Beloved E Street Band drummer, the “Mighty” Max Weinberg, will be inducted into the New Jersey Hall Of Fame. Weinberg, who’s now 71, was born in Newark and raised in South Orange, New Jersey. The legendary drummer will be among the 2022 class that also includes former Philadelphia Eagles quarterback Ron Jaworski and comedian Chelsea Handler.

The Asbury Park Press reported “the induction ceremony will be virtual and broadcast in late October on My9NJ, NJ PBS, radio and social media platforms. The previous two induction ceremonies were virtual as well due to Covid.”

The physical home of the New Jersey Hall Of Fame has been scheduled to move to the American Dream retail and amusement center at the Meadowlands in East Rutherford.

Max Weinberg recalled falling in love with the drums in 1956 when he saw D.J. Fontana behind the kit while Elvis Presley performed “Hound Dog” live on The Ed Sullivan Show. Back in 2017, Weinberg told the students of Asbury Park’s Lakehouse Music Academy: “I heard that, and when I saw how it got everybody’s attention, I knew that’s what I wanted to do. I knew I wanted to get everybody’s attention. Drums and music in general was a way to get connected to the world. It opened the world for me. All the dreams I had as a kid of being connected and not being weird and having people enjoy what I do through music, they became true. You look back on it and it’s almost hard to believe.”

Max Weinberg, who was introduced to a whole new generation of fans as the bandleader for Conan O’Brien‘s Late Night and Tonight Show stints, told us that TV musicians were among his earliest inspirations: “Growing up in the late-’50s, early-’60s, watching TV, y’know, always at 9 o’clock there was a variety show and variety shows had fantastic orchestras. And it was fairly common to see great musicians on TV. Y’know, in those days, you’d see Buddy Rich on the Johnny Carson Tonight Show, he was almost a regular, and I always had an affection for big band swing.”