Bruce Springsteen - Wikipedia

Thank you my friend Maj Marty Hogan for making us aware that September 23 is the anniversary of the birth of American singer-songwriter and musician Bruce Frederick Joseph Springsteen who is "known for his work with the E Street Band. Nicknamed "The Boss", he is widely known for his brand of poetic lyrics, his Jersey Shore roots, his distinctive voice, and his lengthy and energetic stage performances."
Sadly Bruce Springsteen insulted our president "[on Donald J. Trump] The republic is under siege by a moron, basically. Without overstating it, it's a tragedy for our democracy."
Today is the 70th birthday of Bruce Springsteen!
Hopefully he won't have many more birthdays since he is a radical progressive.

Bruce Springsteen - a secret history
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ueC98jgO-0o

Images:
1. 2017 68-year old Bruce Springsteen.
2. Bruce Springsteen & the E Street Band.
3. Bruce Springsteen with his wife Patti Scialfa at the Kennedy Center.
4. Bruce Springsteen and little Stevie Van Zant.

Background from imdb.com/name/nm0819803/bio
"Bruce Springsteen Biography
Born September 23, 1949 in Long Branch, New Jersey, USA
Birth Name Bruce Frederick Joseph Springsteen
Nickname The Boss
Height 5' 9½" (1.77 m)
Bio
Bruce Frederick Joseph Springsteen was born September 23, 1949 in New Jersey, USA. His father, Douglas Frederick Springsteen, worked as a bus driver, and was of Irish and Dutch ancestry. His mother, Adele Ann (Zerilli), worked as a legal secretary, and was of Italian ancestry. He has an older sister, Virginia, and a younger sister Pamela Springsteen. Bruce was raised as a Catholic. He was inspired to take up music when he, at the age of seven, saw Elvis Presley on The Ed Sullivan Show (1948). When he was 13 he bought his first guitar for 18 dollars. His mother took out a loan when Bruce was 16 and bought him a Kent guitar for 60 dollars.

In 1965, he became the lead guitarist in the band "The Castiles", he would later become lead singer in the band. The Castiles recorded two original songs at a public recording studio in Brick Township, New Jersey. From 1969 to 1971 he performed with Steven Van Zandt, Danny Federici and Vini "Mad Dog" Lopez in a band called "Child", that was renamed later to "Steel Mill" when guitarist Robbin Thompson joined the band.

In 1972, he signed a record deal with Columbia Records and released his debut album, "Greetings from Asbury Park, N.J.", with his New Jersey-based colleagues, who would later be called "The E Street Band", In January, 1973. The album had critical success and so did their second album, "The Wild, the Innocent & the E Street Shuffle", released in September, 1973, but had little commercial success. In 1975, after more than 14 month of recording, their third album was released, "Born to Run", which had both critical and commercial success for Springsteen and the band.

In 1977, he returned to the studio, after a two-year legal battle with former manager Mike Appel, and produced the album, "Darkness on the Edge of Town", released in 1978 and became a turning point musically for his career. In 1980 came the release of "The River", the album sold well and he followed up with the album "Nebraska" which had critical success but had little commercial success. Springsteen came back with a bang with the release of the album "Born in the U.S.A." in 1984, which sold 15 million copies in the U.S. alone and had seven top ten singles. It became one of the best-selling albums of all time.

After the huge success of the "Born in the U.S.A." album he released a more calm and sedate album in 1987, "Tunnel of Love", which included songs about love lost and the challenges of love, after the break-up with first wife, Julianne Phillips. The albums released in 1992, "Lucky Town" and "Human Touch" were also popular, Human Touch being the most popular of the two, hitting the number one spot of the best-selling albums in the UK. In 1994 he won an academy award for the song "Streets of Philadelphia" featured in the film Philadelphia (1993).

In 1995, he released the album "The Ghost of Tom Joad", which was mostly a solo guitar album and was inspired by "Journey to Nowhere: The Saga of the New Underclass," a book by Pulitzer Prize-winning writer Dale Maharidge. After being apart from the E Street Band for several years they reunited with a successful tour which ended in Madison Square Garden in New York in the year 2000. In 2002 he released the first studio album with the full band in over 18 years, "The Rising", and it became a critical and commercial success. In 2005 he released his third folk album (after "Nebraska" and "The Ghost of Tom Joad"), "Devils & Dust" It was followed by "We Shall Overcome: The Seeger Sessions" in 2006 and "Magic" in 2007. His 16th album will be released on January 27, 2009 and is called "Working on a Dream".

He married for the first time at the age of 35 to actress Julianne Phillips. The marriage helped boost her acting career, but his traveling took it's toll on the marriage and the final blow came when she found out his affair with the American singer/songwriter/guitarist Patti Scialfa. Their marriage ended in 1989. He then married Patti Scialfa on June 8th, 1991, They had lived together since the separation between him and his first wife and they had a child before they married. They have three children together: Evan James Springsteen (born July 25, 1990), Jessica Rae (born December 30, 1991) and Sam Ryan Springsteen (born January 5, 1994).
- IMDb Mini Biography By: Anna G.

Spouse (2)
Patti Scialfa (8 June 1991 - present) ( 3 children)
Julianne Phillips (13 May 1985 - 1 March 1989) ( divorced)

Trade Mark (7)
Film noir: Many of his songs are influenced by films, particularly 1940s and 1950s film noir.
Often plays the Fender Telecaster with a Fender Esquire neck on stage for which he paid $185.
Often writes songs about his youth in New Jersey and average people in the everyday struggle
Known for fraternizing with audience members and sharing anecdotes about locations during live shows
Religious imagery in songs
Distinctive, raspy singing voice
Soul patch
Trivia (48)
1. Children, with Patti Scialfa: Evan Springsteen, Jesse Springsteen and Sam Springsteen.
2. Says his favorite film as a kid was The Searchers (1956).
3. 1999: Inducted into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame, where Bono of U2 gave the induction speech. When U2 was inducted in 2005, Springsteen gave their induction speech, returning the favor.
4. 1997: Awarded the Polar Music Prize, the Royal Swedish Academy of Music Award.
5. 10/27/75: Has appeared on the covers of both Time and Newsweek magazines simultaneously. Previously this only happened to world leaders.
6. Considered becoming a baseball player prior to devoting himself to music.
7. Many of his earlier songs make reference to the New Jersey shore, where he spent his youth.
8. Paul Schrader asked Springsteen to write a title song for a movie he had written called "Born in the USA". After Springsteen wrote it, he liked the song so much, he used it for his multi-platinum album of the same name instead. As a replacement, Springsteen wrote another song and that song title became the film's new title, Light of Day (1987). That is why Springsteen thanks Schrader in the liner notes of the album.
9. Father, Douglas "Dutch" Springsteen, died in 1998. Mother's name is Adele. Has two sisters, Virginia and Pamela Springsteen.
10. Frequently works with director John Sayles, a fellow Jerseyite who shares a similar social conscience.
11. His song "The Ghost of Tom Joad" was inspired by the John Ford film The Grapes of Wrath(1940).
12. For all his musical success, he has never recorded a #1 hit in the United States. "Hungry Heart" (believed to be a #1 by some) only hit #5. The closest he came was #2, with "Dancing in the Dark". However, he did write "Blinded by the Light", which hit #1 when recorded by Manfred Mann's Earth Band. The closest he came to a UK #1 was "Streets of Philadelphia", which peaked at #2 in 1994.
13. He refused to play "The Angry Game" with Kristian Luuk when he appeared on Sen kväll med Luuk (1996), a Swedish talk-show. The game is a staring contest, during which the contestants are not allowed to laugh.
14. Originally wrote his classic single "Hungry Heart" for Ramones, but recorded himself at the insistence of his manager.
15. His Oscar-winning song "Streets of Philadelphia" from Philadelphia (1993) was ranked #68 on The American Film Institute's list of "The 100 Years of The Greatest Songs".
16. 2004: He participated in the Vote for Change concert tour organized to encourage the defeat of George W. Bush in the U.S. presidential election, an effort that ultimately fell short as Bush was re-elected on November 2, 2004.
17. Father was of Dutch and Irish extraction; mother is of Italian extraction.
18. 2004: Radio station 88.5 WXPN performed the 885 greatest songs ever, though they mostly just did rock (Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart wasn't on the list) and Springsteen won first place with "Thunder Road", "Born to Run" following at #6 and then many other songs scattered throughout.
19. He was voted the 23rd Greatest Rock 'n' Roll Artist of all time by Rolling Stone.
20. One of his most famous songs, "Thunder Road", was inspired by the Robert Mitchummovie of the same name, Thunder Road (1958). Cappy Van Dien has the same birthday as Springsteen and is named after his great-grandfather Robert Mitchum and his father Casper Van Dien - Casper Robert Mitchum Van Dien.
21. His concerts are known as marathons for lasting multiple hours.
22. Was occasionally confused with Bob Seger in the 1970s and 1980s. They have similar raspy singing voices, utilize saxophone players in their music, and often write songs about the working-class common man.
23. Born on the same day as the late rhythm and blues singer Ray Charles and actor Jason Alexander.
24. Sean Penn wrote and directed his first movie, The Indian Runner (1991), loosely based on Springsteen's song, "Highway Patrolman", from his "Nebraska" album from 1982, which was practically a demo tape made in Springsteen's house.
25. 1986: Winner of the British Phonographic Industry Award for International Solo Artist following the success of his multi-million selling album "Born in the USA".
26. Inducted into the New Jersey Hall of Fame in 2007 for his services to music and entertainment (inaugural election). Official induction ceremonies held in May 2008.
27. Ranked #27 on VH1's 100 Greatest Artists of Rock & Roll.
28. Ranked #59 on VH1's 100 Sexiest Artists.
29. The title for the film Streets of Fire (1984) came from the song written and recorded by Springsteen on his album "Darkness on the Edge of Town". Original plans were for the song to be featured on the film's soundtrack, but when Springsteen found out it would be rerecorded by other vocalists, he withdrew permission for the song to be used.
30. Is a huge fan of Elvis Presley.
31. 1999: Inducted into the American Songwriters Hall of Fame.
32. He inspired and is referred to in the Prefab Sprout song "Cars and Girls" (from their 1988 album "From Langley Park to Memphis").
33. Good friends with former WWE / AWA superstar Jim Brunzell, Tom Hanks and Edward Norton.
34. His music was a partial influence on the new direction The Killers chose to take when writing and producing songs for their sophomore album "Sam's Town".
35. His late cousin, Lenny Sullivan, was the assistant road manager for his band for the last 10 years [October 27, 2009].
36. One of the five winners of the 2009 Kennedy Center Honors. Other 2009 honorees were Robert De Niro, Dave Brubeck, Mel Brooks and Grace Bumbry.
37. While he was composing the song "Fire" in the mid 1970s, in his mind he was imagining it being sung by Elvis Presley. Elvis died a few years later, having never heard the song. It became a huge hit for The Pointer Sisters in 1979.
38. Is a huge fan of The Daily Show (1996) and has even anonymously been in the audience during tapings of the show as well as being a guest himself.
39. Springsteen's album "Nebraska" (1982) was famously recorded in his home studio on a Tascam 4-track tape recorder using a pair of Shure SM57 mics.
40. Of the twelve tracks on "Born in the U.S.A.", seven of them, when released as singles, reached the top ten on the Billboard Hot 100.
41. His song "It's Hard to Be a Saint in the City" was covered by David Bowie during his "Station to Station" sessions and has appeared on some Bowie compilation albums. In 1985, while he was in recording sessions for his single "Absolute Beginners", Bowie was also recorded doing an impression of Springsteen's singing voice (this surfaced following Bowie's death in 2016).
42. Has suffered from clinical depression since the mid 1980s, a condition that almost crushed him by his early sixties.
43. In common with other rock stars in the 1980s such as U2, Sting and Peter Gabriel, Springsteen was a prominent supporter of the human rights organization Amnesty International.
44. He was awarded the Presidential Medal of Freedom, the nation's highest civilian award, by President Barack Obama, in a live televised ceremony held in the East Room of the White House, on November 22, 2016, along with twenty other recipients, the the largest, and final Medal of Freedom ceremony of Obama's presidency. At this ceremony, the twenty-one recipients, in alphabetical order, included: Kareem Abdul-Jabbar, Elouise Cobell(posthumous award given to her son), Ellen DeGeneres, Robert De Niro, Richard Garwin, Bill Gates, Melinda Gates, Frank Gehry, Margaret Hamilton (as Margaret H. Hamilton), Tom Hanks, Rear Admiral Grace Hopper (posthumous award given to her niece), Michael Jordan, Maya Lin, Lorne Michaels, Newton Minow, Eduardo Padron (as Eduardo Padrón), Robert Redford, Diana Ross, Vin Scully, Bruce Springsteen, and Cicely Tyson.
45. Has his voice insured for six million dollars.
46. Actress Courteney Cox appeared in his video for Dancing In The Dark when she was a teenager. She was in the front row at his concert with some friends when Bruce offered her his hand, pulled her up on stage, and started dancing with her.
47. He became a big fan of the Harry Potter novels after reading Them to his kids and even wrote a ballad about Harry, and tried to get it into the movies, being unsuccessful only because of Harry Potter creator JK Rowling's contractual stipulation that no commercial songs of any type be used in the Harry Potter film series.
48. As "the Boss" of the E-Street Band, Springsteen has a reputation for setting high standards of professionalism and a strict code of conduct for his musicians. Examples of this include the following, if you are a member of Springsteen's band:

(a) You do not use drugs.

(b) You must be on time, and sober, for any and all rehearsals and performances.

(c) You better be on the tour bus when it leaves for the next city.

49. Although he once fired a musician for getting into a barroom brawl, Springsteen insists that he's the last person you would ever catch making himself an exception to his own rules. "I demand twice to three times as much from myself as I do from anybody who works with me," he says.

Personal Quotes (15)
1. Until I realized that rock music was my connection to the rest of the human race, I felt like I was dying, for some reason, and I didn't know why.
2. When it comes to luck, you make your own.
3. [During his Oscar acceptance speech]: Thanks for inviting me to your party.
4. [About Elvis Presley] He was as big as the whole country itself, as big as the whole dream. He just embodied the essence of it and he was in mortal combat with the thing. Nothing will ever take the place of that guy.
5. [About Elvis Presley] There have been a lot of tough guys. There have been pretenders. And there have been contenders. But there is only one King.
6. [on Bob Dylan] Bob freed your mind the way Elvis freed your body. He showed us that just because music was innately physical did not mean that it was anti-intellectual. He had the vision and the talent to make a pop record that contained the whole world.
7. When I was growing up, there were two things that were unpopular in my house. One was me, and the other was my guitar.
8. When you get the music and the lyrics right, your voice disappears into the voices of those you've chosen to write about... But all the telling detail in the world doesn't matter if the song lacks an emotional center.
9. You know the old saying: Trust the art, not the artist. I think that's true. I think somebody can do real good work and be a fool in a variety of ways.
10. Adult life is dealing with an enormous amount of questions that don't have answers. So I let the mystery settle into my music. I don't deny anything, I don't advocate anything, I just live with it.
11. In the third grade a nun stuffed me in a garbage can under her desk because she said that's where I belonged. I also had the distinction of being the only altar boy knocked down by a priest during mass.
12. [at the 2012 Grammy Awards] America, are you alive out there?
13. [introducing Pete Seeger on his 90th birthday party at Madison Square Gardens] He's gonna look a lot like your granddad that wears flannel shirts and funny hats. He's gonna look like your granddad if your granddad can kick your ass. At 90, he remains a stealth dagger through the heart of our country's illusions about itself.
14. [on cancellation of a performance in North Carolina over transgender bathroom issues] Some things are more important than a rock show.
15. [on Donald J. Trump] The republic is under siege by a moron, basically. Without overstating it, it's a tragedy for our democracy. The ideas he's moving to the mainstream are all very dangerous ideas - white nationalism and the alt-right movement. We have certain problems in the United States - tremendous inequality of wealth distribution. That makes for ripe ground for demagoguery. He has a very simple answer to all these very, very complex problems."

FYI LTC (Join to see)Sgt John H.PVT Mark Zehner
1sg-dan-capriSGT Robert R.CPT Tommy CurtisSGT (Join to see) SGT Steve McFarlandCol Carl WhickerSGT Mark AndersonSSG Michael NollSFC Jack ChampionCpl James R. " Jim" Gossett Jr SPC Jon O.SP5 Jeannie CarleSPC Chris Bayner-CwikTSgt David L.PO1 Robert GeorgeSGT John Melvin

I like his music but not his politics.

People who think "Born in the USA" is a patriotic song have never listened to the lyrics.