Bruce Springsteen

The Boss

by

KAYCEE BASSETT
Music 1010
Tyler Oliphant
Semester Paper

Bruce Springsteen - Biography

Name:
Bruce Springsteen
Date of Birth:
September 23, 1949
Place of Birth:
Long Branch, New Jersey
Parents:
Doug and Adele Springsteen

Career

Bruce signed with Columbia Records on May 3, 1972,

and has remained with them for the last 42 years.

Bruce released his first album on Columbia records titled

Greetings From Asbury Park in 1973. Although the
album didnt pick up right away, it has since gone double
platinum.

Later in September of 1973, he released his second album

The Wild, the Innocent & the E Street Band.
He also revised his backup band and named them The E
Street Band.

BORN TO RUN - 1975

Born to Run

In August of 1975, Bruce released the album Born to Run.

The title track became a Top 40 hit, reaching the top 10
spot, and then selling 6 million copies.

MORE SUCCESS

1980 The River

1978 Darkness on the Edge of Town

1982 Nebraska

BORN IN THE U.S.A.

In June of 1984, Bruce
released Born in the U.S.A.
This album was his biggest
hit so far. It had seven Top 10
hits, including:
Cover Me
Born in the U.S.A.
Im Goin Down
Dancing in the Dark
My Hometown
Im On Fire
Glory Days

The album sold 15 million

copies and earned him a
Grammy Award from Best
Male Vocal Performance for
Dancing in the Dark.

Personal Life
Bruce married his first wife, actress
Julianne Phillips on May 13, 1985.
They later divorced due to his affair
with E Street Band member Patti
Scialfa.

Patti and Bruce married on June 8,

1991. They are still married today.
They have 3 children together:

Evan James Springsteen 9/25/1990

Jessica Rae Springsteen 12/30/1991
Sam Ryan Springsteen 1/5/1994

Success!
Bruce went on to release two more
albums in 1992, Human Touch
and Lucky Town. Neither of them
did very well compared to his earlier
albums.
Later that year he contributed his
ballad Streets of Philadelphia to
the movie starring Tom Hanks:
Philadelphia, about a lawyer who
had AIDS.
The song became another Top 10
hit, and earned him 4 Grammy
Awards for Song of the Year, Best
Rock Song, Best Song Written For a
Motion Picture or TV, and Male Rock
Vocals. He also won an Academy
Award for Best Song.

Bruce got the E Street Band back together to put

record a Greatest Hits album. It sold 4 million
copies, and the new song Secret Garden reached
the Top 40.
In November of 1995 he released The Ghost of
Tom Joad and won a Grammy Award for Best
Contemporary Folk Album.
In 2001 he released the album The Rising
inspired by the September 2011 terrorist attacks.
He won a Grammy Award for Best Album and two
more for Best Rock Song and Best Male Rock
Vocals for The Rising title track.

Bruce then went on to release Devils & Dust in

2005. The album hit number 1 and went Gold! He
won a Grammy for Best Solo Rock Vocal.

After releasing more albums: We Shall Overcome: The Seeger Sessions in 2006,
Magic in 2007, the E Street Band member Danny Federici died from a 3 year
battle of melanoma on April 17, 2008. And, Clarence Clemons died due to
complications from a stroke on June 18, 2011. According to Bruce, this caused
irrevocable damages to the E Street Band.

Bruce was a huge supporter of President Barak Obama. In 2008 he showed his
support by extending his tour to hold additional shows in support of the then
Senator. During a Barak Obama rally in November, he debuted works from his
newest album soon to be released, Working on a Dream.

Bruce released his next album in 2013 titled High Hopes. This album was
inspired by Tom Morella from Rage Against the Machine. The album is full of
covers, remakes of old favorites, and songs that didnt make it to prior
albums.

In 2014, the E Street Band received and induction into the Rock & Roll Hall
of Fame. Followed by another album release in mid January titled
American Beauty.

Dancing in the Dark

Dancing in the Dark was the last song written on the Born In the U.S.A
Album. It was the first song to win him a Grammy Award (Best Male Vocal and
was voted Single of the Year by the 1985 Rolling Stone readers poll (Dancing in the
Dark).
Dancing in the Dark is about Bruces difficulty and frustration in trying
to write songs that will please people, after his new manager Jon Landau
demanded a hit for his next album. Turns out it was the biggest hit of his career in
terms of charts (Dancing in the Dark).
Dancing in the Dark was written in full by Bruce himself. The song was
produced by Jon Landau, Chuck Plotkin, Bruce Springsteen, and Steve Van Zandt
(The Official Bruce Springsteen). Steve Van Zandt and Bruce played guitar, Max
Weinberg on percussion, and Roy Bittan on piano.

Streets of Philadelphia

Director Jonathan Demme asked Bruce to write a rock song to open his
movie Philadelphia. It was a movie starring Tom Hanks, about a lawyer dying of
AIDS. Bruce wrote the song, but wasnt satisfied. He decided to send his unfinished
version of what he had to Demme to see what he thought. Demme liked the song
just the way it was and used it for the movie without any revisions (Streets of
Philadelphia).
Bruce recorded the song in his home studio Thrill Hill East. Bruce won a
Golden Globe Award for Best Original Song for Streets of Philadelphia in 1994.
He also won four Grammy Awards for the song: Song of the Year, Best Rock Song,
Best Male Vocal, and Best Song Written For a Motion Picture of Television (Streets
of Philadelphia).
Bruce wrote the lyrics and music for this song. He recorded the song on
his own, doing his own vocals, guitar, and piano for the song.

Tougher Than The Rest

Bruce recorded Tougher Than the Rest in his home studio, Thrill Hill
East, in Rumson, New Jersey. While he was writing this song, Bruce and his first
wife Julianne were in trouble (Tougher Than The Rest). They had already had a
rocky marriage for the past couple years, but now Bruce was seeing Patti (his
second wife and E Street Band member) on the side. Patti and Bruce sang this song
together as a duet while on tour.
Tougher Than the Rest was featured as the 3rd single on the 1987
album Tunnel of Love. All of the lyrics and music were written by Bruce himself.
Danny Federici played the organ, Max Weinberg played percussion, and Bruce
performed lead vocals, keyboards, harmonica, percussion, guitar, and bass guitar
(Tunnel of Love Discography).

The album Tunnel of Love was mixed by Bob Clearmountain, Roger

Talkov, Jay Healy, and Mark McKenna. It was mastered by Bob Ludwig. Bruce
produced the album (Tunnel Of Love Discography).
Although there were hits that reached the top of the charts from Tunnel
of Love, Tougher Than The Rest was not one of them.

The Wrestler
The Wrestler was written for the movie The Wrestler released in
2008, and was a bonus track on his album Working on a Dream. The actor in the
film Mickey Rourke was so inspired by the film, that he thought he would take a
chance and ask Bruce to write something for it. He told him in the letter that they
didnt have any money, but he had faith in the movie, and that it was written in
New Jersey. A short time later Bruce sent in something he wrote and blew
everyone away. They used the song in the film, and it later went on to win a
Golden Globe Award in 2009 for Best Song (The Wrestler).
Bruce was quoted in the January 2009 edition of Observer Music
Monthly magazine saying,

The Wrestler was a song about damage, about what it does to somebody with
the inability to get in to a normal life. The inability to stand the things that nurture
you. Because mucho f our life is spent running. Were running, were on the run;
one of my specialties. (The Wrestler)
The Wrestler was written and performed by Bruce himself.

THE BOSS TODAY

The 63 year old Bruce Springsteen continues to go on huge world tours, is an open
supporter of gay, lesbian, bisexual, and transgender rights, is currently writing a
childrens book, and resides in California with Patti.