Suki Lahav, who played violin with Bruce Springsteen And The E Street Band in the mid-1970s, has died at the age of 74.
The news was confirmed by her son Yonatan Lahav yesterday (April 2), who wrote on Facebook that his “beloved and beautiful mother” had been “gathered into infinity after a short and hard battle with the cursed disease”.
“She wrote songs that touched people’s hearts,” he added. “She was a special woman, smart, pure in heart and loving life. She was the best mom I could ever ask for.”
Tzruya “Suki” Lahav’s spell with the E Street Band was relatively short – spanning between October 1974 and March 1975 – but in that time, she contributed to the sessions for Springsteen’s second album ‘The Wild, The Innocent And The E Street Shuffle’ and its follow-up ‘Born To Run’.
Among her most notable contributions were on the violin introduction to ‘Jungleland’, and on the choir-like vocals on ‘4th Of July, Asbury Park (Sandy)’, the latter seeing her voice overdubbed several times to imitate the real church choir that failed to show up to the recording session.
Lahav first connected with Springsteen and his backing band when her husband Louis Lahav worked as an engineer on debut album ‘Greetings From Asbury Park’ in 1972, and she began playing with the band on a trial basis in 1974 when Springsteen was looking for replacements for Ernest ‘Boom’ Carter and David Sancious.
She played with the group at their shows in late 1974, debuting at New York City’s Avery Fisher Hall on October 4, and would join them on stage for any songs requiring violin parts – including ‘Incident On 57th Street’ and their version of Bob Dylan’s ‘I Want You’ – until her final show on March 3 in Washington DC.
One of the best contributions from Suki Lahav while she was in the E Street Band. Outstanding version of Bob Dylan’s I Want You, recorded at the Main Point on Feb.5, 1975.#sukilahav #springsteen #bobdylanhttps://t.co/7b3hXD1rWv
— Springsteen news – Point Blank (@PointBlankSpain) April 2, 2026
Shortly afterwards, she moved back to her native Israel and found success as a musician and writer, playing with the Kibbutz Orchestra and writing for other artists, including Yehudit Ravitz and Gidi Gov. Her song ‘Shara Barkhovot’ was Israel’s entry in the 1990 Eurovision Song Contest, as performed by Rita.
For her work in Israel, Lahav was the recipient of the ACUM Lifetime Achievement Award and the Erik Einstein Prize.
