Always gotta hand it to The Professor... Happy Birthday, Roy Bittan!
- Letters To You
- 5 days ago
- 2 min read
July 2, 2025
Happy 76th Birthday, and best wishes for many, many more happy birthdays ahead to "Professor" Roy Bittan, who remains one of the greatest musicians in rock and roll, let alone on E Street. Roy always plays the appropriate keyboard part for the song - whether it's big or small, complex or deceptively simple, on piano, organ, or synth (or even occasionally on accordion, should the need arise.) For example, it's been more than fifty years since he joined the E Street Band, more than fifty years since he began providing those essential piano parts of "Jungleland," and he's still finding ways to play that song differently enough each time to keep it fresh, keep your attention, and keep it live in every sense of the word. It's master-level musical performance that remains so alive... and so beautiful, of course.
Roy's done a ton of great performance and production work off E Street, as well. One of our all-time favorites remains his contributions to Ian Hunter's 1979 masterpiece You're Never Alone With A Schizophrenic, where Roy joined fellow E Streeters Garry Tallent and Max Weinberg, backing Hunter in the studio. (Check out the anniversary-related "Expanded Edition"/"Deluxe Edition" forms of this album for extra outtakes and alternative versions from those recording sessions.) And of course, to date The Professor remains the only E Street Band member to share official co-writing credits with Bruce Springsteen on a Springsteen album ("Roll of the Dice" and "Real World" on Human Touch.)
Happy Birthday, Roy, and many, many more! Keep them keys keepin' on!
