Patti Scialfa has revealed she was diagnosed with multiple myeloma, a form of bone marrow cancer, in 2018, prompting her to reduce her time playing in the E Street Band with her husband, Bruce Springsteen. “Touring has become a challenge for me,” Scialfa said in the new documentary Road Diary: Bruce Springsteen and the E Street Band, which premiered at Toronto International Film Festival on Sunday. “I just have to be careful what I choose to do and where I choose to go.”
Scialfa first joined the E Street Band in 1984, and has frequently toured with the group, but she was notably absent from nearly all of the group’s shows in 2023 and 2024. She married Springsteen in 1991, and, two years later, released the first of her three solo albums to date, Rumble Doll—later followed by 2003’s 23rd Street Lullaby and, in 2007, Play It as It Lays. The multiple myeloma diagnosis came during the Springsteen on Broadway residency, during which she would guest on two songs.
Last year, Scialfa told the Asbury Park Press that she was spending less time on stage to work on a new solo album, as well as to spend more time with her new granddaughter. In fact, her reduced presence in the E Street Band is intended to reduce health risks. “Every once in a while, I come to a show or two and I can sing a few songs on stage, and that’s been a treat,” she said in the documentary. “That’s the new normal for me right now, and I’m OK with that.”
Road Diary comes to Hulu and Disney+ on October 25.
