Bruce Springsteen's Profile and Biography,aslo include Bruce Springsteen's pictures,videos etc.

Bruce Springsteen

Bruce Frederick Joseph Springsteen was born September 23, 1949, and raised in the small town of Freehold, New Jersey. He bought his first guitar in 1963, at the age of 14.

Two years later, he joined his second band, The Castiles (his first band was The Rogues), as vocalist and lead guitarist. In 1966, the band recorded two original songs, both co-written by Springsteen, which were never released. That band broke up in '68, and he formed another group called Earth. In 1969, he joined Steel Mill, and Springsteen soon emerged as the driving force behind the act.

doing the band circuit

After the demise of Steel Mill in '71, Springsteen formed Dr. Zoom & the Sonic Boom, and the 10-piece Bruce Springsteen Band, which played to packed houses around the Jersey shore. He decided to take a chance on going the solo route in 1972, and soon came to the attention of producer Mike Appel, who became his manager. Appel brought him to Columbia Records' legendary talent scout John Hammond, who had also signed Billie Holiday and Bob Dylan to the label. Springsteen recorded his debut album with ex-bandmates from his hometown. Greetings From Asbury Park, N.J. was released in January 1973, and although it received favorable reviews, it failed to do well commercially.

Springsteen and the newly christened E Street Band's reputation as an outstanding live act began to build, especially on the East Coast. A second album, The Wild, the Innocent and the E Street Shuffle came out in September 1973, and met the same commercial fate as the first LP. But a review of one of Springsteen's shows by renowned critic Jon Landau in 1974, in which Landau exalts "I saw rock 'n' roll's future, and its name is Bruce Springsteen," added to the 24-year-old's growing status as an artist to look out for.

there's a new boss in town

Amid the slowly-building hype preceding the release of his third album, his first two LPs finally made the best-sellers chart in July 1975, peaking at No. 60 and No. 59 respectively. Born to Run was released in August, and burned up the Billboard chart to No. 3 within a month of its release, and eventually reached gold status. In October, Springsteen made the covers of both Time and Newsweek magazines, and his concerts begin to attract bigger and increasingly dedicated crowds.

Just as his years of plugging away found him achieving commercial success, Springsteen realized how little artistic and financial freedom his contract with Appel allowed him. In July 1976, he sued Appel's management company for fraud and breach of contract. Appel counter-sued, bringing the case all the way to the New York Supreme Court. The litigation prevented The Boss from releasing any material for over a year. An out-of-court settlement was finally reached in May 1977.

Meanwhile, British group Manfred Mann's Earth Band took Springsteen's cover of "Blinded By The Light" from his first album all the way to the top of the U.S. singles chart, and his first two albums from '73 achieved gold status three years after their release.

Darkness on the Edge of Town, released in June 1978, shot up to No. 5 in the U.S., and became his first album to be certified platinum. In the autumn, a tune he wrote was recorded and released by R&B vocal trio The Pointer Sisters; "Fire" reached the No. 2 position on the U.S. pop singles charts in early '79. In September, The Boss and his E Street Band performed at the "No Nukes" series of concerts.

In October 1980, Springsteen released The River, which stayed at No. 1 for four weeks, and contained the Top 5 hit "Hungry Heart." The double album went on to sell over 3 million copies. Nebraska, recorded on a four-track cassette recorder at Springsteen's home, was released in September 1982. The stark production, consisting of little more than solo acoustic guitar, harmonica and vocals, made it to No. 3 on the U.S. charts.

doing it in the u.s.a.

Springsteen returned with his band for what became his career defining album; Born in the U.S.A. was released in June 1984. The album's first single, "Dancing In The Dark," peaked at No. 2, while the LP became The Boss' second chart topper. The album produced six additional top ten singles, and went on to be the second biggest selling album of the year, just behind Prince's Purple Rain soundtrack, which knocked Springsteen out of the pole position. The Boss returned the favor, as the LP dethroned Prince from his six-month reign at the top in January of '85, on the strength of the "Born in the U.S.A." single, which peaked at No. 9 that same month.

"Dancing In The Dark" earned Springsteen a Grammy for Best Male Rock Performance in 1985. More hits, including "I'm On Fire," "Glory Days" and "My Hometown" kept Springsteen on the charts into early 1986, as Born in the U.S.A. went on to sell over 15 million copies worldwide. In May of 1986, he married model-actress Julianne Phillips.

Bruce Springsteen & the E Street Band Live 1975-85 , a mammoth five-album set was released in November 1986, and entered the U.S. charts at No. 1, where it remained for seven weeks. The box set sold 3.5 million copies by the end of the year, and included his eighth consecutive U.S. Top 10 hit with his cover of "War."

Tunnel of Love became his third No. 1 album upon its release in October 1987. "Brilliant Disguise" reached No. 5, while the title track made No. 9. Springsteen took top honors in the categories of Best Album, Best Single and Best Songwriter in the 1987 Rolling Stone Critics Poll. In 1988, he released the four-track Chimes of Freedom disc, which coincided with the "Human Rights Now" tour for Amnesty International.

On July 25, 1990, Springsteen's first son Evan James was born. He and girlfriend/bandmate Patti Scialfa had been together since his divorce from Philips in 1989. In June 1991, Springsteen and Scialfa were married at their Beverly Hills home. The couple's second child, daughter Jessica Rae, was born December of that year.

a bit of human touch

Springsteen released two albums on March 31, 1992. Lucky Town entered the Billboard charts at No. 3, while Human Touch made it to No. 2. Backed by a new band consisting of unknown musicians, plus E Street veteran Roy Bittan, The Boss marked his first U.S. live TV appearance on Saturday Night Live in May. He recorded a plugged-in MTV Unplugged session in September.

Springsteen wrote and recorded "Streets of Philadelphia" for the 1993 film Philadelphia, starring Denzel Washington and Tom Hanks. The theme song of the film went on the win the Golden Globe for Best Song In A Motion Picture, as well as the Oscar and Grammy in the same category, not to mention Grammys in the Song Of The Year, Best Rock Song and Best Male Rock Vocal Performance categories. The song became his most successful single internationally, reaching the Top 5 in many European countries. In the meantime, another son, Sam Ryan, was born on January 5, 1994.

The E Street Band was reunited to record together for the first time since 1983, when Springsteen recorded some new tracks for his Greatest Hits collection, released in February 1995. The album became his fifth U.S. chart topper that March. The Ghost of Tom Joad, a sequel to 1982's solo acoustic Nebraska, was released that autumn, and reached No. 11 in the U.S. Springsteen embarked upon his first solo tour, accompanying himself with acoustic guitar and harmonica in intimate, small theater venues. In 1996, the album took the Grammy for Best Contemporary Folk Album.

In May 1997, Springsteen received the Swedish Polar Music Prize from King Karl Gustav in Stockholm. In March 1999, The Boss was inducted into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame. The E Street Band Reunion Tour, comprising 36 shows in 13 countries, rounded out the remainder of 1999.

Springsteen made a cameo appearance in 2000's High Fidelity, starring John Cusack. In March 2001, Live in New York City was released, and the album debuted at No. 5 in the U.S., No. 9 in the UK, and No. 1 in Italy. Highlights from the 10-night series of shows aired on HBO, and earned The Boss and his band six Emmy nominations.

Ten days after the events of September 11th, Springsteen opened the broadcast of the America: A Tribute to Heroes telethon benefit with "My City In Ruins," originally written about his New Jersey hometown, with slightly revised lyrics (Springsteen hails from the county in New Jersey that suffered the greatest amount of lives lost in the tragedy. In October, he played two benefit shows in New Jersey for the families of the victims of the tragedy.

rising after ruin

In July 2002, The Rising was released, and it topped the charts in the U.S. as well as Britain. Backed by his E Street Band, the highly anticipated release sold over a half million copies in its first week. The Rising 2002-2003 World Tour began on August 7th in the New Jersey Meadowlands.

Bruce proved that he's still The Boss at the 2003 Grammy Awards, where he took home the awards for Best Rock Album (for The Rising), Best Rock Song (for the title track) and Best Male Rock Vocal.