AceShowbiz - Tzruya "Suki" Lahav, the Israeli violinist whose brief yet significant tenure with the E Street Band helped shape some of Bruce Springsteen's early sound, passed away from cancer on April 1 at the age of 74.

Suki Lahav played a crucial role during a transformative period for Springsteen and his band, joining them for five months from October 1974 through March 1975. Her violin work is notably featured in the recording sessions of the albums The Wild, The Innocent, and the E Street Shuffle and Born to Run, including the iconic violin introduction to the song "Jungleland."

Lahav first entered Springsteen’s sphere in 1972 when her husband, Louis Lahav, served as a record engineer on the Greetings From Asbury Park album. Reflecting on those early days, she told the Jerusalem Post in 2007, "We were all young. [Springsteen] wasn’t the big star. Not yet. Just a unique artist."

During the 1973 sessions for The Wild, The Innocent, and the E Street Shuffle in Blauvelt, New York, Lahav unexpectedly found herself filling in vocally. When a church choir invited by Springsteen to sing on "4th of July, Asbury Park (Sandy)" failed to appear, multiple overdubs made Lahav effectively a one-woman choir. Despite her vocal contributions, she was not credited in the album’s liner notes.

In August 1974, after key members drummer Ernest "Boom" Carter and keyboardist David Sancious left to form the jazz fusion group Tone, Springsteen sought new musicians through a Village Voice ad, looking for a drummer, pianist, trumpet player, and violinist. After auditions, he hired drummer Max Weinberg and keyboardist Roy Bittan, and decided to give Lahav a trial as the band’s violinist.

Lahav’s first performance with the E Street Band took place on October 4, 1974, at Avery Fisher Hall in New York City. This concert featured an early rendition of the Born to Run classic "Jungleland," with Lahav’s haunting violin adding a distinctive texture to the live set and subsequent studio version. She recalled to the Jerusalem Post, "The music was incredible. The lyrics were so rich; some of the most beautiful lyrics didn’t ever make it onto record. Everybody knew that he was going to be this big artist. But we were all poor. Bruce was poor. We were all just completely into this thing."

Lahav collaborated closely with Springsteen on a pared-down version of Bob Dylan’s "I Want You," which became a standout feature in his live shows. Her violin was also central to performances of "Incident on 57th Street," especially during the famed February 5, 1975 concert at Philadelphia’s Main Point. That show, broadcast on WMMR-FM, became a widely circulated bootleg cherished by fans. Notably, Lahav appeared onstage only for songs requiring violin, and very few images of her with the band have ever emerged.

The final concert of Lahav’s time with Springsteen occurred on March 3, 1975, at DAR Constitution Hall in Washington, D.C., where the E Street Band shared a double bill with Orleans. Shortly afterward, she returned to Israel with her husband, closing the chapter on her involvement with Springsteen’s band.

Upon returning to Israel, Lahav achieved great success in her home country. She performed with the Israeli Kibbutz Orchestra and expanded her creative talents by publishing two novels. Additionally, she wrote the screenplay for the 1996 crime film Kesher Dam and composed several hit songs for Israeli artists such as Yehudit Ravitz ("Derech Hameshi"), Rita ("Yemei Hatom"), and Gidi Gov ("Perach").

Tzruya "Suki" Lahav's unique contributions to the early sound of the E Street Band and her creative legacy in Israel endure, marking her as an important figure in both the American rock scene and Israeli arts.