Music lovers! I know you have been wondering “Who is next?” Well, I will start of by telling you that he knows a thing or two about the “Streets of Philadelphia”. Think about this, he is nicknamed “The Boss” for a reason. His voice is not the smooth and silky-sweet type, yet it embodies the heart and soul of Americans from coast to coast. When he is on stage with the guitar shedding tears in his hands, it feels like America cries with him. When he smiles on stage, the people in the crowd suddenly start to smile and feel no pain. For a man that is called “The Boss”, he sure is a gentle one. That’s right music lovers I am talking about the one and only Bruce Springsteen.
Born Bruce Frederick Joseph Springsteen in Long Branch, New Jersey he grew up in Freehold Boro, New Jersey. This is a guy who graduated from high school and skipped his own graduation. He has played with a great number of bands (well, I think the names were changing more often than the members) that did take him, as well as and handful of people that did play with him, through an evolution if you may. Like any other band that is starting off in the early part of their career, he led singing for the bands that played for from one college campus to the next bar. From the Late 60’s to the Early 70’s the “E Street Band” eventually born and had quite a following with recognition nationwide as well as globally. Sometime in 1972, the band manager got the band to audition for Columbia and they were signed. Notably, they were signed to Columbia about the same time that Bob Dylan was signed to Columbia.
He never did like being called “The Boss” for the simple reason that he hated bosses! Wow, he is like the rest of us! Ok, I suppose some of us do like some of our bosses, right? Anyway, he got the nickname from being the guy that collected the money for his band from their gigs made sure everyone in the band got their own share. There is word that he was called “Doctor” earlier on. I think that probably would suit him better because he has used his voice and continues to use his voice as a tool to bring Americans together and help all of us heal from our aching hearts as he also sang about the pain that he was going through. His relationship with his father was not the greatest and he even thanked his late father as he was inducted into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame, for the rough times as he noted he that would not have had anything to write about if not for him. Bruce said the “happy songs” that he wrote and performed in the early 90’s were not appreciated by the fans.
Bruce wrote most if not all the songs for the band and as time went on it showed more and more what were the main components of what made up “Bruce Springsteen”. He was born into a Roman Catholic family, father was Dutch and Irish, his mother was Italian. I mention this because of my firm belief that music dwells in each and every one of us and the when we let it out it is like telling the world “who we really are”. His songs were a “tell – tell” sign that he was your typical “Jersey boy” and eventually some other songs were so rich you would know instantly that he had attended a couple of masses in the Catholic Church.
He has moved the hearts of Americans with his music over the years and participated in the “Vote for a Change” tour in 2004 with a number of other artists (Dixie Chicks, Dave Matthews Band, Pearl Jam, to mention a few). He also performed on Nov. 2nd, 2008 at the Cleveland, Ohio rally in support of now President Barrack Obama and performed a new song (duet with his wife Patti) titled “ Working on a Dream”.
This “Jersey Boy” was back at it again this year when he was nominated and won a Grammy for Best Rock Song (Girls in their Summer Clothes) to add to the host of the other Grammys he has already snagged. Bruce Springsteen has been nominated numerous times but he has won approximately 19 Grammy’s since 1984 when he won his first for Best Rock Vocal Performance, Male with the song “Dancing in the Dark”. He won an Oscar (Best Original song) for the song “Streets of Philadelphia” that was written for the movie “Philadelphia” in 1994.
His writing, guitar playing, performance abilities, and yes his voice, all adds up to making Bruce Springsteen one of the greatest musicians of our time. He is a “True Musician” and will continue feed our souls with the music we crave and desire. A legend in his own right.
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