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Psychic was a figure in Springsteen song

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From Times Staff and Wire Reports

Marie Castello, 93, a fortune teller in Asbury Park, N.J., and a figure of rock ‘n’ roll mythology thanks to Bruce Springsteen, died Friday, her great-granddaughter Sally Castello told the Asbury Park Press. A cause of death was not given.

Known as Madame Marie, the psychic reader and advisor had told people’s fortunes at the Temple of Knowledge on the Asbury Park Boardwalk since the 1930s.

Castello, a native of Neptune City, N.J., became known worldwide in 1973 when Springsteen paid homage to her in the song “4th of July, Asbury Park (Sandy).”

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His lyric, “Did you hear, the cops finally busted Madame Marie for tellin’ fortunes better than they do,” cemented her fame.

Castello never really crossed the law, the town’s deputy mayor, Jim Bruno, told the Asbury Park Press. “That was just the Boss,” Bruno said. “She was never arrested. But Springsteen turned her into an icon.”

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