NJ Senate OKs 'Clarence Clemons Day'

One of the Jersey Shore's most iconic musicians will be honored annually with a day named after him. Every Jan. 11 will now be Clarence Clemons Day.

The state Senate last week passed a resolution sponsored by Sen. Jennifer Beck (R-11) memorializing the legendary saxophonist from Bruce Springsteen's E Street Band.

Clemons died last year at the age of 69 after suffering a stroke.

“The New Jersey Shore would not be the same without the music of Bruce Spingsteen’s E-Street Band,” said Beck.

“And the E-Street Band would not have been the same without the sound of a saxophone played by Clarence Clemons. For me as a resident of Red Bank, where he once owned a rock club, the loss rings ever more true. New Jersey lost an icon last year, an inextricable part of our shoreline’s cultural history that started by a happenstance meeting between Bruce Springsteen and the 'Big Man' in Asbury Park in 1972.”

Clemons was a founding member of the E- Street Band, playing with the group from its inception in 1972 until his death in 2011. 

Before Clemons joined the E-Street Band, he worked as a youth counselor in Newark.

His other professional endeavors included solo recordings, collaboration with artists from Aretha Franklin to Lady Gaga, several movie roles, and a stint operating a music club in Red Bank called Big Man’s West.