Bruce Springsteen’s mother Adele dies aged 98: Music legend, 74, reveals parent’s passing 13 years after she was diagnosed with Alzheimer’s disease

Bruce Springsteen’s mother, Adele, has died at the age of 98, the singer announced in a devastating Instagram post on Thursday.

Dancing In The Dark hitmaker Springsteen, 74, announced the death of his beloved mother by sharing a moving video of Adele dancing with him to swinging music, alongside a caption made up of lyrics from his 1998 song The Wish – which was written for her was written.

He wrote: ‘Adele Springsteen – May 4, 1925 – January 31, 2024.

‘I remember mother hearing your alarm clock ringing in the morning. I would lie in bed and listen to you getting ready for work, the sound of your makeup case on the sink. And the ladies in the office, all with lipstick, perfume and rustling skirts, you always looked so proud and happy when you walked home from work.

‘It’s not a phone call on Sunday, flowers or a Mother’s Day card. It is not a house on the hill with a garden and a nice yard. I have my hot rod on Bond Street. I’m older, but you’ll know me at a glance. We find a small rock ‘n’ roll bar and go dancing.

Dancing In The Dark hitmaker Springsteen, 74, announced the death of his beloved mother by sharing a moving video of Adele dancing with him to swinging music, alongside a caption made up of lyrics from his 1998 song The Wish – which was written for her was written

Adele was known and loved by Springsteen fans as she would often attend his shows and he would dance with her on stage.

He said during a Springsteen performance on Broadway in 2021: “My mother likes to dance. She grew up in the ’40s (with) the big bands and the swing bands, and that was a time when dancing was an existential act.

“She’s 95 and has had Alzheimer’s for 10 years, and it has taken a lot from us,” he continued. ‘But the need to dance has not left her.

‘She can’t talk. She can’t stand. She can’t feed herself. But when she sees me, there is always a smile. Still a smile. And there’s still a kiss. And there’s a sound she makes when she sees me. It’s just the sound, but I know it means ‘I love you.’

‘I put Glen Miller on and she starts moving in her chair (…) she starts reaching out to me, taking her in my arms again and dancing with her across the floor.

“This is an essential part of my mother’s spirit, it is who she is,” he said. “It goes beyond language and it is more powerful than memory. It is the embodiment.

‘This is what she has put her trust in and what she has lived her life by and what, despite all she has suffered, she continues to do until this moment, as if the beauty of life had never failed her. I love her.’

Adele Ann Zerilli was originally from the Bay Ridge neighborhood of Brooklyn, New York. She married Bruce’s father Douglas Springstreen in 1948 after his cousin founded them. Douglas died in 1998 at the age of 73.

Adele was known and loved by Springsteen fans, as she often attended his shows and he danced with her on stage (photo 2013 in Spain)

Bruce is pictured with Adele and aunts Ida Urbelis and Dora Kirby at the 9th annual Ellis Island Family Heritage Awards in 2010

Bruce is pictured with Adele, wife Patti Scialfa and daughter Jessica in 2013

Bruce and his two younger sisters Pamela and Virginia grew up in Freehold, New Jersey.

Adele worked as a legal secretary for 47 years, while Douglas was a bus driver and World War II veteran. Douglas battled depression throughout his life, while Bruce also suffered from his own crippling battle with mental health.

The family moved to California when Bruce was 19. He remained in New Jersey to continue his then budding music career.

Adele told the San Mateo County Times in 1984, “There are no words to describe it. What would you do if your child smiled at you from every PEOPLE magazine in town?

“All our kids are nice kids. We are proud of them all.’

Bruce described his difficult relationship with his father, who could not tell his son he loved him despite their relationship mending to some extent before his death in 1998, in the memoir, Born To Run.

“The best you could get was, ‘I love you, Dad.’ (switches to his father’s gruff voice.) “Um, me too,” he told Vanity Fair.

“Even after he had a stroke and he was crying, he still said, ‘Me too.’ You could hear his voice breaking, but he couldn’t get the words out.”