Bruce Springsteen

...ngsteen often feels like the one who loves and believes in rock & roll the most, eager to recreate the breathless emotions it brings out in him. Embracing the pleasures of the sounds of AM radio in the 1950s and '60s (garage rock, British invasion, R&B, blue eyed soul, emotional teen pop) with the literacy of the singer-songwriter movement and a fierce desire to document the lives of the blue collar world in which he grew up, Springsteen's music was always a grand, ambitious amalgam. (He once said he dreamed of making an album with words like Bob Dylan, sounding like Phil Spector, and with vocals like Roy Orbison.) It first found its full flower on 1973's eclectic The Wild, The Innocent & The E Street Shuffle (which introduced his most important backing group, the E Street Band), and he rose to stardom with 1975's streetwise, sweeping Born to Run. 1978's Darkness on the Edge of Town and 1980's The River marked a thematic shift, as his songs addressed the malaise of the working class whose dreams began slipping out of reach. This era reached its peak with 1984's blockbuster Born in the U.S.A., but he bristled against the widespread misinterpretation of the title song and the new degree of fame it brought him, and retreated into more intimate projects like 1987's Tunnel of Love and 1995's The Ghost of Tom Joad. In the wake of the 9/11/2001 terrorist attacks on New York City, Springsteen returned to the grand, anthemic sound of his best known work on 2002's impassioned The Rising, and onward through the 2020s, he divided his attention between straightforward rock efforts like Magic (2007), Wrecking Ball (2012), and High Hopes (2014), and more idiosyncratic projects, such as the big band folk sound of We Shall Overcome: The Seeger Sessions (2006), the low-key yet cinematic Western Stars (2019), and a collection of vintage soul covers, 2022's Only the Strong Survive. He also began regularly exploring his past work with box sets detailing the creation of his most significant albums (such as 2010's The Promise) and pouring over his sizable library of unreleased work (including 2025's Tracks II: The Lost Albums). Bruce Springsteen was born September 23, 1949, in Freehold, New Jersey, the son of Douglas Springsteen, a bus driver, and Adele (Zirilli) Springsteen, a secretary. He became interested in music after seeing Elvis Presley perform on The Ed Sullivan Show in 1956 and got a guitar, but didn't start playing seriously until 1963. In 1965, he joined his first band, the Beatles-influenced Castiles. They got as far as playing in New York City, but broke up in 1967 around the time Springsteen graduated from high school and began frequenting clubs in Asbury Park, New Jersey. From there, he briefly joined Earth, a hard rock band in the style of Cream. His next group was another hard rock outfit, Child, soon renamed Steel Mill, which featured keyboard player Danny Federici and drummer Vini Lopez. (Later on, Steve Van Zandt joined on bass.) Steel Mill played in California in 1969, drawing a rave review in San Francisco and even a contract offer from Fillmore Records. But they broke up in 1971, and Springsteen next formed a big band, the short-lived Dr. Zoom & the Cosmic Boom, which was quickly superseded by the Bruce Springsteen Band. Along with Federici, Lopez, and Van Zandt (who moved to guitar), this group also included pianist David Sancious and bassist Garry Tallent, plus a horn section that was quickly replaced by a single saxophonist, Clarence Clemons. Due to lack of steady work, Springsteen broke up the band and began playing solo shows in New York City. It was as a solo performer that he acquired a manager, Mike Appel, who arranged an audition for legendary Columbia talent scout John Hammond. Hammond signed Springsteen to Columbia in 1972. In preparing his debut LP, Greetings from Asbury Park, N.J., Springsteen rehired most of his backup band, including Federici, Lopez, Sancious, Tallent, and Clemons. (Van Zandt, on tour with the Dovells, was unavailable through most of the sessions.) The album went unnoticed upon its initial release in January 1973, although Manfred Mann's Earth Band would turn its lead-off track "Blinded by the Light" into a number one hit four years later. 1973's The Wild, The Innocent & The E Street Shuffle also sold modestly despite some rave reviews. The following year, Springsteen revised his backup group -- now dubbed the E Street Band -- as Lopez and Sancious left, and drummer Max Weinberg and pianist Roy joined, and in 1975, Van Zandt returned to the group. He toured extensively with this unit while working on the LP that represented his last chance with Columbia. By the time Born to Run was released in August 1975, the critics and a significant cult audience won through his powerful live gigs were with him, and the title song became a Top 40 hit while the album reached the Top Ten, going on to sell six million copies. Despite this breakthrough, Springsteen's momentum was broken by a legal dispute, as he split from Appel and brought in Jon Landau (a rock critic and occasional producer who had called him "rock & roll future" in a celebrated 1974 concert review) as his new manager. The legal issues weren't resolved until 1977, during which time Springsteen was unable to record. One beneficiary of this was Patti Smith; Springsteen gave her the song "Because the Night," which, with some lyrical revisions by her, became her only Top 40 hit in the spring of 1978. He finally returned in June 1978 with Darkness on the Edge of Town. By then, record labels had recruited artists with their own versions of the Springsteen "heartland rock" sound, such as Bob Seger & the Silver Bullet Band (who actually preceded Springsteen but achieved national recognition in his wake), Johnny Cougar (aka John Mellencamp), Tom Petty & the Heartbreakers, Meat Loaf, Eddie Money, and even fellow Jersey Shore residents Southside Johnny & the Asbury Jukes. At the same time, the punk/new wave movement caught the attention of critics, and made Springsteen's streetwise outlook seem less gritty. Despite this, Darkness earned positive reviews and achieved Top Ten status, selling three million copies as the single "Prove It All Night" hit the Top 40. (In early 1979, the Pointer Sisters took "Fire," a song Springsteen wrote for rockabilly revivalist Robert Gordon, into the Top Ten.) Springsteen fully consolidated his star status with his next album, 1980's two-LP set The River, which hit number one, sold five million copies, and spawned the Top Ten hit "Hungry Heart" and the Top 40 hit "Fade Away." In 1981, Springsteen and Van Zandt produced a comeback album for Gary U.S. Bonds, whose 1960 hit "Quarter to Three" was a staple of Bruce's live shows. Dedication reached the Top 10 with two Springsteen compositions, "This Little Girl" and "Out of Work," breaking out as Top 40 singles. Having finally topped the charts, Springsteen experimented on his next album. He recorded solo four-track cassette demos for a set of stark and somber tunes, and after unsatisfying attempts to make the tunes work with a full band in the studio, he chose to release the original cassette recordings instead. 1982's Nebraska was one of Springsteen's best reviewed albums, and hit the Top Ten and sold a million copies without the benefit of a hit single or a promotional tour. 1984's Born in the U.S.A. was a considerably more polished full-band LP, which quickly became a massive success, hitting number one, producing seven Top Ten hits ("Dancing in the Dark," which earned Springsteen his first Grammy Award for Best Male Rock Vocal Performance, "Cover Me," "Born in the U.S.A.," "I'm on Fire," "Glory Days," "I'm Goin' Down," and "My Hometown"), and selling 15 million copies, putting Springsteen in a league with pop superstars like Michael Jackson and Prince. He supported the album with a two-year tour that took him from arenas to stadiums; Van Zandt amicably left the E Street Band for a solo career once the album was completed, and Nils Lofgren became their new lead guitarist as the band hit the road. Springsteen consolidated his sterling reputation as a live performer by releasing the five-LP/three-CD box set Bruce Springsteen & the E Street Band Live/1975-85 in November 1986. It topped the charts, was certified platinum 13 times, and spawned a Top Ten hit in a cover of Edwin Starr's "War." Filmmaker Brian DePalma, who directed the video for "Dancing in the Dark," asked Springsteen to contribute a song for 1987 film Light of Day. His title tune was recorded by co-star Joan Jett and her on-screen band "the Barbusters" (actually Jett's longtime backing band the Blackhearts), which became a Top 40 single. Characteristically, Springsteen returned to studio work with a more introverted effort, 1987's Tunnel of Love, which presaged his 1989 divorce from his first wife, actress Julianne Phillips. (He married a second time in 1991, to singer, songwriter, guitarist Patti Scialfa, who had joined the E Street Band as a backup vocalist in 1984.) The album was another number one hit, selling three million copies and producing two Top Ten singles, "Brilliant Disguise" and the title song, as well as the Top 40 hit "One Step Up." The album earned him a second male rock vocal Grammy. In the spring of 1988, Natalie Cole covered the Springsteen B-side "Pink Cadillac" for a Top Ten hit. Springsteen retreated from public view in the late '80s, breaking up the E Street Band in November 1989 and holing up in the studio. He returned to action in March 1992 with a new backup band while simultaneously releasing two albums, Human Touch and Lucky Town, which entered the charts at numbers two and three, respectively, each going platinum. A double-sided single combining "Human Touch" and "Better Days" was a Top 40 hit. He next contributed the moody ballad "Streets of Philadelphia" to the soundtrack of Philadelphia, director Jonathan Demme's 1993 drama of a lawyer fighting an unjust termination after being diagnosed with AIDS. The recording became a Top Ten hit, and the song went on to win Springsteen four Grammys (Song of the Year, Best Rock Song, Best Song written for a Motion Picture or Television, and Best Male Rock Vocal) and the Academy Award for best song. In early 1995, Springsteen reconvened the E Street Band to record a few new tracks for 1995's Greatest Hits. The album topped the charts and sold four million copies, with one of the new songs, "Secret Garden," reaching the Top 40. Despite this success, Springsteen resisted the temptation to reunite with the E Street Band on an ongoing basis, instead recording another low-key, downcast, near-acoustic effort in the style of Nebraska, 1995's The Ghost of Tom Joad, and embarking on a solo tour to promote it. The LP won a Grammy for best contemporary folk album, but missed the Top Ten and only went gold. A much more prolific songwriter and recording artist than his official catalog suggested, Springsteen went into his vault of unreleased material and assembled the four-CD box set Tracks, issued in November 1998. To the delight of his fans, Springsteen finally reunited the E Street Band in 1999, beginning with a performance at his induction into the Rock & Roll Hall of Fame. All the members from the 1974-1989 edition of the group returned. (Characteristically, Springsteen sidestepped the question of whether to use Van Zandt or Lofgren in the guitar position by rehiring both of them.) They embarked on a world tour that lasted until the middle of 2000; the final dates were recorded for Live in New York City, which hit the Top Ten and sold a million copies. Springsteen's writing process for a new rock album with the E Street Band was given greater impetus in the wake of the terrorist attacks of September 11, 2001, and the resulting disc, 2002's The Rising , contained songs informed by the tragedy. The album hit number one and sold two million copies, winning the Grammy for rock album, and the title song won for rock song and male rock vocal. Following another lengthy tour with the E Street Band, Springsteen again returned to the style and mood of Nebraska on another solo recording, 2005's Devils & Dust, staging another solo acoustic tour to promote it. The album hit number one and went gold, winning a Grammy for Best Solo Rock Vocal Performance. One year later, Springsteen explored another musical approach when he presented 2006's We Shall Overcome: The Seeger Sessions, featuring new arrangements of folk songs associated with Pete Seeger, played by the specially assembled Sessions Band. The album reached the Top Ten and went gold as Springsteen toured with the group. It also won the Grammy for Best Traditional Folk Album. The tour led to a concert recording, 2007's Live in Dublin, which reached the Top 40. Springsteen recorded a new rock album, 2007's Magic, as a precursor to re-forming the E Street Band and going out on another long tour. The album hit number one and went platinum, with the song "Radio Nowhere" earning Grammys for rock song and solo rock vocal. (Another track from the album, "Girls in Their Summer Clothes," won the rock song Grammy the following year.) Sadly, longtime E Street Band keyboardist Danny Federici succumbed to a three-year battle with melanoma on April 17, 2008: his death caused the first irrevocable change in the group's personnel. Federici was replaced by Charles Giordano, who had played with Springsteen previously in the Seeger Sessions Band. Springsteen finished the tour in 2008 and held several additional shows in support of Senator Barack Obama, whose presidential campaign had kicked into high gear earlier that year. While playing an Obama rally in early November, Springsteen debuted material from a forthcoming album, Working on a Dream, whose tracks had been recorded with the E Street Band during breaks in the tour. The resulting album, which was the last to feature contributions from Federici (as well as his son, Jason), arrived on January 27, 2009, one week after Obama's historic inauguration. It immediately hit number one, Springsteen's ninth album to top the charts over a period of three decades, and it went on to go gold and win him another Grammy for solo rock vocal. In February, Springsteen and the E Street Band provided the half-time entertainment at Super Bowl XLIII. The group's tour, which featured full-length performances of some of Springsteen's classic albums at selected shows, ran through November 22, 2009. In December, the 60-year-old was ranked fourth among the top touring acts of the first decade of the 21st century, behind only the Rolling Stones, U2, and Madonna. The same month he was a recipient of the Kennedy Center Honors. Springsteen's 2010 saw him revisiting Darkness on the Edge of Town, with the 1978 masterpiece receiving an expanded box set reissue called The Promise: The Making of Darkness on the Edge of Town; the set contained a feature-length documentary and a double-disc set of outtakes that was also available separately. As Springsteen began work on a studio album produced by Ron Aniello, who'd previously worked with Patti Scialfa, Clarence Clemons died on June 18, 2011, due to complications from a stroke. Clemons' last recorded solo appeared on "Land of Hope and Dreams," one of many politically charged songs on Wrecking Ball. Supported by a major media blitz that included a showcase week of Springsteen covers on Late Night with Jimmy Fallon and the Boss delivering a keynote address at the South by Southwest music conference, Wrecking Ball appeared the first week of March 2012. Before the end of that month, he embarked on a mammoth world tour to promote the album, on which he eventually took in 26 countries over the course of 18 months. Clarence Clemons' nephew Jake Clemons joined the E Street Band on sax. Late in 2013, it was announced that the E Street Band would receive a belated induction into the Rock & Roll Hall of Fame in early 2014. Prior to the induction ceremony came High Hopes, Springsteen's 18th studio album. Inspired in part by Springsteen's work with Rage Against the Machine guitarist Tom Morello, who had temporarily replaced Van Zandt for the last six months of the Wrecking Ball tour and also played on the album, High Hopes was a collection of covers, reinterpretations of old songs, and leftovers. It appeared in January 2014 and easily reached number one on the album charts. He toured with the E Street Band through the late spring, and also issued the EP American Beauty, which consisted of four unreleased songs from the High Hopes sessions. In late 2015, Springsteen released another audio/video box set offering an in-depth look at one of his classic albums. The Ties That Bind: The River Collection offered a remastered version of Springsteen's 1980 album, along with an expansive disc of outtakes, an early single-LP version of the album Springsteen pulled prior to release, an original documentary on the making of The River, and a complete concert filmed in Tempe, Arizona, in 1980. In the fall of 2016, Springsteen released a memoir entitled Born to Run, which was accompanied by a career-spanning collection called Chapter & Verse that he compiled himself. Shortly after publishing his memoir, Springsteen adapted the book for the stage in the guise of the Broadway production Springsteen on Broadway. Opening in October 2017, the show ran until December 2018. Upon its conclusion, the production was captured on film and a double-disc album; the record debuted at 11 on Billboard's Top 200. In June 2019, Springsteen returned with his first studio album of original material in five years. Titled Western Stars, the solo record, steeped in the influences of country music and 1970's soft rock, was produced by Aniello and debuted at number two on Billboard's Top 200. Later that year, he released the accompanying concert film to Western Stars, which he directed himself; a soundtrack was released in conjunction with the movie. Springsteen next reunited the E Street Band for Letter to You, an album recorded live in the studio and featuring finalized versions of songs Bruce wrote in the early '70s. Letter to You was released in October 2020 and debuted at number two on the Billboard 200. An archival album, The Legendary 1979 No Nukes Concerts, arrived in November 2021. Springsteen next turned his attention to cutting a collection of classic soul covers with Aniello. Taking its name from a Jerry Butler hit, Only the Strong Survive appeared in November 2022, debuting at number eight on the Billboard 200. It picked up a Grammy nomination for Best Traditional Pop Vocal Album. In 2023, Springsteen and Patti Scialfa teamed up for the single "Addicted to Romance," which appeared on the soundtrack for the romantic comedy She Came to Me. More archival albums arrived in 2024, including the third volume in The Live Series: Songs Under Cover, as well as the singer's eighth compilation, Best of Bruce Springsteen. Springsteen also saw production begin on director Scott Cooper's biopic, Deliver Me from Nowhere, with The Bear actor Jeremy Allen White taking on the lead role. In 2025, Springsteen took another deep dive into his archive of unreleased material with Tracks II: The Lost Albums, a box set that collected seven full-length albums he recorded between 1983 and 2018 but opted not to release. The music included the country and rockabilly flavored Somewhere North of Nashville, the Latin-influenced Inyo, the moody Burt Bacharach homage Twilight Hours, and the introspective Streets of Philadelphia Sessions. ~ William Ruhlmann & Mark Deming