Who is Patti Scialfa, Bruce Springsteen’s Emmy-winning wife? The Boss’ soulmate and E Street Band-mate is an accomplished solo artist with 3 albums, and calls Michelle Obama a friend

If Bruce Springsteen is “The Boss”, his wife, fellow E Street Band member Patti Scialfa is the “first lady of love”, as he calls her. The couple have been married for 33 years and appear to be as much in love now as they were when they made headlines for the first time with their passionate romance in 1988.

The duo were recently spotted holidaying on a yacht in Saint-Jean-Cap-Ferrat, France, with Steven Spielberg, Bono and U2’s the Edge (David Howell Evans) – which made for a fantastic celebration of the star’s shining new billionaire status, as Forbes announced earlier this year.

Scialfa has her own reasons to celebrate too. In 2023, she was inducted into the New Jersey Hall of Fame, while her fourth solo album is set to drop later this year – just 17 years after her third LP, Play It as It Lays, from 2007.

What is Patti Scialfa’s background?

The red-haired beauty was born and raised in Deal, New Jersey, to a Northern Irish mother and a Sicilian father who owned an appliance store and later got into real estate, per People and New Jersey Monthly. She attended Asbury Park High, where her older brother Michael was later a substitute teacher. Scialfa studied at the University of Miami’s Frost School of Music before transferring to and graduating from New York University’s Gallatin School of Individualized Study, per People.

How did she get into music?

It was Scialfa’s maternal grandfather, a songwriter credited for Marie Lloyd’s “A Little of What You Fancy Does You Good”, who ignited her love for music, per New Jersey Monthly. “I was seven or eight year old, and I would play piano with him,” Scialfa told the publication, adding that he would often ask for her opinions on his music.

Her keyboardist brother, Michael, was also an inspiration, per People. However, Scialfa felt the lack of “modern, recognisable role models for a young girl in the 1950s”, and turned to Grace Slick, Janis Joplin and Dusty Springfield’s music, per Rolling Stone.

By the time she was in high school, she was writing her own songs, a childhood friend told People. She then moved to the Big Apple and started busking and singing at clubs, according to her bio on Springsteen’s website. She also contributed backing vocals to recordings for The Rolling Stones and Southside Johnny and the Asbury Jukes.

How Patti Scialfa “stole” Springsteen from wife Julianne Phillips

Scialfa was performing with Bobby Bandiera’s band, Cats on a Smooth Surface, at Asbury Park’s Stone Pony when her future husband first lied eyes on her, per New Jersey Monthly. “I just want to tell you that I like the way you sing,” the rock star reportedly told her, and it was “the beginning of a beautiful friendship”, she said. She had reportedly auditioned for him before but had been turned down for being too young. In 1984, he made her the only female member of The E Street Band.

People reported that a young Scialfa was heartbroken about Springsteen’s marriage to model and actress Julianne Phillips in 1985. Fast forward to 1988, and things got spicy when Scialfa and The Boss were snapped together romancing in Europe during the Tunnel of Love tour. Phillips filed for divorce the same year, and in 1991, Springsteen married Scialfa.

She’s a proud mum and grandmother

In 2022, the couple became grandparents to Samuel’s daughter, Lily Harper. Springsteen revealed on The Tonight Show Starring Jimmy Fallon that “Patti is not going to be called ‘grandma’”, while he didn’t mind any nickname – except “The Boss”.

Patti Scialfa has an Emmy

In addition to her prolific music career, Scialfa also executive produced Shelter Me: Soul Awakened (2021), a documentary series hosted by John Legend about the Paws for Life programme, where incarcerated men train overlooked shelter dogs to become service animals. It won her an Emmy.