A venerable critic, author, and editor, Dave Marsh passed away at his Connecticut home over the weekend. He was 76 years old.

Seizing upon rock ‘n’ roll as an American kid during the British Invasion, before helping to pioneer rock writing as an artwork. A continual contributor to during its 70s pomp, Dave Marsh was also an early editor of , whose irreverence helped craft a subversive voice for rock writing.

Dave Marsh was open about his opinions and steadfast in his passions. A lifelong fan of , Pete Townshend invited him to London to research the first major biography of the band. The results were published as Before I Get Old and his research on the band’s 60s Mod roots remain thrilling – it’s also not afraid to pull up The Who on their failings, while refusing to diminish his innate love for the band.

Other tomes include work on Creedence Clearwater Revival and Sly & The Family Stone, but it is perhaps an association with Bruce Springsteen hat earned Dave Marsh most praise as a writer.

From 1979 book Born To Run onwards, he championed The Boss, and also went out to bat for the E Street Band as a whole.

“Dave wrote several books about Bruce as part of a remarkable body of work spanning some 25 titles,” Rotolo wrote. “A longtime rock critic for Creem and Rolling Stone, he was also one of the creators of ‘E Street Radio’ and hosted ‘Kick Out the Jams’ on SiriusXM for 19 years. Rest easy, Dave. Thank you for everything, my friend. You will be missed.”

E Street Band lynchpin Steve van Zandt also saluted his old friend.

RIP Dave “The Duke” Marsh. An early believer on E Street, and a very early supporter of the Jukes when we really needed it. He was fearless, relentless, arrogant, everything you’d want in a RocknRoll troublemaker. And by the way, a tremendous writer. People know his Bruce and Who books, but his overlooked Louie Louie captured an essential untold part of Rock history and was Dave at his brilliant best. Travel well my friend.