Belmar pays touching tribute to old E Street band member

David Sancious is a musician’s musician. At 7, he began learning classical piano and by 11 had taught himself guitar. He’s been a studio musician, and had his own project called Tone in the 1970s and collaborated on many other projects and played in many other bands along the way.

One of those was the E Street Band, fronted, of course, by Bruce Springsteen. In fact, he’s the reason it’s called the E Street Band. In the group’s early days, it was David’s mom’s garage in Belmar at 1107 E St. that they rehearsed.

Sancious played keyboards on “Greetings From Asbury Park, New Jersey” and “The Wild, The Innocent, & The E Street Shuffle.” He also helped on the title track of “Born To Run” before leaving the band to start his own solo project.

There was no animosity with Springsteen when that happened. In fact, Bruce talked to labels on behalf of David and they would collaborate again in later life on things like “Human Touch” and “Western Stars.”

Sancious is 71 now. A piano was just dedicated to him and his late mother, Stelma Sancious.

The Pyanoe Plaza piano is a digital instrument which is inside a weatherproof shell.

There are only a handful of them around the world. The piano was donated to Belmar from the Belmar Arts Council as part of celebrating the borough's 150th anniversary.

When they moved into that home on E Street all those years ago, the sellers had left behind a piano and that’s when Stelma’s kids found out she knew how to play. She then taught David who picked it up right away. This of course was the same woman who would allow the space on her own property to be used by the band that would become so famous.

“This thing about her, her sense of giving was not limited,” said David, 71, of his late mother. “It wasn't about her home or people who were like her or anything like that. It was universal and she believed in it and it instilled in me that one of the best things you can do as a human being is to share anything positive and anything good that you have because that sharing branches out and it survives for years, for decades.”

The dedication of the piano and the tribute to the Sancious family took place Saturday with David performing.

At the end of his set he said the dedication had been “the biggest honor” of his lifetime. Huge considering he’s a Rock Hall of Famer.

Opinions expressed in the post above are those of New Jersey 101.5 talk show host Jeff Deminski only.

Report a correction 👈