Dave Marsh, the prolific rock critic and biographer who wrote for Rolling Stone, The Village Voice, and Newsday, died on August 14 at his home in Norwalk, Connecticut, at age 76. The cause was not disclosed.
Marsh began his career at age 19 in 1969 at Creem Magazine in Detroit, where he helped establish what Jon Landau described as a “punk alternative to Rolling Stone’s early hegemony in the emerging world of rock mags.” He later joined Rolling Stone, where he succeeded Landau as editor of the record section and frequently sparred with co-founder Jann Wenner, with Landau noting the two “usually fought each other to a draw.”
Marsh authored over 25 books, including Born to Run: The Bruce Springsteen Story, which Landau called “the essential work on Bruce’s early years” five decades after publication, and Before I Get Old: The Story of the Who. He also helped create E Street Radio and hosted Kick Out the Jams on SiriusXM for nearly two decades.
Beyond his writing career, Marsh co-founded the Kristen Ann Carr Fund with his wife Barbara Carr following the death of her daughter from cancer in 1991 at age 21. For over 30 years, the fund organized benefit shows, often featuring Bruce Springsteen, to support cancer research and patient care.
In a tribute shared on social media, Landau wrote that he and Marsh “hit it off” and spent five decades “arguing about music, politics, and writing” whenever they met. Landau remembered Marsh as a “generous friend” with “a caring heart, a love for people, and a desire to do good whenever and wherever he could.”
Source: Rolling Stone
