Bruce Frederick Joseph Springsteen (born September 23, 1949) is an American rock singer, songwriter,
and guitarist. Nicknamed "the Boss",[2] he has released 21 studio albums during a career spanning six
decades, most of which feature his backing band, the E Street Band. Springsteen is a pioneer of
heartland rock, combining a commercially successful rock sound with poetic and socially conscious
lyrics reflecting the issues of working class American life. He is known for his descriptive lyrics and
energetic concerts, which sometimes last over four hours.
Springsteen released his first two albums, Greetings from Asbury Park, N.J. and The Wild, the Innocent
& the E Street Shuffle, in 1973. Although both were well received by critics, neither earned him a large
audience. He changed his style and achieved worldwide popularity with Born to Run (1975), followed
by Darkness on the Edge of Town (1978) and The River (1980), Springsteen's first album to top the
Billboard 200 chart. After the solo effort Nebraska (1982), he recorded Born in the U.S.A. (1984) with
the E Street Band, which became his most commercially successful album and the 23rd-best selling
album of all time as of 2024. All seven singles from Born in the U.S.A. reached the Top 10 of the Billboard
Hot 100, including the title track. Springsteen mostly hired session musicians for the recording of his
next three albums, Tunnel of Love (1987), Human Touch (1992), and Lucky Town (1992). He reassembled
the E Street Band for Greatest Hits (1995), and recorded the acoustic album The Ghost of Tom Joad (1995)
and the EP Blood Brothers (1996) solo.
Springsteen dedicated The Rising (2002) to the victims of the September 11 attacks. He released two
more folk albums, Devils & Dust (2005) and We Shall Overcome: The Seeger Sessions (2006), followed by
two more albums with the E Street Band, Magic (2007) and Working on a Dream (2009). The next albums,
Wrecking Ball (2012) and High Hopes (2014), topped album charts worldwide. In 2017, 2018 and 2021,
Springsteen performed the critically acclaimed show Springsteen on Broadway, in which he performed
songs and told stories from his 2016 autobiography; an album version from the Broadway performances
was released in 2018. He released the solo Western Stars (2019), Letter to You (2020) with the E Street
Band, and a solo covers album Only the Strong Survive (2022). Letter to You reached No. 2 in the US,
making Springsteen the first artist to release a top-five album across six consecutive decades.
One of the album era's most prominent musicians, Springsteen has sold more than 71 million albums in
the U.S. and over 140 million worldwide, making him the 27th best-selling music artist of all time as of
2024. His accolades include 20 Grammy Awards, two Golden Globes, an Academy Award, and a Special
Tony Award. He was inducted into the Songwriters Hall of Fame and the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame in
1999, received the Kennedy Center Honors in 2009, was named MusiCares person of the year in 2013,
and was awarded the Presidential Medal of Freedom in 2016 and the National Medal of Arts in 2023.
In 2010, Rolling Stone ranked Springsteen 23rd on its list of the "100 Greatest Artists of All Time",
describing him as "the embodiment of rock and roll".