October 27, 2024
Good point, Stevie... Happy Birthday and many, many more to one wicked-cool bass player, the man who brings the bottom night after night after night after night (and makes MANY bottoms shake in the process,) the Southern gentleman who comes from a long line of Tallents, the Foundation of the E Street Nation, the Tennessee Terror... Mr. Garry W. "Funky" Tallent!
Today marks Garry's 75th birthday, and tomorrow will mark the 52nd anniversary of his earliest known performance with what was then the yet-to-be-officially-named-or-billed E Street Band. Garry is the E Street Band member with the longest tenure by far, having never missed a gig* in a continuous run from the start of the band all the way through to the current tour, which of course will resume shortly.
That's a lotta bottom over a lotta years, and the best part is that it's all still going strong. Play on, "Funky," play on!
*CORRECTION - Make that "almost having never missed a gig." Garry intentionally missed Bruce Springsteen & the E Street Band's December 12, 2020 Saturday Night Live gig, due to COVID-19 safety concerns. To date, 12/12/20 is the only time that Garry Tallent hasn't been onstage during any official E Street Band performance, for as long as the band has existed. That remains quite an impressive attendance record indeed. Special thanks to reader Kevin van Steendelaar for catching our error, and informing us of it.