Bruce Springsteen and E Street Band will be without one of its original members in promoting their new album “Magic,” which made its debut at No. 1 on Billboard’s Top 200 Albums chart, with 335,000 copies sold within its first week of release.

Keyboardist Danny Federici, a 57-year-old Fleming ton native, has dropped out of the group’s current U.S. tour to undergo treatment for melanoma. He has been with Springsteen since the late Sixties.

"Danny is one of the pillars of our sound and has played beside me as a great friend for more than 40 years. We all eagerly await his healthy and speedy return," Springsteen wrote in a posting on his website www.brucespringsteen.net.

The news became public at the end of the concert held at Boston TD Banknorth Garden on Monday. There, Springsteen let their fans know that the rumors about Federici being ill were true and that the Boston concert was supposed to be his last night with the band for a while, the Star-Ledger of Newark reported on Wednesday.

Springsteen called Federici “the most instinctive and natural musician I ever met," when he was first inducted into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame in 1999. "Your organ and accordion playing brought the boardwalks of Central and South Jersey alive in my music,” he continued his speech addressing directly to Federici.

Charles Giordano, a former member of the Sessions Band, which backed Springsteen in 2005-2006 folk-flavored tour, will temporarily fill in for Federici.

Springsteen and the E Street Band will continue their tour this time for European fans from Madrid on November 25, followed by a gig in London by mid-December. Other concerts are scheduled in Italy, Netherlands, Germany, Belgium and France, among others.

Tickets for some of the new shows set for 2008 are already on sale. For more details, visit www.brucespringsteen.net