting inducted — he was the Beatles’ manager, so I’m assuming there might be some Beatles there. And I can just imagine what Kiss is going to do.”
Lopez said although he had not heard from The Boss or anyone from E Street at the time he was interviewed, he has received congratulations from many people he knows and from other musicians with whom he performs. “I started the band with Danny Federici and Bruce back in 1968. We weren’t the E Street Band yet, we were Steel Mill. We played all over with Steel Mill. After that came E Street.”
Lopez worked on the first two albums with Springsteen as the E Street Band, “Greetings from Asbury Park” and “The Wild, The Innocent and the E Street Shuffle,” released in 1973.
“We were working, playing, and when we weren’t playing we were recording,” Lopez said of his memories of the early years with Springsteen.
He recalled the early days of the E Street Band.
“The first album came about really quickly,” Lopez said. “Bruce called me up and said, ‘Do you want to make a record?’ and I said, ‘Yeah,’ and a week later we made a record. We rehearsed and then we made the record. We recorded it at 914 Studios in Blauvelt, N.Y.”
Lopez will turn 65 in January and is still going strong. He said he does not plan to slow down. With Springsteen’s approval, he resurrected Steel Mill with new musicians in 2008 and performs Steel Mill songs written by Springsteen between 1968 and 1970.
He also performs regularly in the area with his cover band License to Chill. The band also writes and performs its own original songs in what Lopez refers to as “country trop rock — music with an islandy feel with some blues thrown into the mix.”
The 29th annual Rock and Roll Hall of Fame induction ceremony will take place at the Barclays Center in Brooklyn. This will be the first time the ceremony will be open to the public in New York. Tickets will go on sale to the public in January.
“I am very proud to be honored with the rest of the fellas,” Lopez said. “It’s really something, I mean it really, really is. I got this feeling that I never had in years. I’m all ‘oogie’ all over.”