by SjoerdvW

Bruce Springsteen

Life and career

19491972: Early years

Springsteen was born in Long Branch, New Jersey, and spent his childhood and high school years in Freehold Borough. He lived off South Street in Freehold Borough and Freehold Borough High School attended. His father, Douglas Frederick Springsteen, was of Dutch and Irish ancestry and worked, among other vocations, as a bus driver, his surname is Dutch for stepping stone. His mother, Adele Ann (ne Zerilli), was a legal secretary and was of Italian ancestry. His grandfather was born in Vico Equense, a city near Naples. He has two younger sisters, Virginia and Pamela. Pamela had a brief film career, but left acting to pursue still photography full time, she took photos for the Human Touch and Lucky Town albums.

Raised a Roman Catholic, Springsteen attended the St. Rose of Lima Catholic school in Freehold Borough, where, he was at odds with both the nuns and other students, even though much of his later music reflects a deep Catholic ethos and included many rock-influenced , traditional Irish-Catholic hymns.

In ninth grade, he transferred to the public Freehold Regional High School, but did not fit in there, either. Old teachers have said he was a "loner, who wanted nothing more than to play his guitar." He completed high school, but felt so uncomfortable that he skipped his own graduation ceremony. He briefly attended Ocean County College, but dropped out.

Springsteen had been inspired to take up music at the age of seven after seeing Elvis Presley on The Ed Sullivan Show. At 13, he bought his first guitar for; later, his mother took out a loan to buy the 16-year-old Springsteen a Kent guitar, as he later memorialized in his song "The Wish."

town in 1965, he went to the house of Tex and Marion Vinyard, who sponsored young bands in. They helped him become lead guitarist and subsequently the lead singer of The Castiles. The Castiles recorded two original songs at a public recording studio in Brick Township and played a variety of venues, including Cafe Wha? in Greenwich Village. Marion Vinyard said that she believed the young Springsteen when he promised he would make it big.

Called for induction when he was 19, Springsteen failed his physical examination and did not serve in Vietnam. In an interview in Rolling Stone in 1984, he said magazine, "When I got on the bus to go take my physical, I thought one thing: I is not goin '." He suffered a concussion in a motorcycle accident when he was 17, and this together with his "crazy" behavior at induction and not taking the tests, was enough to get him a 4F.

New Jersey beach towns such as Asbury Park, New Jersey inspired the themes of ordinary life in Bruce Springsteen's music.

In the late 1960s, Springsteen performed briefly in a power trio known as Earth, playing in clubs in New Jersey. Springsteen acquired the nickname "The Boss" during this period as when he played club gigs with a band he took on the task of collecting the band's nightly pay and distributing it amongst his bandmates. Springsteen, however, has never liked this nickname, due to his dislike of bosses. Lately, however, he seems to have accepted the nickname. Many recent concerts have audiences making up various signs on banners, license plates and so on saying, "Boss Time". Previously he had the nickname "Doctor". From 1969 through early 1971, Springsteen performed with Steel Mill, which featured so Danny Federici, Vini Lopez, Vinnie Roslin and later Steve Van Zandt and Robbin Thompson. They went on to play the mid-Atlantic college circuit, and then briefly in California. In January 1970 well-known San Francisco Examiner music critic Philip Elwood gave Springsteen credibility in his glowing assessment of Steel Mill: "I have never been so overwhelmed by totally unknown talent." Elwood went on to praise their "cohesive musicality" and, in particular, singled out Springsteen as "a most impressive composer." During this time Springsteen then performed regularly at small clubs in Asbury Park and Along the Jersey Shore, quickly gathering a cult following. Other acts followed over the next two years, as Springsteen sought to shape a unique and genuine musical and lyrical style: Dr. Zoom & the Sonic Boom (earlyid 1971), Sundance Blues Band (mid 1971), and The Bruce Springsteen Band (mid 1971id 1972). With the addition of pianist David Sancious, the core of what would later become the E Street Band was formed, with occasional temporary additions such as horn sections, "The Zoomettes" (a group of female backing vocalists for "Dr Zoom" and) Southside Johnny Lyon on harmonica. Musical genres explored included blues, R & B, jazz, church music, early rock'n'roll, and soul. His prolific songwriting ability, with more words in some individual songs than other artists had in whole albums, brought his skill to the attention of several people who were about to change his life: new managers Mike Appel and Jim Cretecos, and legendary Columbia Records talent scout John Hammond, who, under Appel's pressure, auditioned Springsteen in May 1972.

Even after Springsteen gained international acclaim, his New Jersey roots showed through in his music, and he often praised "the great state of New Jersey" in his live shows. Drawing on his extensive local appeal, he routinely sold out consecutive nights in major New Jersey and Philadelphia venues. He also made many surprise appearances at The Stone Pony and other shore nightclubs over the years, becoming the foremost exponent of the Jersey Shore sound.

19721974: Initial struggle for success

Springsteen signed a record deal with Columbia Records in 1972, with the help of John Hammond, who had signed Bob Dylan to the same label a decade earlier. Springsteen brought many of his colleagues into New Jerseyased the studio with him, Thus forming the E Street Band (although it would not be formally named as such for a couple more years). His debut album, Greetings from Asbury Park, NJ, released in January 1973, established him as a critical favorite, though sales were slow. Because of Springsteen's lyrical poeticism and folk music rockooted exemplified on tracks like "Blinded by the Light" and "For You", as well as the Columbia and Hammond connections, critics initially compared Springsteen to Bob Dylan. "He sings with a freshness and urgency I have not heard since I was rocked by 'Like a Rolling Stone'," wrote Crawdaddy magazine editor Peter Knobler in Springsteen's first interview / profile, in March 1973rd Crawdaddy 'discovered "Springsteen in the rock press and was his earliest champion. (Springsteen and the E Street Band acknowledged by giving a private performance at the Crawdaddy 10th Anniversary Party in New York City in June 1976.) Music critic Lester Bangs wrote in Creem, 1975, that when Springsteen's first album was released ….. "many of us dismissed it: he wrote like Bob Dylan and Van Morrison, sang like Van Morrison and Robbie Robertson, and led a band that sounded like Van Morrison's." The track "Spirit in the Night" especially showed Morrison's influence, while "Lost in the Flood" was the first of many portraits of Vietnam veterans and "Growin 'Up" his first take on the recurring theme of adolescence.

In September 1973 his second album, The Wild, the Innocent & the E Street Shuffle, was released, again to critical acclaim but commercial success no. Springsteen's songs became grander in form and scope, with the E Street Band providing a less folky, more R & B vibe and the lyrics often romanticizing teenage street life. "4th of July, Asbury Park (Sandy)" and "Incident on 57th Street" would become fan favorites, and the long, rousing "Rosalita (Come Out Tonight)" continues to rank among Springsteen's most beloved concert numbers.

In the May 22, 1974, issue of Boston's The Real Paper, music critic Jon Landau wrote after seeing a performance at the Harvard Square Theater, "I saw rock and roll future, and its name is Bruce Springsteen. And on a night when I needed to feel young, he made me feel like I was hearing music for the very first time. " Landau subsequently became Springsteen's manager and producer, helping to finish the epic new album, Born to Run. Given an enormous budget in a last-ditch effort at a commercially viable record, Springsteen became bogged down in the recording process while striving for a wall of sound production. But, fed by the release of an early mix of "Born to Run" to progressive rock radio, anticipation built toward the album's release. All in all the album took more than 14 months to record, with six months spent alone on the song "Born To Run." During this time Springsteen battled with anger and frustration over the album, saying he heard "sounds in [his] head" that he could not explain to the others in the studio. It was during these recording sessions that "Miami" Steve Van Zandt would stumble into the studio just in time-to help Springsteen organize the horn section on "Tenth Avenue Freeze-Out" (it is his only written contribution to the album), and eventually led to his joining the E Street Band. [citation needed] Van Zandt had been a long-time friend of Springsteen, as well as a collaborator on earlier musical projects, and understood where he was coming from, which helped him to translate some of the sounds which hearing Springsteen. Still, by the end of the grueling recording sessions, Springsteen was not satisfied, and, upon first hearing the finished album, threw the record into the alley and told Jon Landau, he would rather just cut the album live at The Bottom Line, a place he often played. [citation needed]

The woman in his life during this time was part-time live-in 20-year-old Karen Darvin of Dallas, Texas, who was in New York City pursuing a career in dance.

19751983: Breakthrough
intense spoken passages before songs, including those describing Springsteen's difficult relationship with his father, and the instrumental prowess of the E Street Band, such as in the long coda to "Racing in the Street". Despite its popularity, some fans and critics felt the album's song selection could have been better. Springsteen concerts are the subjects of frequent bootleg recording and trading among fans.

By the peak of Springsteen's international megastardom in the mid-'80s there were no less than five Springsteen fanzines circulating at the same time in the UK, and many others elsewhere. Gary Desmond's' Candy in's Room ', produced in Liverpool, was the first in 1980, quickly followed by Dan French's' Point Blank', Dave Percival's' The Fever ', Jeff Matthews'' Rendezvous' and Paul Limbrick's "Jackson Cage". In the U.S., Backstreets Magazine started in Seattle and continues today as a glossy publication, now in communication with management and Springsteen's official website.

After this commercial peak, Springsteen released the much more sedate and contemplative Tunnel of Love (1987), a mature reflection on the many faces of love found, lost and squandered, which only selectively used the E Street Band. It presaged the breakup of his marriage to Julianne Phillips. sang Reflecting the challenges of love in Brilliant Disguise, Springsteen:

I heard somebody call your name, from underneath our willow. I saw something tucked in shame, underneath your pillow. Well I've tried so hard baby, but I just can not see. What a woman like you is doing with me.

The subsequent set Tunnel of Love Express tour shook up fans with changes to the stage layout, favorites dropped from the list, and horn-based arrangements. During the European leg in 1988, Springsteen's relationship with Scialfa became public. Later in 1988, Springsteen headlined the worldwide Human Rights Now! tour for Amnesty International. In the fall of 1989 he dissolved the E Street Band, and he and Scialfa relocated to California. Springsteen married Scialfa in 1991. They have three children: Evan James (b 1990), Jessica Rae (b. 1991) and Sam Ryan (b. 1994).

19922001: Artistic and commercial ups and downs

In 1992, after risking charges of "going Hollywood" by moving to Los Angeles (a radical move for someone Sun linked to the blue-collar life of the Jersey Shore) and working with session musicians, Springsteen released two albums at once. Human Touch and Lucky Town were even more introspective than any of his previous work and displayed a newly revealed confidence. As opposed to his first two albums, which dreamed of happiness, and his next four, which showed him growing to fear it, at points during the Lucky Town album, Springsteen actually claims happiness for himself.

Some E Street Band fans voiced (and continue to voice) a low opinion of these albums, especially Human Touch, and did not follow the subsequent "Other Band" Tour. Other fans, however, who had only come to know Springsteen after the 1975 consolidation of the E Street Band, found this tour an exciting opportunity to see Springsteen develop a working onstage relationship with a different group of musicians, and to see him explore the Asbury Park soul-and-gospel base in some of his classic material.

An electric appearance on the acoustic MTV Unplugged television program (later released as Band In Concert / MTV Plugged) was poorly received and further cemented fan dissatisfaction. Springsteen seemed to realize this a few years hence when he spoke humorously of his late father during his Rock and Roll Hall of Fame acceptance speech:

I've gotta thank him because what would I conceivably have written about without him? I mean, you can imagine that if everything had gone between us great, we would have had disaster. I would have written just happy songs and I tried it in the early '90s and it did not work, the public did not like it.

A multiple Grammy Award winner, Springsteen won an Academy Award in 1994, so for his song "Streets of Philadelphia", which appeared on the soundtrack to the film Philadelphia. The song, along with the film, was applauded by many for its sympathetic portrayal of a gay man dying of AIDS. [Citation needed] The music video for the song shows Springsteen's actual vocal performance, recorded using a hidden microphone, to a prerecorded instrumental track. [citation needed] This technique was developed on the "Brilliant Disguise" video.

In 1995, after temporarily re-organizing the E Street Band for a few new songs recorded for his first Greatest Hits album (a recording session that was chronicled in the documentary Blood Brothers), he released his second (mostly) solo guitar album, The Ghost of Tom Joad, inspired by Journey to Nowhere: The Saga of the New Underclass, a book by Pulitzer Prize-winners author Dale Maharidge and photographer Michael Williamson. This was generally less well-received than the similar Nebraska, due to the minimal melody, twangy vocals, and political nature of most of the songs, although some praised it for giving voice to immigrants and others who rarely have one in American culture. The lengthy, worldwide, small-venue solo acoustic Ghost of Tom Joad Tour that followed successfully featured many of his older songs in drastically Reshaped acoustic form, although Springsteen had to explicitly remind his audiences to be quiet and not to clap during the performances.

Following the tour, Springsteen moved back to New Jersey with his family. In 1998, Springsteen released the sprawling, four-disc box set of out-takes, Tracks. Subsequently, Springsteen would acknowledge that the 1990s were a "lost period" for him: "I did not do a lot of work. Some people would say I did not do my best work."

Springsteen was inducted into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame in 1999 by U2, a favor he returned in 2005.

In 1999, Springsteen and the E Street Band officially came together again and went on the extensive Reunion Tour, lasting a year over. Highlights included a record sold-out, 15-show run at Continental Airlines Arena in East Rutherford, New Jersey to kick off the American leg of the tour.

Springsteen's Reunion Tour with the E Street Band ended with a triumphant States-night, sold-out engagement at New York City's Madison Square Garden in mid-2000 and controversy over a new song "American Skin (41 Shots)", about the police shooting of Amadou Diallo. The final shows at Madison Square Garden were recorded and resulted in an HBO concert, with corresponding DVD and album releases as Bruce Springsteen & the E Street Band: Live in New York City.

2002resent: Return to mainstream success

The scene outside the Giants Stadium parking lot for banner-marked, record-setting, 10-night stand of The Rising Tour during July 2003.

In 2002, Springsteen released his first studio effort with the full band in 18 years, The Rising, produced by Brendan O'Brien. The album, mostly a reflection on the September 11 attacks, was a critical and popular success. (Many of the songs were influenced by phone conversations Springsteen had with family members of victims of the attacks who in their obituaries had mentioned how his music touched their lives.) The title track gained airplay in several radio formats, and the record became Springsteen's best years-selling album of new material in 15th Kicked off by an early-morning Asbury Park appearance on The Today Show, The Rising Tour commenced, barnstorming through a series of single-night arena stands in the U.S. and Europe to promote the album in 2002, then returning for large-scale, multiple -night stadium shows in 2003. While Springsteen had maintained a hardcore loyal fan base everywhere (and particularly in Europe), his general popularity had dipped over the years in some southern and midwestern regions of the U.S. But it was still strong in Europe and along the U.S. coasts, and he played an unprecedented 10 nights in Giants Stadium in New Jersey, a ticket-selling feat to which no other musical act has come close. During these shows Springsteen thanked those fans who were attending multiple shows and those who were coming from long distances or another country, the advent of robust Bruce-oriented online communities had made such practices more common. The Rising Tour came to a final conclusion with three nights in Shea Stadium, highlighted by renewed controversy over "American Skin" and a guest appearance by Bob Dylan.

During the early 2000s, Springsteen became a visible advocate for the revitalization of Asbury Park, and played at annual series of winter holiday concerts there to benefit various local businesses, organizations, and causes. These shows were explicitly intended for the devoted fans, featuring numbers such as the unreleased (until Tracks) E Street Shuffle outtake "Thunder Crack", a rollicking group-participation song that would mystify casual Springsteen fans. He also frequently rehearses for tours in Asbury Park, some of his most devoted followers even go so far as to stand outside the building to hear what fragments they can of the upcoming shows. The song "My City of Ruins" was originally written about Asbury Park, in honor of the attempts to revitalize the city. Looking for an appropriate song for a post-Sept. 11 benefit concert honoring New York City, he selected "My City of Ruins," which was immediately recognized as an emotional highlight of the concert, with its gospel themes and its heartfelt exhortations to "Rise up!" The song became associated with post-9/11 New York, and he chose it to close The Rising album and as an encore on the subsequent tour.

At the Grammy Awards of 2003, Springsteen performed The Clash's "London Calling" along with Elvis Costello, Dave Grohl, and E Street Band member Steven Van Zandt and No Doubt's bass player, Tony Kanal in tribute to Joe Strummer, Springsteen and the Clash had once been considered multiple-album-dueling rivals at the time of the double The River and the triple Sandinista!. In 2004, Springsteen and the E Street Band participated in the "Vote for Change" tour, along with John Mellencamp, John Fogerty, the Dixie Chicks, Pearl Jam, REM, Bright Eyes, the Dave Matthews Band, Jackson Browne, and other musicians . All concerts were to be held in swing states, to benefit the organization liberalism political group America Coming Together and to encourage people to register and vote. A final was held in Washington, DC, bringing many of the artists together. Several days later, Springsteen held one more such concert in New Jersey, when polls showed that state surprisingly close. While in past years Springsteen had played benefits for causes in which he believed against nuclear energy, for Vietnam veterans, Amnesty International, and the Christic Institute he had always refrained from explicitly endorsing candidates for political office (indeed he had rejected the efforts of Walter Mondale to attract to endorsement during the 1984 Reagan "Born in the USA" flap). This new stance led to criticism and praise from the expected partisan sources. Springsteen's "No Surrender" became the main campaign theme song for John Kerry's unsuccessful presidential campaign, in the last days of the campaign, he performed acoustic versions of the song and some of his other old songs at Kerry rallies.

An acoustic guitar number during the solo Devils & Dust tour performance at the Festhalle Frankfurt, June 15, 2005.

Devils & Dust was released on April 26, 2005, and was recorded without the E Street Band. It is a low-key, mostly acoustic album, in the same vein as Nebraska and The Ghost of Tom Joad although with a little more instrumentation. Some of the material was written almost 10 years earlier during, or shortly after, the Ghost of Tom Joad Tour, a couple of them being performed then but never released. Was The title track concerns an ordinary soldier's feelings and fears during the Iraq. Starbucks rejected a co-branding deal for the album, due in part to some sexually explicit content but that is because of Springsteen's anti-corporate politics. The album entered the album charts at No.. 1 in 10 countries (United States, Austria, Switzerland, Sweden, Denmark, Italy, Germany, the Netherlands, the United Kingdom, and Ireland). Springsteen began the solo Devils & Dust Tour at the same time as the album's release, playing both small and large venues. Attendance was disappointing in a few regions, and everywhere (other than in Europe) tickets were easier to get than in the past. Unlike his mid-1990s solo tour, he performed on piano, electric piano, pump organ, autoharp, ukulele, banjo, electric guitar, and stomping board, as well as acoustic guitar and harmonica, adding variety to the solo sound. (Offstage synthesizer, guitar, and percussion therefore were used for some songs.) Unearthly renditions of "Reason to Believe," "The Promised Land", and Suicide's "Dream Baby Dream" jolted audiences to attention, while rarities, frequent set list changes , and a willingness to keep trying even through audible piano mistakes kept most of his loyal audiences happy.

In November 2005, Sirius Satellite Radio started a 24-hour, seven-day-a-week radio station on Channel 10 called E Street Radio. This channel featured commercial-free Bruce Springsteen music, including rare tracks, interviews, and daily concerts of Bruce Springsteen & the E Street Band recorded throughout their career.

Springsteen and The Sessions Band performing on their tour at the Fila Forum, Milan, Italy on May 12, 2006.

In April 2006, Springsteen released We Shall Overcome: The Seeger Sessions, an American roots music project focused around a big folk sound treatment of 15 songs popularized by the radical musical activism of Pete Seeger. It was recorded with a large ensemble of musicians including only Patti Scialfa, Soozie Tyrell, and The Miami Horns from past efforts. In contrast to previous albums, this was recorded in only three one-day sessions, and frequently one can hear Springsteen calling out key changes live as the band explores its way through the tracks. The Bruce Springsteen with The Seeger Sessions Band Tour began the same month, featuring the 18-strong ensemble of musicians dubbed the Seeger Sessions Band (and later shortened to the The Sessions Band). Seeger Sessions material was heavily featured, as well as a handful of (usually drastically rearranged) Springsteen numbers. The tour proved very popular in Europe, selling out everywhere and receiving some excellent reviews, but newspapers reported that a number of U.S. shows suffered from sparse attendance. By the end of 2006, the Seeger Sessions tour toured Europe twice and toured America for only a short span Bruce Springsteen with The Sessions Band: Live in Dublin, containing selections from three nights of November 2006 shows at the The Point Theatre in Dublin, Ireland, was released the following June.

Springsteen performing with drummer Max Weinberg behind him, on the Magic Tour stop at Veterans Memorial Arena, Jacksonville, Florida, August 15, 2008.

Springsteen's next album, titled Magic, was released on October 2, 2007. Recorded with the E Street Band, it featured 10 new Springsteen songs plus "Long Walk Home," performed once with the Sessions band, and a hidden track (the first included on a Springsteen studio release), "Terry's Song," a tribute to Springsteen's long-time assistant Terry Magovern who died on July 30, 2007. The first single, "Radio Nowhere," was made available for a free download on August 28 On October 7, Magic debuted at number one in Ireland and the UK. Greatest Hits reentered the Irish charts at number 57, and Live in Dublin almost cracked the top 20 in Norway again. Sirius Satellite Radio then restarted E Street Radio on Channel 10 on September 27, 2007, in anticipation of Magic. Radio conglomerate Clear Channel Communications was alleged to have sent an edict to its classic rock stations not to play any material songs from the new album, while continuing to play older Springsteen. However, Clear Channel Adult Alternative (or "AAA") station KBCO did play tracks from the album, undermining the allegations of a corporate blackout. Springsteen and The E Street Band Magic Tour began at the Hartford Civic Center with the album's release and was routed through North America and Europe. Springsteen and the band performed live on NBC's Today Show in advance of the opener. Longtime E Street Band Danny Federici went off the tour organist in November 2007 due to melanoma, he died on April 17, 2008, after a three-year battle with the disease.

Recent events

campaign in April 2008, Springsteen announced his endorsement of U.S. Senator Barack Obama in his presidential 2008th In a video shot at an Ohio rally for Obama, Springsteen discussed the importance of "truth, transparency and integrity in government, the right of every American to have a job, a living wage, to be educated in a decent school, and a life filled with the dignity of work, the promise and the sanctity of home today … But those freedoms have been curtailed and damaged by eight years of a thoughtless, reckless and morally adrift-administration. "

On June 18, 2008, Springsteen appeared live from Europe at the Tim Russert tribute at the Kennedy Center in Washington, DC, to play one of Russert's favorite songs, "Thunder Road." Springsteen dedicated the song to Russert, who was "one of Springsteen's biggest fans." [Citation needed]

Springsteen made a few solo acoustic performances in support of Obama's campaign in October 2008, culminating with a November 2 rally where he debuted "Working On A Dream" in a duet with Scialfa.

Springsteen at a rally for then-presidential candidate Barack Obama

Cleveland, Ohio on November 2, 2008

On November 4, the first song played over the loudspeakers after Obama's victory speech as president-elect in Chicago's Grant Park was "The Rising".

Springsteen's Working on a Dream album was released in late January 2009.

Springsteen was the musical opener for the We Are One: The Obama Inaugural Celebration at the Lincoln Memorial on January 18, 2009 which was attended by over 400,000. He performed "The Rising" with an all-female choir. Later he performed Woody Guthrie's "This Land Is Your Land" with Pete Seeger.

On January 11, 2009, Springsteen won the Golden Globe Award for Best Song for "The Wrestler" Mickey Rourke from the film by the same name.

Springsteen performed at the halftime show at Super Bowl XLIII on February 1, 2009, agreeing to do it after many previous offers: t was sort of, well, if we don do it now, what are we waiting for? I want to do it while I alive.50] A few days before the game, Springsteen gave a rare press conference, where he promised a "twelve-minute party." When asked if he would be nervous performing before such a large audience, Springsteen alluded to the "We Are One" concert, which took place at the Lincoln Memorial: "Youl have a lot of crazy football fans, but you won have Lincoln staring over your shoulder. That takes some of the pressure off " 12:45 His set, with the E Street Band and the Miami Horns, included abbreviated rendition of "Tenth Avenue Freeze-Out", "Born to Run," "Working on a Dream," and Glory Days, complete "the latter with football references. The set of appearances and promotional activities led Springsteen to say, "This has probably been the busiest month of my life."

On April 1, 2009, Springsteen kicked off the Working on a Dream Tour in San Jose, California. The tour was hit by controversy in February 2009 when ticket site Ticketmaster and tour partner was found to be redirecting customers to their subsidiary TicketsNow, where tickets were being sold at inflated prices, despite the availability of face-value tickets elsewhere. Ticketmaster CEO Irving Azoff issued a swift apology, following a furious statement from Springsteen, who accused the site of "the abuse of our fans and our trust". The tour's shows featured few songs from the new album recession, with set lists instead dominated by Springsteen classics and selections reflecting the ongoing late-2000s. The tour that is featured Springsteen playing songs requested by audience members holding up signs usually garage rock or punk rock classics or older, more obscure entries in Springsteen's back catalog in a practice dating back to the final stages of the Magic tour. Drummer Max Weinberg was replaced for some shows by his 18-year-old son Jay Weinberg, so that the former could serve his role as band leader on the debuting The Tonight Show with Conan O'Brien.

Springsteen was part of the lineup of The Clearwater Concert, a celebration of Pete Seeger's 90th birthday which took place on May 3, 2009 at Madison Square Garden.

Fireworks go off at the conclusion of the "E! Street! Tape!" exhortation during the final shows at Giants Stadium.

During the Working on a Dream Tour, Springsteen and the made their first real foray into the world of music festivals, band headlining nights at the Pinkpop Festival in the Netherlands, the Bonnaroo Music Festival in the United States where Springsteen then sat in with Phish for three songs and the Glastonbury Festival and Hard Rock Calling in the UK. He also was the headliner of the Festival des Vieilles Charrue in Brittany, France in July, his only tour stop in France. His son Evan participated in the concert, playing guitar.

During a stretch of five final shows at his home state Giants Stadium, Bruce Springsteen opened the shows with a brand new song dedicated to the "old lady" (and told from its perspective), named "Wrecking Ball". The song highlights the historic stadium, and his Jersey roots. The stand, as well as some other shows on the U.S. third leg of the tour, featured presentations full album of Born to Run, Darkness on the Edge of Town, or Born in the USA

The tour ended as scheduled in Buffalo, NY in November 2009 amid speculation that it was the last performance ever by the E Street Band, but during the show Springsteen said it was goodbye or a little while.

In October, 2009, Bruce Springsteen was among the headline acts of the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame's 25th anniversary benefit concert along with artists like U2, Stevie Wonder and Aretha Franklin.

On December 6, 2009, Springsteen was among the recipients of the Kennedy Center Honors, at annual award to figures from the world of arts for their contribution to American culture .. This is probably the highest honor Mr. Springsteen has yet received. Prior to the official ceremony at the Kennedy Center, the six cultural icons were hosted by President and Ms. Obama Michelle Obama. During the speech by the president, he talked about how Springsteen has incorporated the life of regular Americans in his expansive pallette of songs and how his concerts are beyond the typical rock-and-roll concerts, how, apart from being high-energy concerts they are "Communion". President Obama ended with the remark: "On days like the" We Are One "and today we are reminded that while I am the president concert, He is The Boss." During the awards official show on December 6, 2009, were tributes paid by several well-known celebrities like Jon Stewart, Ben Stiller, Eddie Vedder, Sting, and Melissa Etheridge.

Jon Stewart opened with a funny albeit touching tribute to Mr. Springsteen: "I am not historian a music critic. Nor, nor archivist. I can not tell you where Bruce Springsteen if songbook in the pantheon of the American. I can not illuminate the context of his work, or its roots in the folk and oral history traditions of our great nations. But I am from New Jersey. So, I can tell you what I believe. And what I believe is that Bob Dylan and James Brown had a baby. Yes! And they abandoned this child, as you can imagine at the timeinterracial, same sex relationships being what they werethey abandoned this baby by the side of the road between the exit interchanges 8A and 9 on the Jersey Turnpikethat child was Bruce Springsteen. " He continued, "I believe that Bruce Springsteen is an unprecedented combination of lyrical eloquence, musical mastery and sheer unbridled, unadulterated joy. Exuberance in the act of telling stories so familiar, stories that have never been told so well or so uniquely. And I know he hating this right now. He a modest one, and he doesn like sitting there in that little box, with his little suit, wearing a little rainbow dream catcher or whatever they have on therehe doesn like it. He wishes he had his guitar and that I would shut up, but I will not yearn. He is the BossBut I did not understand his music for a long time, until I began to. Until I began to question the things that I was making and doing in my own life. Until I realized that it wasn just about the joyful parade on stage and the theatrics. It was about stories of lives that could be changed. And that the only status that you could fail to achieve is the status quo. The only thing, the only failure not in life was not to make the effort to change our station. And it resonated with me because, and I truly say this to him … I would be here, God knows, not even not in this business if it were for the inspirational words and music of Bruce Springsteen. "

Golden Globe Award-winning writer Ron Kovic then took the stage, explaining how he first met Bruce Springsteen at the Sunset Marquis Hotel in Hollywood in 1978. A chance encounter led musician to an exchange of the artists work, and a friendship was born between the Born on the Fourth of July author and Vietnam veteran and the Born in the USA. Kovic introduced Springsteen musical tribute, which began with the Rob Mathes All-Star band performing 10th Avenue Freeze Out, followed by Grammy Award-winning musician John Mellencamp crooning Born in the USA. It was then followed by a medley of My Father House, Glory Days and I on Fire by multi-Grammy winners Ben Harper and Jennifer Nettles, accompanied by the Rob Mathes Band. Grammy Award and Academy Award-winning musician Melissa Etheridge rocked out a concert-version of Born to Run, followed by Grammy Award and Golden Globe Award-winning singer Eddie Vedder explosive rendition of My City of Ruins. Finally, musical powerhouse Sting, himself a multiple Grammy, Golden Globe and Emmy Award winner, ended the night with a memorable performance of The Rising, joined by The Choir Joyce Garrett and the rest of the performers for the evening rousing conclusion. Throughout the tribute show, President Obama, Ms. Obama and the other recipients looked on admiringly at the towering personality of Mr. Springsteen.

On January 22, 2010, Bruce joined many well-known artists to perform on Hope for Haiti Now: A Global Benefit for Earthquake Relief, organized by George Clooney to raise money to help the victims of the 2010 earthquake Haiti.

The 2000s ended with Springsteen being named one of eight Artists of the Decade by Rolling Stone magazine and tours with Springsteen's ranking him fourth among artists in concert big total for the decade.

Personal life

Springsteen family greets family on stage at Obama rally in Cleveland, Ohio on November 2, 2008.

Springsteen was a bachelor until the age of 35 when, he married 25 year old Julianne Phillips (born May 6, 1960) in Lake Oswego, Oregon on May 13, 1985. The marriage helped her acting career flourish, although the two were opposites in background, and his traveling took its toll on their relationship. The final blow came when Bruce began an affair with Patti Scialfa (born July 29, 1953), whom he had dated briefly in 1984 shortly after she joined the band. Phillips and Springsteen separated in the spring of 1988, and on August 30, 1988, Julianne filed for divorce. The Springsteen / Phillips divorce was finalized on March 1, 1989.

After his wife filed for divorce in 1988, Bruce began living with Scialfa. Springsteen received much criticism for the hastiness in which he and Scialfa took their relationship. In a 1995 interview with The Advocate, Springsteen spoke about the negative publicity the couple subsequently received. "It's a strange society that assumes it has the right to tell people whom they should love and whom they. Should not But the truth is, I basically ignored the entire thing as much as I could. I said," Well, all I know is, this feels real, and maybe I have got a mess going here in some fashion, but that's life. "In 1990, Springsteen and Scialfa welcomed their first child, son Evan James. They were expecting their second child, daughter Jessica Rae (born December 30, 1991), Bruce and Patti married on June 8 when, 1991. "I went through a divorce, and it was really difficult and painful and I was very frightened about getting married again. Sun part of me said, Hey, what does it matter? But it does matter. It's very different than just living together. First of all, stepping up publicly-which is what you do: You get your license, you do all the social rituals-is a part of your place in society and in some way part of society's acceptance of you … Patti and I both found that it did mean something. "The couple's youngest child, Sam Ryan, was born on January 5, 1994. The family lives in Rumson, New Jersey, and owns a horse farm in nearby Colts Neck. Springsteen therefore owns two adjacent homes in Wellington, Florida, a wealthy horse community near West Palm Beach. His eldest son, Evan, is currently a sophomore at Boston College in Chestnut Hill, a village in Newton, Massachusetts. His daughter Jessica Springsteen is a nationally-ranked equestrian champion.

In November 2000, Springsteen filed legal action against Jeff Burgar which accused him of registering the domain brucespringsteen.com (along with several other celebrity domains) in bad faith to funnel web users to his Celebrity 1000 portal site. Once the legal complaint was filed, Burgar pointed the domain to a Springsteen biography and message board. In February 2001, Springsteen lost his dispute with Burgar. A WIPO panel ruled 2 to 1 in favor of Burgar.

The October 26, 2009 show for the Working on a Dream Tour at Kansas City, Missouri was canceled an hour before its scheduled start time due to the death of Lenny Sullivan, Springsteen's cousin and assistant road manager.

Springsteen has led a relatively quiet and private life for a well-known popular performer and artist. He moved from Los Angeles to New Jersey in the early 1990s specifically to raise a family in a non-paparazzi environment. The Super Bowl XLIII halftime show press conference regarding the took place more than 25 years since his last press conference. However, he has appeared in few radio interviews, most notably on NPR and BBC. 60 minutes aired his last extensive interview on TV before his tour to support his album, Magic.

E Street Band

Main article: E Street Band

The E Street Band is considered to have started in October 1972, even though it was not officially known as such until September 1974. The E Street Band was inactive from the end of 1988 through early 1999, except for a brief reunion in 1995.

Current members

Bruce Springsteen lead vocals, guitar, harmonica, piano

Garry Tallent bass guitar, tuba

Clarence "Big Man" Clemons saxophone, percussion, backing vocals

Max Weinberg drums, percussion (joined September 1974)

Roy Bittan piano, synthesizer (joined September 1974)

Steven Van Zandt, lead guitar, backing vocals, mandolin (officially joined July 1975 after playing in previous bands; left in 1984 to go solo; rejoined in early 1995, however made appearances during the "Other Band" Tour).

Nils Lofgren guitar, pedal steel guitar, backing vocals (replaced Steve Van Zandt in June 1984, and remained in group after Van Zandt returned)

Patti Scialfa backing and duet vocals, acoustic guitar, percussion (joined June 1984, and became Springsteen's wife in 1991)

Soozie Tyrell, violin, acoustic guitar, percussion, backing vocals (joined 2002, occasional appearances before that)

Charles Giordano, organ, accordion, glockenspiel member (originally a Sessions Band, joined the E Street Band on a temporary basis in late 2007, during the illness of Danny Federici. Continued playing with the E Street Band after Federici died in April 2008.)

Former members

Vini "Mad Dog" Lopez drums (inception through February 1974, when asked to resign)

David Sancious keyboards (June 1973 to August 1974)

Ernest "Boom" Carter drums (February to August 1974)

Suki Lahav violin, backing vocals (September 1974 to March 1975)

Danny Federici organ, accordion, glockenspiel (died on April 17, 2008, melanoma)

Jay Weinberg drums, percussion (substituting for his father during parts of the 2009 tour)

Film

Music used in films

Springsteen's music has long been intertwined with film. His music was first linked with the silver screen in the 1983 John Sayles' film Baby, Its You, which featured several songs from Born to Run. The relationship established with Springsteen Sayles would re-surface in later years, with Sayles directing videos for songs from Born in the USA and Tunnel of Love. The song "(Just Around the Corner to the) Light of Day" was written for the early Michael J. Fox / Joan Jett vehicle Light of Day.

His original work has frequently been used in films and he won on Oscar for his song "Streets of Philadelphia" from the Jonathan Demme film Philadelphia (1993). He was nominated for a second Oscar for "Dead Man Walkin '" from the movie Dead Man Walking (1995).

His song "Missing" plays during the opening credits of Sean Penn's 1995 movie, The Crossing Guard. It was released in 2003 on "The Essential Bruce Springsteen."

His song "Secret Garden", which first appeared on 1995's Greatest Hits, what film used in Cameron Crowe's Jerry Maguire in 1996.

Although it does not appear on the soundtrack album, his song "Iceman" was used in the 2007 movie In the Land of Women.

Springsteen wrote that is an eponymous song for Darren Aronofsky's 2008 film The Wrestler. The song was awarded a Golden Globe Award for Best Original Song and nominated for the MTV Movie Award as "Best Song From a Movie".

The album "The River" was also well mentioned in the movie Reign Over Me with Adam Sandler. Two songs from that very album, "Drive All Night" and "Out In The Streets", were played as background music.

In the 1997 film Cop Land, Sylvester Stallone's character plays the songs "Drive All Night" and "Stolen Car" from The River on his turntable.

His track, "Hungry Heart" was used as a background song in the movies "A Perfect Storm, The Wedding Singer and Risky Business. The track, "The Fuse" from his album, The Rising, was used during the end credits of the Spike Lee film, 25th Hour.

More recently, his song, "Lucky Town" from his album of the same name was used in the Eric Bana and Drew Barrymore starring movie, Lucky You in the starting title track. The 2007 movie, In the land of women used the song, 'Iceman' from the album tracks as part of its OST.

Films inspired by music

In turn, films have been inspired by his music, including The Indian Runner, written and directed by Sean Penn, which Penn has specifically noted as being inspired by Springsteen's song "Highway Patrolman".

Kevin Smith is an admitted fan of fellow New Jersey native Springsteen and named his film Jersey Girl after the Tom Waits song which Springsteen made famous. The song was also used on the soundtrack.

Acting

Springsteen made his first on-screen appearance as a cameo in High Fidelity and it was voted "Best Cameo in a Movie" at the MTV Movie Awards.

Discography

Main article: Bruce Springsteen discography

Major studio albums (along with their chart positions in the U.S. Billboard 200 at the time of release):

1973: Greetings from Asbury Park, NJ ()

1973: The Wild, the Innocent & the E Street Shuffle ()

1975: Born to Run (# 3)

1978: Darkness on the Edge of Town (# 5)

1980: The River (# 1)

1982: Nebraska (# 3)

1984: Born in the USA (# 1)

1987: Tunnel of Love (# 1)

1992: Human Touch (# 2)

1992: Lucky Town (# 3)

1995: The Ghost of Tom Joad (# 11)

2002: The Rising (# 1)

2005: Devils & Dust (# 1)

2006: We Shall Overcome: The Seeger Sessions (# 3)

2007: Magic (# 1)

2009: Working on a Dream (# 1)

Awards and Recognition

Bruce Springsteen (second from right) was among the five recipients of the 2009 Kennedy Center Honors

Grammy Awards

Springsteen has won 20 Grammy Awards, as follows (years shown are the year the award was given for, not the year in which the ceremony was held):

Best Rock Vocal Performance, Male, 1984, "Dancing in the Dark"

Best Rock Vocal Performance, Male, 1987, "Tunnel of Love"

Song of the Year, 1994, "Streets of Philadelphia"

Best Rock Song, 1994, "Streets of Philadelphia"

Best Rock Vocal Performance, Solo, 1994, "Streets of Philadelphia"

Best Song Written Specifically for a Motion Picture or Television, 1994, "Streets of Philadelphia"

Best Contemporary Folk Album, 1996, The Ghost of Tom Joad

Best Rock Album, 2002, The Rising

Best Rock Song, 2002, "The Rising"

Best Male Rock Vocal Performance, 2002, "The Rising"

Best Rock Performance by a Duo or Group with Vocal, 2003, "Disorder in the House" (with Warren Zevon)

Best Solo Rock Vocal Performance, 2004, "Code of Silence"

Best Solo Rock Vocal Performance, 2005, "Devils & Dust"

Best Traditional Folk Album, 2006, The Seeger Sessions: We Shall Overcome

Best Long Form Music Video, 2006, Wings For Wheels: The Making of Born to Run

Best Solo Rock Vocal Performance, 2007, "Radio Nowhere"

Best Rock Song, 2007, "Radio Nowhere"

Best Rock Instrumental Performance, 2007, "Once Upon a Time in the West"

Best Rock Song, 2008, "Girls in Their Summer Clothes"

Best Solo Rock Vocal Performance, 2009, "Working on a Dream"

Only one of these awards has been one of the cross-genre "major" ones (Song, Record, or Album of the Year) win, he has been nominated a number of other times for the majors, but failed to.

Golden Globe Awards

Golden Globe Award for Best Original Song for "Streets of Philadelphia" in 1994.

Golden Globe Award for Best Original Song for "The Wrestler" in 2009.

Academy Awards

Academy Award for Best Original Song, 1993, "Streets of Philadelphia" from Philadelphia.

Emmy Awards

The Springsteen & The e street Band Live in NYC HBO special won two technical Emmy Awards of 2001.

Other recognition

Polar Music Prize in 1997.

Inducted into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame, 1999.

Inducted into the Songwriters Hall of Fame, 1999.

Inducted into the New Jersey Hall of Fame, 2007.

"Born to Run" named "The unofficial youth anthem of New Jersey" by the New Jersey state legislature; something Springsteen always found to be ironic, considering that the song "is about leaving New Jersey.

The minor planet 23990, discovered Sept. 4, 1999 by IP Griffin at Auckland, New Zealand, was officially named in his honor.

Ranked # 23 on Rolling Stone magazine's 2004 list of the 100 Greatest Artists of All Time.

Made Time magazine's 100 Most Influential People Of The Year list 2008th

Won Critic's Choice Award for Best Song with "The Wrestler" in 2009.

Performed at the Super Bowl XLIII half time show.

Kennedy Center Honors, 2009.

Influence

In addition to his noted influence on music in his native New Jersey, Springsteen is also cited as an influence by Bon Jovi, Arcade Fire, Gaslight Anthem, The Constantines, The Hold Steady, The National, Kings of Leon, The Killers, U2, Johnny Cash in his later recordings, and countless others. His songs have been covered by various artists such as Melissa Etheridge, Johnny Cash, McFLY, Tegan and Sara, Damien Jurado, Aimee Mann, Social Distortion, Rage Against The Machine, Ben Harper, Eric Bachmann, Josh Ritter, Frank Turner, and Hank Williams III, in addition to above-noted bands like Arcade Fire and The National.

See also

List of best selling music artists

List of artists who reached number one on the U.S. Mainstream Rock chart

References

Alterman, Eric. It Is not No Sin to Be Glad You're AliveÂ: The Promise of Bruce Springsteen. Little Brown, 1999. ISBN 0-316-03885-7.

Coles, Robert. Bruce Springsteen's America: The People Listening, a Poet Singing. Random House, 2005. ISBN 0-375-50559-8.

Cross, Charles R. Backstreets: Springsteen the man and his music Harmony Books, New York 1989/1992. ISBN 0-517-58929-X. Contains 15 + interviews and a complete list of all Springsteen songs including unreleased compositions. Complete Lising of all concerts 19651990 most of them with track lists. Hundreds of previously unreleased high quality color pictures.

Cullen, Jim. Born in the USA: Bruce Springsteen and the American tradition. 1997, Middletown, CT: Wesleyan University Press, 2005. New edition of 1997 book study places Springsteen's work in the broader context of American history and culture. ISBN 0-8195-6761-2

Eliot, Marc with Appel, Mike. Down Thunder Road. Simon & Schuster, 1992. ISBN 0-671-86898-5.

Graff, Gary. The Ties That Bind: Bruce Springsteen A to E to Z. Visible Ink, 2005. ISBN 1-57859-151-1.

Guterman, Jimmy. Runaway American Dream: Listening to Bruce Springsteen. Da Capo, 2005. ISBN 0-306-81397-1.

Hilburn, Robert. Springsteen. Rolling Stone Press, 1985. ISBN 0-684-18456-7.

Knobler, Peter with special assistance from Greg Mitchell. "Who Is Bruce Springsteen and Why Are We Saying All These Wonderful Things About Him?" Crawdaddy, March 1973rd

Marsh, Dave. Bruce Springsteen: Two Hearts : The Definitive Biography, 19722003. Routledge, 2003. ISBN 0-415-96928-X. (Consolidation of two previous Marsh biographies, Born to Run (1981) and Glory Days (1987).)

Wolff, Daniel. 4th of July, Asbury Park: A History of the Promised Land. Bloomsbury, 2005. ISBN 1-58234-509-0.

Further reading

Greetings from E Street: The Story of Bruce Springsteen and the E Street Band. Chronicle Books, 2006. ISBN 0-8118-5348-9.

Days of Hope and Dreams: An Intimate Portrait of Bruce Springsteen. Billboard Books, 2003. ISBN 0-8230-8387-X.

Racing in the Street: The Bruce Springsteen Reader. Penguin, 2004. ISBN 0-14-200354-9.

Runaway American Dream: Listening to Bruce …

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