Vinnie Roslin | |
|---|---|
 Roslin in 2007 at Red Bank NJ | |
| Background information | |
| Also known as | Little Vinnie |
| Origin | Monmouth County, New Jersey, United States |
| Genres | Rock |
| Occupation(s) | Musician |
| Instrument(s) | Bass |
| Years active | 1964–2012 |
Vinnie Roslin (1946-2012) was an American bassist who was an original member of Steel Mill, an early Bruce Springsteen band. Other members of band included three future members of the E Street Band - Vini Lopez, Danny Federici and Steve Van Zandt. [1]
Roslin grew up in and around the Howell Township and the Freehold Borough areas of Monmouth County, New Jersey. [2] In late 1964, then aged 17, together with George Theiss (rhythm guitar, vocals), Bart Haynes (drums, vocals) and Mike DeLuise (lead guitar), he formed a band called The Sierras. They spent most of their short life in rehearsal and in early 1965 Roslin quit this band to join The Motifs with Walter Cichon (lead vocals) and Murray Bauer. Theiss and Haynes would later go on to form The Castiles and in June 1965 they were joined in that band by Bruce Springsteen. [3] The Motifs were managed by Norman Seldin, a local musician–entrepreneur whose own band, The Joyful Noyze, included Clarence Clemons. Under the management of Seldin, The Motifs released at least two singles which became local hits. "Molly" and "If I Gave You Love" were both released by Seldin's own label, Selsom Records. [4] In 2008 both songs were reissued on an anthology, Asbury Park - Then And Now, put together by Seldin. [5] The Motifs also opened for bands such as The Young Rascals and The Duprees. [6] Roslin would continue to play with The Motifs until he was 21. They split up when Walter Cichon was conscripted. Cichon, together with Bart Haynes, one of Roslin's earlier bandmates, were both killed while serving in Vietnam.
Roslin met Bruce Springsteen and Vini Lopez for the first time on April 22, 1966, when Norman Seldin organized a battle of the bands competition at the Matawan-Keyport Roller Drome in Matawan, New Jersey. Roslin was one of the judges while Springsteen and Lopez competed in the competition with their respective bands, The Castiles and Sonny & The Starfires. [7] [8] In February 1969, following the breakup of The Motifs, Roslin got together with Springsteen, Lopez and Danny Federici at The Upstage on 702 Cookman Avenue in Asbury Park, New Jersey and formed a new band. They initially played as Child, but in November 1969 changed their name to Steel Mill to avoid confusion with another band. [9] The highlight of Roslin's time with the band came in early 1970 when Steel Mill visited San Francisco and performed at The Matrix and Fillmore West, playing on the same bill as Elvin Bishop, Boz Scaggs and Grin. On February 22, they also recorded a three-song demo at the Pacific Recording Studio in San Mateo, California for Bill Graham. Graham had just formed Fillmore Records and actually offered Steel Mill a contract. However the band rejected it. Shortly after returning from San Francisco, Roslin left Steel Mill. He played his last gig with the band at the Virginia Commonwealth University on February 28, 1970, and he was subsequently replaced by Steve Van Zandt. [10]
According to Springsteen biographer Peter Ames Carlin, Roslin was kicked out of Steel Mill. He enjoyed life in San Francisco a little too much, Carlin wrote, missing band meetings, rehearsals and sound checks. When he also expressed interest in the band signing away Springsteen's publishing rights to his songs for the sake of the $1,000 advance Graham was offering for a contract, Springsteen decided Roslin had to go. [11]
Since leaving Steel Mill, Roslin has played in several other Jersey Shore bands. He initially joined a reformed Motifs before playing in Maddog & The Shakes with Vini Lopez and Ricky DeSarno (lead guitar). The Shakes based their sound on Motown and Memphis and have been described as "one of the great unsigned Asbury Park bands of the mid-1970s". He later played with The George Theiss Band and in 1987 he teamed up again with Lopez in J.P. Gotrock. [12] [13] By 1998 he was playing with Red Bank Boogie which was then reformed as Blue Plate Special in late 2000. Roslin formed both bands with his girlfriend Robin Roselle. He regularly sat in at the local Blues jams and performed with local Blues bands such as Nine Below Zero.
Roslin died in February 2012 from complications related to heart surgery. [17]
Greetings from Asbury Park, N.J. is the debut studio album by the American singer-songwriter Bruce Springsteen. It was produced from June through October 1972 by Mike Appel and Jim Cretecos at the budget-priced 914 Sound Studios. The album was released January 5, 1973, by Columbia Records to average sales but a positive critical reception.
"4th of July, Asbury Park (Sandy)", often known just as "Sandy", is a 1973 song by Bruce Springsteen, originally appearing as the second song on his album The Wild, the Innocent & the E Street Shuffle. It was released as a single from the album in Germany.
Clarence Anicholas Clemons Jr., also known as The Big Man, was an American saxophonist. From 1972 until his death in 2011, he was the saxophonist for Bruce Springsteen and The E Street Band.
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Daniel Paul Federici was an American musician, best known as a founding member of Bruce Springsteen's E Street Band, where he was its organist, accordionist and glockenspiel player. Federici appeared on ten of Springsteen's studio albums.
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Vincent Lopez, nicknamed Mad Dog, is an American drummer. Between 1968 and 1974 Lopez backed Bruce Springsteen in several bands, including Steel Mill and the E Street Band. He also played on Springsteen's first two albums, Greetings from Asbury Park, N.J. and The Wild, the Innocent and the E Street Shuffle. Both during and after his time with the E Street Band, Lopez played drums with numerous Jersey Shore bands.
The E Street Band is an American rock band, and has been musician Bruce Springsteen's primary backing band since 1972. The band was inducted into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame in 2014. For the bulk of Springsteen's recording and performing career, the band consisted of guitarists Steven Van Zandt, Nils Lofgren, and Patti Scialfa, keyboardists Danny Federici and Roy Bittan, bassist Garry Tallent, drummer Max Weinberg, and saxophonist Clarence Clemons.
Ernest Carter is an American drummer. He has toured and recorded with, among others, Bruce Springsteen, David Sancious, Southside Johnny & The Asbury Jukes and Paul Butterfield. During his time with Springsteen, he played the drums on the song "Born to Run". Able to play all forms of rock as well as rhythm and blues, soul and jazz, Carter was formally trained and blends a variety of styles into his drumming. His successor as the drummer with the E Street Band, Max Weinberg later said that Carter devised a jazz fusion part for "Born to Run" that he could never reproduce in concert, and eventually stopped attempting. Although best known as a drummer, Carter is also a guitarist, keyboardist and vocalist and in 2001 he released a solo album, Temple of Boom, singing and playing all of the instruments.
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The Born in the U.S.A. Tour was the supporting concert tour of Bruce Springsteen's Born in the U.S.A. album. It was his longest and most successful tour to date. It featured a physically transformed Springsteen; after two years of bodybuilding, the singer had bulked up considerably. The tour was the first since the 1974 portions of the Born to Run tours without guitarist Steven Van Zandt, who decided to go solo after recording the album with the group. Van Zandt, who was replaced by Nils Lofgren, would appear a few times throughout the tour and in some of the music videos to promote the album. It was also the first tour to feature Springsteen's future wife, Patti Scialfa.
Big Man's West was a nightclub located at 129 Monmouth Street in Red Bank, New Jersey. It was owned by Clarence "Big Man" Clemons of Bruce Springsteen's E Street Band and managed by Terry Magovern and George McMorrow. Although the club was short-lived, together with The Fast Lane and The Stone Pony, it played a key role in the revival the Jersey Shore music scene during the early 1980s.
Delores Holmes was an American soul singer. She was best known for her years as backup singer for the Bruce Springsteen Band during 1969 to 1972, the last grouping before the E Street Band. The Bruce Springsteen Band included David Sancious, Vini Lopez, Garry Tallent and Steven Van Zandt, among others.
Steel Mill was an early Bruce Springsteen band. Other members of the band included three future members of the E Street Band, Vini Lopez, Danny Federici, and Steve Van Zandt. As well as playing on the Jersey Shore, Steel Mill also played regularly in Richmond, Virginia and played gigs in California and a festival in Nashville, Tennessee. They opened for acts such as Chicago, Boz Scaggs, Grand Funk Railroad, Roy Orbison, Ike & Tina Turner, and Black Sabbath. Since 2004 Vini Lopez has led Steel Mill Retro which has performed and recorded original Springsteen songs from the Steel Mill era.
William Chinnock, also referred to as Bill Chinnock or Billy Chinnock, was an American singer-songwriter and guitarist. Born in Newark, New Jersey, Chinnock grew up in the nearby Essex County communities of East Orange and Millburn. He was a prominent member of the Jersey Shore music scene during the late 1960s, leading bands that included future members of the E Street Band.
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Robert Wickens "Robbin" Thompson was an American singer-songwriter based in Richmond, Virginia. Since 1976 he recorded several albums which included guest appearances by Melissa Manchester, Steve Cropper, Waddy Wachtel, Bruce Hornsby and Ellen McIlwaine, among others. He was a member of an early Bruce Springsteen band, Steel Mill, and co-wrote songs with Timothy B. Schmit, Phil Vassar and Butch Taylor and Carter Beauford of the Dave Matthews Band. He twice won the American Song Festival and in 1980 had a minor national hit with "Brite Eyes". He also wrote songs featured on the soundtracks of Gleaming the Cube and The Fighting Temptations. In March 2015, "Sweet Virginia Breeze", which Thompson co-wrote with Steve Bassett, became Virginia's second official state song.
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The Upstage Club was a legendary coffee shop, music venue, and afterhours club in Asbury Park, New Jersey. The club is featured in the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame. Influential musicians such as Bruce Springsteen, Bill Chinnock, Southside Johnny, David Sancious, Little Steven Van Zandt, Garry Tallent, Vini Lopez, and Danny Federici first honed their live performance skills at the club. It was where the Asbury Jukes, Steel Mill and the Blackberry Blues Band were formed.
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