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| | Bruce Frederick Springsteen, born on September 23, 1949 in Long Branch, New Jersey, USA is an American rock and folk musician and song writer. Trained in the music of Elvis Presley, Woody Guthrie, Pete Seeger, Eddy Cochran and Bob Dylan, Springsteen became popular due to his rock songs with poetic texts the basic theme of which was his native land, New Jersey.
Early years:
At a teenage age, Springsteen played in a number of neighborhood rock groups. In the beginning of the 1970s, Springsteen shifted to Greenwich Village in the New York area, where he performed songs with a strong touch of folk-rock in the lines of Bob Dylan and Wan Morrison. With uncompromising sincerity he tried to reflect the hopes and sorrows of the middle class working American in his songs.
The debut album of Springsteen “Greeting from Asbury Park, N.J” was released in January 1973 and the single “The Wild, the Innocent and the E-Street Shuffle” followed the debut album six months later. Both the debut album and the single did not attract significant attention and were sold poorly, though they have become platinum with respect to sales only after the triumph of subsequent discs. Moreover - the song “Blinded by the Light” from the first album of Springsteen in 1977 has reached the first spot in the Billboard Hot 100, only after being performed by Manfred Mann's Earth Band.
“Born to Run”
In 1974, Springsteen formed the “E-Street Band” - a musical collective which was called to accompany him during tours across the USA. In August 1975, the third album of Springsteen “Born to Run” created the effect of a bomb blast thus transforming the author for some time into the most in-demand personality in the American music industry. His photos flashed on the covers of magazines “Times” and “Newsweek”, concerts were attended in full-attendance by admirers and critics praised him for being bold enough to revive the primordial values of Rock ' n ' Roll in the century of hard-rock and progressive rock.
Throughout the second half of the 1970s, critics tirelessly lauded Springsteen saying that his unrestrained drive of 1950s “Rock' n 'Roll” gets on together with profound lyrics in the style of Bob Dylan. Though many music connoisseurs were pushed away by the hysteria created around rocker, it is impossible to deny that the entire rank of Springsteen followers appeared by the end of the decade in American music and first place was contested by Bob Seger and John Mellencamp amongst the followers. In 1978, Springsteen had written a song “Because the Night” for Patti Smith, which went on to become Smith’s greatest hit.
In spite of competition, ever-growing with every year, Springsteen released rather a worthy double album “The River” in October 1980, which contained a song “Hungry Heart”, which has become one of his trade-mark songs. The acoustic disc “Nebraska” (1982) followed in September 1982 and towards the year end, guitarist Steve Van Zandt stated that he was leaving Springsteen’s group.
“Born in the USA”
In June 1984 the next album of Springsteen “Born in the U.S.A” became a phenomenon not only of rock but also popular music. Seven hits from the album were released as singles and all of them were listed in the top ten of the American chart of sales (it is unique such a case in history). The album itself was nominated “platinum” ten times. On the wave of this triumph, Springsteen toured along the length and breadth of the USA and Europe for two years. The concert recording “Live”, released in November 1986 also topped the Billboard 200.
After returning from tour, Springsteen divorced his wife and married the back-vocalist of the E-Street Band, however, (in November, 1989) he dissolved the legendary collective the “E-Street Band”. His subsequent albums did not attract great interest from critics and the public, however, the song “Streets of Philadelphia” written for movie “Philadelphia” (1993) received an “Oscar” award. During the 1990s and 2000s Springsteen collected an impressive collection of awards "Grammy" awards including a statuette for “Best Male Rock Vocal Performance” (2002, song “The Rising”).
In 2008, Springsteen has shown himself as a politically active performer. During the pre-election presidential campaign in 2008 in the USA, he actively supported Barrack Obama, presidential candidate from the Democratic Party.
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Rock legend Bruce Springsteen - also known as The Boss to his legion of loyal fans - is celebrating an important milestone today. He's turning 60. As a child Bruce dreamed of becoming a baseball star.
He nearly gave up on his other dream of becoming a guitar player - believing his hands were too small to play the instrument. Springsteen has won a total of 18 Grammy Awards, sold more than 65 million albums in America alone, and 120 million worldwide. Happy birthday, Bruce!
