Who would have known that a son of a working-class family in New Jersey would become one of the most iconic musicians in the nation? Meet Bruce Springsteen, the rockstar that was truly Born in the USA.
In 1957, Bruce Springsteen’s mother would rent him guitars for six dollars per week. Later on, she took out a loan to buy him a sixty-dollar Kent electric guitar for Christmas.
Who is Bruce Springsteen?
Frederick Bruce Joseph Springsteen was born on September 23, 1949, in Freehold, New Jersey. He was raised in a typical middle-class family. Springsteen’s mother, a former secretary, took out a loan to buy her then 16-year-old son the $60 Kent electric guitar which he used to launch his career. (Source: Daily Mail)
After graduating from high school, Springsteen relocated to New York City and attempted to find a break but failed. Disappointed, he returned to his hometown and began performing with a series of unknown bands until an opportunity with popular local ensemble The E-Street Band presented itself.
Springsteen auditioned for talent scout John Hammond, Sr., who promptly signed him to Columbia Records. With his third album, Born to Run, Bruce Springsteen established himself as a full-fledged rock and roller.
Throughout his career, Springsteen’s socio-economic outlook was working-class. The New Jersey native appeared to have fulfilled the ambitions of every aspiring musician, but little did he know that the peak of his fame was yet to come.
Born In The USA channeled his writing abilities toward the working man’s struggle and his growing disillusionment with American politics. His music lost its folk element in favor of a pure rock’ n’ roll feel. (Source: Britannica)
Soon afterward, Springsteen’s marriage fell apart, and his subsequent album, Tunnel Of Love, took on a more somber tone, covering issues of shattered marriages and emotional hardships. He also parted ways with The E-Street band. He released a string of solo albums before winning an Academy Award and an astonishing four Grammys for 1993’s melancholic Streets Of Philadelphia.
Springsteen and his second wife Patty Scialfa live in a nineteenth-century farmhouse in New Jersey with their three children, Jessica Rae, Evan James, and Sam. He is still active in the music industry, with eighteen albums under his belt. (Source: Hello Magazine)
Springsteen’s Influence in the Music Industry
When Born to Run was released in 1975, it immediately became a pivotal point in rock history. Its rushing wall of sound and vivid depictions of everyday working-class life was electrifying.
This time, exceptional critical praise was accompanied by genuine commercial success. Springsteen delivered three additional albums over the next few years, each of which established an instant and permanent place in the rock pantheon.
In 1984, his most accessible single to date, Born in the USA, became a tremendous commercial success. After Michael Jackson’sJackson’s Thriller, it was the second or third best-selling album of the 1980s.
Following the phenomenal success of Born in the USA, the final of a series of albums frequently featured songs about young men on the street or on the road and fleeing teachers, fathers, bosses, and judges. Springsteen released three albums that frequently featured songs focused on older characters, husbands, and fathers.
Springsteen is not simply a performer with an incredible body of work, which includes a plethora of individual songs produced for soundtracks and other projects, as well as a sizable and increasing collection of outtakes and live recordings.
He is also an incredibly gracious performer, regularly performing for up to four hours and accepting crowd requests. He performs songs, usually political in nature, from or about the country in which he is singing. There is an air of an artist who genuinely cares about his audience. (Source: Best of NJ)