Springsteen was born in Long Branch, New Jersey and spent his childhood and high school years in Freehold Borough. He lived off South Street in Freehold Borough and attended Freehold Borough High School. His father, Douglas Frederick Springsteen, was of Dutch and Irish ancestry and worked, among other vocations, as a bus driver; his surname is Dutch for 'stepping stone'. His mother, Adele Ann (née Zerilli), was a legal secretary and was of Italian ancestry. His grandfather was born in Vico Equense, a city near Naples. He has two younger sisters, Virginia and Pamela. Pamela Springsteen had a brief film career, but left acting to pursue still photography full time; she took photos for the 'Human Touch' and 'Lucky Town' albums.

Raised a Roman Catholic, Springsteen attended the St. Rose of Lima parochial school in Freehold Borough, where he was at odds with both the nuns and other students, even though much of his later music reflects a deep Catholic ethos and included many rock-influenced, traditional Irish-Catholic hymns.

In ninth grade he transferred to the public Freehold Regional High School, but did not fit in there either. Old teachers have said he was a " loner, who wanted nothing more than to play his guitar." He completed high school but felt so uncomfortable that he skipped his own graduation ceremony. He briefly attended Ocean County College, but dropped out.

Called for induction when he was 19, Springsteen failed his physical examination and didn't serve in Vietnam. In an interview in Rolling Stone magazine in 1984 he says 'when I got on the bus to go take my physical, I thought one thing: I ain't goin'. He suffered a concussion in a motorcycle accident when he was 17, and this together with his 'crazy' behaviour at induction and not taking the tests, was enough to get him a 4F.

In the late 1960s, Springsteen performed briefly in a power trio known as Earth, playing in clubs in New Jersey. Springsteen acquired the nickname "The Boss" during this period as when he played club gigs with a band he took on the task of collecting the band's nightly pay and distributing it amongst his bandmates. Springsteen, however, has never liked this nickname, due to his dislike of bosses. Lately, however, he seems to have accepted the nickname. Many recent concerts have audiences making up various signs on banners, license plates and so on saying, "Boss Time". Previously he had the nickname "Doctor". From 1969 through early 1971, Springsteen performed with Steel Mill, which also featured Danny Federici, Vini Lopez, Vinnie Roslin and later Steve Van Zandt and Robbin Thompson. They went on to play the mid-Atlantic college circuit, and also briefly in California. In January 1970 well-known 'San Francisco Examiner' music critic Philip Elwood gave Springsteen credibility in his glowing assessment of Steel Mill: "I have never been so overwhelmed by totally unknown talent." Elwood went on to praise their" cohesive musicality "and, in particular, singled out Springsteen as" a most impressive composer."During this time Springsteen also performed regularly at small clubs in Asbury Park and along the Jersey Shore, quickly gathering a cult following. Other acts followed over the next two years, as Springsteen sought to shape a unique and genuine musical and lyrical style: Dr Zoom & the Sonic Boom (early-mid 1971), Sundance Blues Band (mid 1971), and The Bruce Springsteen Band (mid 1971-mid 1972). With the addition of pianist David Sancious, the core of what would later become the E Street Band was formed, with occasional temporary additions such as horn sections," The Zoomettes "(a group of female backing vocalists for" Dr Zoom") and Southside Johnny Lyon on harmonica. Musical genres explored included blues, R&B, jazz, church music, early rock'n'roll, and soul. His prolific songwriting ability, with more words in some individual songs than other artists had in whole albums, brought his skill to the attention of several people who were about to change his life: new managers Mike Appel and Jim Cretecos, and legendary Columbia Records talent scout John Hammond, who, under Appel's pressure, auditioned Springsteen in May 1972.

Even after Springsteen gained international acclaim, his New Jersey roots showed through in his music, and he often praised "the great state of New Jersey" in his live shows. Drawing on his extensive local appeal, he routinely sold out consecutive nights in major New Jersey and Philadelphia venues. He also made many surprise appearances at The Stone Pony and other shore nightclubs over the years, becoming the foremost exponent of the Jersey Shore sound.

Springsteen signed a record deal with Columbia Records in 1972, with the help of John Hammond, who had signed Bob Dylan to the same label a decade earlier. Springsteen brought many of his New Jersey-based colleagues into the studio with him, thus forming the E Street Band (although it would not be formally named as such for a couple more years). His debut album, 'Greetings from Asbury Park, N.J.', released in January 1973, established him as a critical favorite, though sales were slow. Because of Springsteen's lyrical poeticism and folk rock-rooted music exemplified on tracks like "Blinded by the Light" and "For You", as well as the Columbia and Hammond connections, critics initially compared Springsteen to Bob Dylan. "He sings with a freshness and urgency I haven't heard since I was rocked by 'Like a Rolling Stone'," wrote 'Crawdaddy' magazine editor Peter Knobler in Springsteen's first interview/profile, in March 1973. 'Crawdaddy'" discovered "Springsteen in the rock press and was his earliest champion. (Springsteen and the E Street Band acknowledged by giving a private performance at the 'Crawdaddy' 10th Anniversary Party in New York City in June 1976.) Music critic Lester Bangs wrote in Creem, 1975, that when Springsteen's first album was released....." many of us dismissed it: he wrote like Bob Dylan and Van Morrison, sang like Van Morrison and Robbie Robertson, and led a band that sounded like Van Morrison's." The track" Spirit in the Night "especially showed Morrison's influence, while" Lost in the Flood "was the first of many portraits of Vietnam veterans and" Growin' Up " his first take on the recurring theme of adolescence.

In September 1973 his second album, 'The Wild, the Innocent & the E Street Shuffle,' was released, again to critical acclaim but no commercial success. Springsteen's songs became grander in form and scope, with the E Street Band providing a less folky, more R&B vibe and the lyrics often romanticizing teenage street life. "4th of July, Asbury Park (Sandy)" and" Incident on 57th Street "would become fan favorites, and the long, rousing" Rosalita (Come Out Tonight)" continues to rank among Springsteen's most beloved concert numbers.

In the May 22, 1974, issue of Boston's 'The Real Paper', music critic Jon Landau wrote after seeing a performance at the Harvard Square Theater, "I saw rock and roll future, and its name is Bruce Springsteen. And on a night when I needed to feel young, he made me feel like I was hearing music for the very first time." Landau subsequently became Springsteen's manager and producer, helping to finish the epic new album, 'Born to Run'. Given an enormous budget in a last-ditch effort at a commercially viable record, Springsteen became bogged down in the recording process while striving for a wall of sound production. But, fed by the release of an early mix of" Born to Run "to progressive rock radio, anticipation built toward the album's release. All in all the album took more than 14 months to record, with six months alone spent on the song" Born To Run."During this time Springsteen battled with anger and frustration over the album, saying he heard" sounds in his head "that he could not explain to the others in the studio. It was during these recording sessions that" Miami "Steve Van Zandt would stumble into the studio just in time to help Springsteen organize the horn section on" Tenth Avenue Freeze-Out "(it is his only written contribution to the album), and eventually led to his joining the E Street Band. Van Zandt had been a long-time friend of Springsteen, as well as a collaborator on earlier musical projects, and understood where he was coming from, which helped him to translate some of the sounds Springsteen was hearing. Still, by the end of the grueling recording sessions, Springsteen was not satisfied, and, upon first hearing the finished album, threw the record into the alley and told Jon Landau he would rather just cut the album live at The Bottom Line, a place he often played.

The woman in his life during this time was part-time-live-in 20-year-old Karen Darvin of Dallas, Texas, who was in New York City pursuing a career in dance.

On August 13, 1975, Springsteen and the E Street Band began a five-night, 10-show stand at New York's Bottom Line club. The engagement attracted major media attention, was broadcast live on WNEW-FM, and convinced many skeptics that Springsteen was for real. (Decades later, 'Rolling Stone Magazine' would name the stand as one of the 50 Moments That Changed Rock and Roll.) With the release of 'Born to Run' on August 25, 1975, Springsteen finally found success. The album peaked at number 3 on the Billboard 200, and while there were no hit singles, "Born to Run"(Billboard #23), "Thunder Road", "Tenth Avenue Freeze-Out"(Billboard #83), and "Jungleland" all received massive album-oriented rock airplay and remain perennial favorites on many classic rock stations. The songwriting and recording was more disciplined than before, while still maintaining an epic feel. With its panoramic imagery, thundering production and desperate optimism, 'Born to Run' is considered by some fans to be among the best rock and roll albums of all time and Springsteen's finest work. It established him as a sincere and dynamic rock and roll personality who spoke for and in the voice of a large part of the rock audience. To cap off the triumph, Springsteen appeared on the covers of both 'Time' and 'Newsweek' in the same week, on October 27 of that year. So great did the wave of publicity become that Springsteen eventually rebelled against it during his first venture overseas, tearing down promotional posters before a concert appearance in London.

A legal battle with former manager Mike Appel kept Springsteen out of the studio for over two years, during which time he kept the E Street Band together through extensive touring across the U.S. Despite the optimistic fervor with which he often performed, the new songs he was writing and often debuting on stage had taken a more somber tone than much of his previous work. Reaching settlement with Appel in 1977, Springsteen finally returned to the studio, and the subsequent sessions produced 'Darkness on the Edge of Town' (1978). Musically, this album was a turning point in Springsteen's career. Gone were the raw, rapid-fire lyrics, outsized characters and long, multi-part musical compositions of the first two albums; now the songs were leaner and more carefully drawn and began to reflect Springsteen's growing intellectual and political awareness. Some fans consider 'Darkness' Springsteen's best and most consistent record; tracks such as "Badlands" and "The Promised Land" became concert staples for decades to come, while the track "Prove It All Night" received a significant amount of album rock radio airplay. Other fans would prefer the work of the adventurous early Springsteen. The cross-country 1978 tour to promote the album would become legendary for the intensity and length of its shows.

By the late 1970s, Springsteen had earned a reputation in the pop world as a songwriter whose material could provide hits for other bands. Manfred Mann's Earth Band had achieved a U.S. number one pop hit with a heavily rearranged version of "For You" and 'Greetings' "Blinded by the Light" in early 1977. Patti Smith reached number 13 with her take on Springsteen's unreleased "Because the Night"(which Smith co-wrote) in 1978, while The Pointer Sisters hit number two in 1979 with Springsteen's also unreleased "Fire".

In September 1979, Springsteen and the E Street Band joined the Musicians United for Safe Energy anti-nuclear power collective at Madison Square Garden for two nights, playing an abbreviated set while premiering two songs from his upcoming album. The subsequent 'No Nukes' live album, as well as the following summer's 'No Nukes' documentary film, represented the first official recordings and footage of Springsteen's fabled live act, as well as Springsteen's first tentative dip into political involvement.

Springsteen continued to consolidate his thematic focus on working-class life with the 20-song double album 'The River' in 1980, which included an intentionally paradoxical range of material from good-time party rockers to emotionally intense ballads, and finally yielded his first hit Top Ten single as a performer, "Hungry Heart". This album marked a shift in Springsteen's music toward a pop-rock sound that was all but missing from any of his earlier work. This is apparent in the stylistic adoption of certain eighties pop-rock hallmarks like the reverberating-tenor drums, very basic percussion/guitar and repetitive lyrics apparent in many of the tracks. The title song pointed to Springsteen's intellectual direction, while a couple of the lesser-known tracks presaged his musical direction. The album sold well, becoming his first topper on the Billboard Pop Albums chart, and a long tour in 1980 and 1981 followed, featuring Springsteen's first extended playing of Europe and ending with a series of multi-night arena stands in major cities in the U.S.

'The River' was followed in 1982 by the stark solo acoustic 'Nebraska'. According to the Marsh biographies, Springsteen was in a depressed state when he wrote this material, and the result is a brutal depiction of American life. The title track is about the murder spree of Charles Starkweather. According to Marsh, the album started as a demo tape for new work to be played with the E Street Band, but during the recording process Springsteen and producer Landau realized the songs worked better as solo acoustic numbers. Several studio sessions with the E Street Band led them to realize that the original recording, made in Springsteen's home on a simple, low-tech four-track tape deck, were the best versions they were going to get. However, those sessions were not all for naught, as the band recorded several new songs that Springsteen had written in addition to the 'Nebraska' material, including "Born in the U.S.A." and" Glory Days ". These new songs would not be released until two years later, when they formed the basis of Springsteen's next album.

While 'Nebraska' did not sell well, it garnered widespread critical praise (including being named "Album of the Year" by 'Rolling Stone' magazine's critics) and influenced later significant works by other major artists, including U2's album 'The Joshua Tree'. It helped inspire the musical genre known as lo-fi music, becoming a cult favorite among indie-rockers. Springsteen did not tour in conjunction with 'Nebraska's release.

Springsteen probably is best known for his album 'Born in the U.S.A.' (1984), which sold 15 million copies in the U.S. and became one of the best-selling albums of all time, with seven singles hitting the Top 10, and the massively successful world tour that followed it. The title track was a bitter commentary on the treatment of Vietnam veterans, some of whom were Springsteen's friends and bandmates. The lyrics in the verses were entirely unambiguous when listened to, but the anthemic music and the title of the song made it hard for many, from politicians to the common person, to get the lyrics--except those in the chorus, which could be read many ways. The song was widely misinterpreted as jingoistic, and in connection with the 1984 presidential campaign became the subject of considerable folklore. Springsteen also turned down several million dollars offered by the Chrysler Corporation to use the song in a car commercial. (In later years, to eliminate the bombast and make the song's original meaning more explicitly clear, Springsteen performed the song accompanied only by acoustic guitar. An acoustic version also appeared on 'Tracks', a later album.) "Dancing in the Dark" was the biggest of seven hit singles from 'Born in the U.S.A.', peaking at number 2 on the Billboard music charts. The music video for the song featured a young Courteney Cox dancing on stage with Springsteen, an appearance which helped kickstart the actress's career. The song "Cover Me" was written by Springsteen for Donna Summer, but his record company persuaded him to keep it for the new album. A big fan of Summer's work, Springsteen wrote another song for her, "Protection". Videos for the album were made by noted film directors Brian De Palma and John Sayles. Springsteen was featured on the "We Are the World" song and album in 1985.

During the Born in the U.S.A. Tour, Springsteen met actress Julianne Phillips. They were married in Lake Oswego, Oregon, on May 13, 1985, surrounded by intense media attention. Opposites in background, their marriage was not long-lived. Springsteen's 1987 album 'Tunnel of Love' described some of his unhappinesses in the relationship, and during the subsequent Tunnel of Love Express tour, as reported by many tabloids, Springsteen took up with backup singer Patti Scialfa. Phillips and Springsteen filed for divorce in 1988. The divorce was finalized in 1989.

The 'Born in the U.S.A.' period represented the height of Springsteen's visibility in popular culture and the broadest audience demographic he would ever reach (aided by the release of Arthur Baker's dance mixes of three of the singles). 'Live/1975-85', a five-record box set (also on three cassettes or three CDs), was released near the end of 1986 and became the first box set to debut at number 1 on the U.S. album charts. It is one of the most commercially successful live albums of all time, ultimately selling 13 million units in the U.S. 'Live/1975-85' summed up Springsteen's career to that point and displayed some of the elements that made his shows so powerful to his fans: the switching from mournful dirges to party rockers and back; the communal sense of purpose between artist and audience; the long, intense spoken passages before songs, including those describing Springsteen's difficult relationship with his father; and the instrumental prowess of the E Street Band, such as in the long coda to "Racing in the Street". Despite its popularity, some fans and critics felt the album's song selection could have been better. Springsteen concerts are the subjects of frequent bootleg recording and trading among fans.

By the peak of Springsteen's international megastardom in the mid-'80s there were no less than five Springsteen fanzines circulating at the same time in the UK, and many others elsewhere. Gary Desmond's 'Candy's Room', produced in Liverpool, was the first in 1980, quickly followed by Dan French's 'Point Blank', Dave Percival's 'The Fever', Jeff Matthews' 'Rendezvous' and Paul Limbrick's 'Jackson Cage'. In the US, 'Backstreets Magazine' started in Seattle and continues today as a glossy publication, now in communication with Springsteen's management and official website.

After this commercial peak, Springsteen released the much more sedate and contemplative 'Tunnel of Love' (1987), a mature reflection on the many faces of love found, lost and squandered, which only selectively used the E Street Band. It presaged the breakup of his marriage to Julianne Phillips. Reflecting the challenges of love in 'Brilliant Disguise', Springsteen sang:

I heard somebody call your name, from underneath our willow. I saw something tucked in shame, underneath your pillow. Well I've tried so hard baby, but I just can't see. What a woman like you is doing with me.

The subsequent Tunnel of Love Express tour shook up fans with changes to the stage layout, favorites dropped from the set list, and horn-based arrangements. During the European leg in 1988, Springsteen's relationship with Scialfa became public. Later in 1988, Springsteen headlined the worldwide Human Rights Now! tour for Amnesty International. In the fall of 1989 he dissolved the E Street Band, and he and Scialfa relocated to California. Springsteen married Scialfa in 1991. They have three children: Evan James (b. 1990), Jessica Rae (b. 1991) and Sam Ryan (b. 1994).

In 1992, after risking charges of "going Hollywood" by moving to Los Angeles (a radical move for someone so linked to the blue-collar life of the Jersey Shore) and working with session musicians, Springsteen released two albums at once. 'Human Touch' and 'Lucky Town' were even more introspective than any of his previous work and displayed a newly revealed confidence. As opposed to his first two albums, which dreamed of happiness, and his next four, which showed him growing to fear it, at points during the 'Lucky Town' album, Springsteen actually claims happiness for himself.

Some E Street Band fans voiced (and continue to voice) a low opinion of these albums, especially 'Human Touch', and did not follow the subsequent "Other Band" Tour. Other fans, however, who had only come to know Springsteen after the 1975 consolidation of the E Street Band, found this tour an exciting opportunity to see Springsteen develop a working onstage relationship with a different group of musicians, and to see him explore the Asbury Park soul-and-gospel base in some of his classic material.

An electric band appearance on the acoustic 'MTV Unplugged' television program (later released as 'In Concert/MTV Plugged') was poorly received and further cemented fan dissatisfaction. Springsteen seemed to realize this a few years hence when he spoke humorously of his late father during his Rock and Roll Hall of Fame acceptance speech:

I've gotta thank him because — what would I conceivably have written about without him? I mean, you can imagine that if everything had gone great between us, we would have had disaster. I would have written just happy songs – and I tried it in the early '90s and it didn't work; the public didn't like it.

A multiple Grammy Award winner, Springsteen also won an Academy Award in 1994 for his song "Streets of Philadelphia", which appeared on the soundtrack to the film 'Philadelphia'. The song, along with the film, was applauded by many for its sympathetic portrayal of a gay man dying of AIDS. The music video for the song shows Springsteen's actual vocal performance, recorded using a hidden microphone, to a prerecorded instrumental track. This technique was developed on the "Brilliant Disguise" video.

In 1995, after temporarily re-organizing the E Street Band for a few new songs recorded for his first 'Greatest Hits' album (a recording session that was chronicled in the documentary 'Blood Brothers'), he released his second (mostly) solo guitar album, 'The Ghost of Tom Joad', inspired by 'Journey to Nowhere: The Saga of the New Underclass', a book by Pulitzer Prize-winners author Dale Maharidge and photographer Michael Williamson. This was generally less well-received than the similar 'Nebraska', due to the minimal melody, twangy vocals, and political nature of most of the songs, although some praised it for giving voice to immigrants and others who rarely have one in American culture. The lengthy, worldwide, small-venue solo acoustic Ghost of Tom Joad Tour that followed successfully featured many of his older songs in drastically reshaped acoustic form, although Springsteen had to explicitly remind his audiences to be quiet and not to clap during the performances.

Following the tour, Springsteen moved back to New Jersey with his family. In 1998, Springsteen released the sprawling, four-disc box set of out-takes, 'Tracks'. Subsequently, Springsteen would acknowledge that the 1990s were a "lost period" for him: " I didn't do a lot of work. Some people would say I didn't do my best work."

Springsteen was inducted into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame in 1999 by U2, a favor he returned in 2005.
In 1999, Springsteen and the E Street Band officially came together again and went on the extensive Reunion Tour, lasting over a year. Highlights included a record sold-out, 15-show run at Continental Airlines Arena in East Rutherford, New Jersey to kick off the American leg of the tour.

Springsteen's Reunion Tour with the E Street Band ended with a triumphant ten-night, sold-out engagement at New York City's Madison Square Garden in mid-2000 and controversy over a new song, " American Skin (41 Shots)", about the police shooting of Amadou Diallo. The final shows at Madison Square Garden were recorded and resulted in an HBO Concert, with corresponding DVD and album releases as 'Bruce Springsteen & the E Street Band: Live in New York City'.

In 2002, Springsteen released his first studio effort with the full band in 18 years, 'The Rising', produced by Brendan O'Brien. The album, mostly a reflection on the September 11 attacks, was a critical and popular success. (Many of the songs were influenced by phone conversations Springsteen had with family members of victims of the attacks who in their obituaries had mentioned how his music touched their lives.) The title track gained airplay in several radio formats, and the record became Springsteen's best-selling album of new material in 15 years. Kicked off by an early-morning Asbury Park appearance on 'The Today Show', The Rising Tour commenced, barnstorming through a series of single-night arena stands in the U.S. and Europe to promote the album in 2002, then returning for large-scale, multiple-night stadium shows in 2003. While Springsteen had maintained a loyal hardcore fan base everywhere (and particularly in Europe), his general popularity had dipped over the years in some southern and midwestern regions of the U.S. But it was still strong in Europe and along the U.S. coasts, and he played an unprecedented 10 nights in Giants Stadium in New Jersey, a ticket-selling feat to which no other musical act has come close. During these shows Springsteen thanked those fans who were attending multiple shows and those who were coming from long distances or another country; the advent of robust Bruce-oriented online communities had made such practices more common. The Rising Tour came to a final conclusion with three nights in Shea Stadium, highlighted by renewed controversy over "American Skin" and a guest appearance by Bob Dylan.

During the early 2000s, Springsteen became a visible advocate for the revitalization of Asbury Park, and played an annual series of winter holiday concerts there to benefit various local businesses, organizations, and causes. These shows were explicitly intended for the devoted fans, featuring numbers such as the unreleased (until 'Tracks') 'E Street Shuffle' outtake "Thundercrack", a rollicking group-participation song that would mystify casual Springsteen fans. He also frequently rehearses for tours in Asbury Park; some of his most devoted followers even go so far as to stand outside the building to hear what fragments they can of the upcoming shows. The song "My City of Ruins" was originally written about Asbury Park, in honor of the attempts to revitalize the city. Looking for an appropriate song for a post-Sept. 11 benefit concert honoring New York City, he selected "My City of Ruins," which was immediately recognized as an emotional highlight of the concert, with its gospel themes and its heartfelt exhortations to" Rise up!" The song became associated with post-9/11 New York, and he chose it to close 'The Rising' album and as an encore on the subsequent tour.

At the Grammy Awards of 2003, Springsteen performed The Clash's "London Calling" along with Elvis Costello, Dave Grohl, and E Street Band member Steven Van Zandt and No Doubt's bassist, Tony Kanal, in tribute to Joe Strummer; Springsteen and the Clash had once been considered multiple-album-dueling rivals at the time of the double 'The River' and the triple 'Sandinista!'. In 2004, Springsteen and the E Street Band participated in the "Vote for Change" tour, along with John Mellencamp, John Fogerty, the Dixie Chicks, Pearl Jam, R.E.M., Bright Eyes, the Dave Matthews Band, Jackson Browne, and other musicians. All concerts were to be held in swing states, to benefit the liberalism political organization group America Coming Together and to encourage people to register and vote. A finale was held in Washington, D.C., bringing many of the artists together. Several days later, Springsteen held one more such concert in New Jersey, when polls showed that state surprisingly close. While in past years Springsteen had played benefits for causes in which he believed - against nuclear energy, for Vietnam veterans, Amnesty International, and the Christic Institute - he had always refrained from explicitly endorsing candidates for political office (indeed he had rejected the efforts of Walter Mondale to attract an endorsement during the 1984 Reagan "Born in the U.S.A." flap). This new stance led to criticism and praise from the expected partisan sources. Springsteen's" No Surrender " became the main campaign theme song for John Kerry's unsuccessful presidential campaign; in the last days of the campaign, he performed acoustic versions of the song and some of his other old songs at Kerry rallies.

' Devils & Dust' was released on April 26, 2005, and was recorded without the E Street Band. It is a low-key, mostly acoustic album, in the same vein as 'Nebraska' and 'The Ghost of Tom Joad' although with a little more instrumentation. Some of the material was written almost 10 years earlier during, or shortly after, the Ghost of Tom Joad Tour, a couple of them being performed then but never released. The title track concerns an ordinary soldier's feelings and fears during the Iraq War. Starbucks rejected a co-branding deal for the album, due in part to some sexually explicit content but also because of Springsteen's anti-corporate politics. The album entered the album charts at No. 1 in 10 countries (United States, Austria, Switzerland, Sweden, Denmark, Italy, Germany, the Netherlands, the United Kingdom, and Ireland). Springsteen began the solo Devils & Dust Tour at the same time as the album's release, playing both small and large venues. Attendance was disappointing in a few regions, and everywhere (other than in Europe) tickets were easier to get than in the past. Unlike his mid-1990s solo tour, he performed on piano, electric piano, pump organ, autoharp, ukulele, banjo, electric guitar, and stomping board, as well as acoustic guitar and harmonica, adding variety to the solo sound. (Offstage synthesizer, guitar, and percussion were also used for some songs.) Unearthly renditions of "Reason to Believe", "The Promised Land", and Suicide's "Dream Baby Dream" jolted audiences to attention, while rarities, frequent set list changes, and a willingness to keep trying even through audible piano mistakes kept most of his loyal audiences happy.

In November 2005, Sirius Satellite Radio started a 24-hour, seven-day-a-week radio station on Channel 10 called E Street Radio. This channel featured commercial-free Bruce Springsteen music, including rare tracks, interviews, and daily concerts of Bruce Springsteen & the E Street Band recorded throughout their career.

In April 2006, Springsteen released 'We Shall Overcome: The Seeger Sessions', an American roots music project focused around a big folk sound treatment of 15 songs popularized by the radical musical activism of Pete Seeger. It was recorded with a large ensemble of musicians including only Patti Scialfa, Soozie Tyrell, and The Miami Horns from past efforts. In contrast to previous albums, this was recorded in only three one-day sessions, and frequently one can hear Springsteen calling out key changes live as the band explores its way through the tracks. The Bruce Springsteen with The Seeger Sessions Band Tour began the same month, featuring the 18-strong ensemble of musicians dubbed The Seeger Sessions Band (and later shortened to the The Sessions Band). 'Seeger Sessions' material was heavily featured, as well as a handful of (usually drastically rearranged) Springsteen numbers. The tour proved very popular in Europe, selling out everywhere and receiving some excellent reviews, but newspapers reported that a number of U.S. shows suffered from sparse attendance. By the end of 2006, the Seeger Sessions tour toured Europe twice and toured America for only a short span. 'Bruce Springsteen with The Sessions Band: Live in Dublin', containing selections from three nights of November 2006 shows at the The Point Theatre in Dublin, Ireland, was released the following June. behind him, on the Magic Tour stop at Veterans Memorial Arena, Jacksonville, Florida, August 15, 2008.

Springsteen's next album, titled 'Magic', was released on October 2, 2007. Recorded with the E Street Band, it featured 10 new Springsteen songs plus "Long Walk Home," performed once with the Sessions band, and a hidden track (the first included on a Springsteen studio release)," Terry's Song,"a tribute to Springsteen's long-time assistant Terry Magovern who died on July 30, 2007. The first single," Radio Nowhere,"was made available for a free download on August 28. On October 7, 'Magic' debuted at number 1 in Ireland and the UK. 'Greatest Hits' reentered the Irish charts at number 57, and 'Live in Dublin' almost cracked the top 20 in Norway again. Sirius Satellite Radio also restarted E Street Radio on Channel 10 on September 27, 2007, in anticipation of 'Magic'. Radio conglomerate Clear Channel Communications was alleged to have sent an edict to its classic rock stations to not play any songs from the new album, while continuing to play older Springsteen material. However, Clear Channel Adult Alternative (or" AAA") station KBCO did play tracks from the album, underminning the allegations of a corporate blackout.

The Springsteen and E Street Band Magic Tour began at the Hartford Civic Center with the album's release and was routed through North America and Europe. Springsteen and the band performed live on NBC's 'Today Show' in advance of the opener.

Longtime E Street Band organist Danny Federici went off the tour in November 2007 due to melanoma; he died on April 17, 2008, after a three-year battle with the disease.

In April 2008, Springsteen announced his endorsement of U.S. Senator Barack Obama in his 2008 presidential campaign. In a video shot at an Ohio rally for Obama, Springsteen discussed the importance of " truth, transparency and integrity in government, the right of every American to have a job, a living wage, to be educated in a decent school, and a life filled with the dignity of work, the promise and the sanctity of home...But today those freedoms have been damaged and curtailed by eight years of a thoughtless, reckless and morally-adrift administration."

On June 18, 2008, Springsteen appeared live from Europe at the Tim Russert tribute at the Kennedy Center in Washington, D.C., to play one of Russert's favorite songs, "Thunder Road." Springsteen dedicated the song to Russert, who was" one of Springsteen's biggest fans."

Springsteen made a few solo acoustic performances in support of Obama's campaign in October 2008, culminating with a November 2 rally where he debuted "Working On A Dream" in a duet with Scialfa.

On November 4, the first song played over the loudspeakers after Obama's victory speech as president-elect in Chicago's Grant Park was "The Rising".

Springsteen's 'Working on a Dream' album was released in late January 2009.

Springsteen was the musical opener for the We Are One: The Obama Inaugural Celebration at the Lincoln Memorial on January 18, 2009 which was attended by over 400,000. He performed "The Rising" with an all-female choir. Later he performed Woody Guthrie's "This Land Is Your Land" with Pete Seeger.

On January 11, 2009, Springsteen won the Golden Globe Award for Best Song for "The Wrestler", from the Mickey Rourke film by the same name.

Springsteen performed at the halftime show at Super Bowl XLIII on February 1, 2009, agreeing to do it after many previous offers: "It was sort of, well, if we don't do it now, what are we waiting for? I want to do it while I'm alive." A few days before the game, Springsteen gave a rare press conference, where he promised a "twelve-minute party." When asked if he would be nervous performing before such a large audience, Springsteen alluded to the" We Are One "concert, which took place at the Lincoln Memorial:" You'll have a lot of crazy football fans, but you won't have Lincoln staring over your shoulder. That takes some of the pressure off."His 12:45 set, with the E Street Band and the Miami Horns, included abbreviated renditions of" Tenth Avenue Freeze-Out "," Born to Run "," Working on a Dream,"and" Glory Days,"the latter complete with football references. The set of appearances and promotional activities led Springsteen to say," This has probably been the busiest month of my life."

On April 1, 2009, Springsteen kicked off the Working on a Dream Tour in San Jose, California. The tour was hit by controversy in February 2009 when ticket site and tour partner Ticketmaster was found to be redirecting customers to their subsidiary Tickets Now, where tickets were being sold at inflated prices, despite the availability of face-value tickets elsewhere. Ticketmaster CEO Irving Azoff issued a swift apology, following a furious statement from Springsteen, who accused the site of "the abuse of our fans and our trust". The tour's shows featured few songs from the new album, with instead set lists dominated by Springsteen classics and selections reflecting the ongoing late-2000s recession. The tour also featured Springsteen playing songs requested by audience members holding up signs - usually garage rock or punk rock classics or older, more obscure entries in Springsteen's back catalog - in a practice dating back to the final stages of the Magic Tour. and Hard Rock Calling in the UK. He also was the headliner of the Festival des Vieilles Charrues in Brittany, France in July, his only tour stop in France. His son Evan participated in the concert, playing guitar.

During a stretch of five final shows at his homestate Giants Stadium, Bruce Springsteen opened the shows with a brand new song dedicated to the "old lady"(and told from its perspective), named "Wrecking Ball". The song highlights the historic stadium, and his Jersey roots. The stand, as well as some other shows on the U.S. third leg of the tour, featured full album presentations of 'Born to Run', 'Darkness on the Edge of Town', or 'Born in the U.S.A.'

In October, 2009, Bruce Springsteen was among the headline acts of the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame's 25th anniversary benefit concert along with artists like U2, Stevie Wonder and Billy Joel.

On December 6, 2009, Springsteen was among the recipients of the Kennedy Center Honors, an annual award to figures from the world of arts for their contribution to American culture.. This is probably the highest honor Mr. Springsteen has received yet. Prior to the official ceremony at the Kennedy Center, the six cultural icons were hosted by President Obama and Ms. Michelle Obama. During the speech by the President, he talked about how Springsteen has incorporated the life of regular Americans in his expansive pallette of songs and how his concerts are beyond the typical rock-and-roll concerts, how apart from being high-energy concerts they are "communions". President Obama ended with the remark: "On days like the" We Are One "concert and today we are reminded that while I am the president, He is The Boss". During the official awards show on December 6, 2009, tributes were paid by several well-known celebrities like Jon Stewart, Ben Stiller, Eddie Vedder, Sting and Melissa Etheridge.

Jon Stewart opened with a funny albeit touching tribute to Mr. Springsteen: "I am not a music critic. Nor historian, nor archivist. I cannot tell you where Bruce Springsteen falls in the pantheon of the American songbook. I cannot illuminate the context of his work, or its roots in the folk and oral history traditions of our great nations. But I am from New Jersey. So, I can tell you what I believe. And what I believe is that Bob Dylan and James Brown had a baby. Yes! And they abandoned this child, as you can imagine at the time...interracial, same sex relationships being what they were...they abandoned this baby by the side of the road between the exit interchanges 8A and 9 on the Jersey Turnpike...that child was Bruce Springsteen." He continued," I believe that Bruce Springsteen is an unprecedented combination of lyrical eloquence, musical mastery and sheer unbridled, unadulterated joy. Exuberance in the act of telling stories so familiar, stories that have never been told so well or so uniquely. And I know he's hating this right now. He's a modest man, and he doesn't like sitting there in that little box, with his little suit, wearing a little rainbow dreamcatcher or whatever they have on there...he doesn't like it. He wishes he had his guitar and that I would shut up, but I will not. He is the Boss...But I didn't understand his music for a long time, until I began to yearn. Until I began to question the things that I was making and doing in my own life. Until I realized that it wasn't just about the joyful parade on stage and the theatrics. It was about stories of lives that could be changed. And that the only status that you could fail to achieve is the status quo. The only thing, the only failure in life was not to make the effort to change our station. And it resonated with me because, and I say this truly to him... I would not be here, God knows, not even in this business if it were not for the inspirational words and music of Bruce Springsteen."

Golden Globe Award-winning writer Ron Kovic then took the stage, explaining how he first met Bruce Springsteen at the Sunset Marquis Hotel in Hollywood in 1978. A chance encounter led to an exchange of the artists' work, and a friendship was born between the Born on the Fourth of July author and Vietnam Veteran and the Born in the U.S.A. musician. Kovic introduced Springsteen's musical tribute, which began with the Rob Mathes All-Star band performing 10th Avenue Freeze Out, followed by Grammy Award-winning musician John Mellencamp crooning Born in the U.S.A.. It was then followed by a medley of My Father's House, Glory Days and I'm on Fire by multi-Grammy winners Ben Harper and Jennifer Nettles, accompanied by the Rob Mathes band. Grammy Award and Academy Award-winning musician Melissa Etheridge rocked out a concert-version of Born to Run, followed by Grammy Award and Golden Globe Award-winning singer Eddie Vedder's explosive rendition of My City of Ruins. Finally, musical powerhouse Sting, himself a multiple Grammy, Golden Globe and Emmy Award winner, ended the night with a memorable performance of The Rising, joined by The Joyce Garrett Choir and the rest of the performers for the evening's rousing conclusion. Throughout the tribute show, President Obama, Ms. Obama and the other recipients looked on admiringly at the towering personality of Mr. Springsteen.

On January 22, 2010, Bruce joined many well-known artists to perform on 'Hope for Haiti Now: A Global Benefit for Earthquake Relief

The 2000s ended with Springsteen being named one of eight Artists of the Decade by 'Rolling Stone' magazine and with Springsteen's tours ranking him fourth among artists in total concert grosses for the decade.Springsteen was a bachelor until the age of 35, when he married 25 year old Julianne Phillips (born May 6, 1960) in Lake Oswego, Oregon on May 13, 1985.

The marriage helped her acting career flourish, although the two were opposites in background, and his traveling took its toll on their relationship. The final blow came when Bruce began an affair with Patti Scialfa (born July 29, 1953), whom he had dated briefly in 1984 shortly after she joined the band. Phillips and Springsteen separated in the spring of 1988, and on August 30, 1988, Julianne filed for divorce. The Springsteen/Phillips divorce was finalized on March 1, 1989.

After his wife filed for divorce in 1988, Bruce began living with Scialfa. Springsteen received much criticism for the hastiness in which he and Scialfa took their relationship. In a 1995 interview with The Advocate, Springsteen spoke about the negative publicity the couple subsequently received. "It's a strange society that assumes it has the right to tell people whom they should love and whom they shouldn't. But the truth is, I basically ignored the entire thing as much as I could. I said," Well, all I know is, this feels real, and maybe I have got a mess going here in some fashion, but that's life."In 1990, Springsteen and Scialfa welcomed their first child, son Evan James. They were expecting their second child, daughter Jessica Rae (born December 30, 1991), when Bruce and Patti married on June 8, 1991." I went through a divorce, and it was really difficult and painful and I was very frightened about getting married again. So part of me said, Hey, what does it matter? But it does matter. It's very different than just living together. First of all, stepping up publicly- which is what you do: You get your license, you do all the social rituals- is a part of your place in society and in some way part of society's acceptance of you...Patti and I both found that it did mean something."

The couple's youngest child, Sam Ryan, was born on January 5, 1994. The family lives in Rumson, New Jersey, and owns a horse farm in nearby Colts Neck. Springsteen also owns two adjacent homes in Wellington, Florida, a wealthy horse community near West Palm Beach. His eldest son, Evan, is currently a sophomore at Boston College in Chestnut Hill, a village in Newton, Massachusetts. His daughter Jessica Springsteen is a nationally-ranked champion equestrian.

In November 2000, Springsteen filed legal action against Jeff Burgar which accused him of registering the domain brucespringsteen.com (along with several other celebrity domains) in bad faith to funnel web users to his Celebrity 1000 portal site. Once the legal complaint was filed, Burgar pointed the domain to a Springsteen biography and message board. In February 2001, Springsteen lost his dispute with Burgar. A WIPO panel ruled 2 to 1 in favor of Burgar.

The October 26, 2009 show for the Working on a Dream Tour in Kansas City, Missouri was canceled an hour before its scheduled start time due to the death of Lenny Sullivan, Springsteen's cousin and assistant road manager.

Springsteen has led a relatively quiet and private life for a well-known popular performer and artist. He moved from Los Angeles to New Jersey in the early 1990s specifically to raise a family in a non-paparazzi environment. The Super Bowl XLIII press conference regarding the halftime show, took place more than 25 years since his last press conference. However, he has appeared in few radio interviews, most notably on NPR and BBC. 60 minutes aired his last extensive interview on TV before his tour to support his album, 'Magic'.Springsteen's music has long been intertwined with film. His music was first linked with the silver screen in the 1983 John Sayles' film 'Baby, Its You', which featured several songs from 'Born to Run'. The relationship Springsteen established with Sayles would re-surface in later years, with Sayles directing videos for songs from 'Born in the U.S.A.' and 'Tunnel of Love'. The song "(Just Around the Corner to the) Light of Day" was written for the early Michael J. Fox/ Joan Jett vehicle 'Light of Day'.

His original work has frequently been used in films and he won an Oscar for his song "Streets of Philadelphia" from the Jonathan Demme film 'Philadelphia' (1993). He was nominated for a second Oscar for " Dead Man Walkin'", from the movie 'Dead Man Walking' (1995).

His song "Missing" plays during the opening credits of Sean Penn's 1995 movie, 'The Crossing Guard'. It was released in 2003 on " The Essential Bruce Springsteen."

His song "Secret Garden", which first appeared on 1995's 'Greatest Hits', was used in Cameron Crowe's 1996 film 'Jerry Maguire'.

Although it doesn't appear on the soundtrack album, his song "Iceman" was used in the 2007 movie 'In the Land of Women'.

Springsteen also wrote an eponymous song for Darren Aronofsky's 2008 film 'The Wrestler'. The song was awarded a Golden Globe Award for Best Original Song and nominated for the MTV Movie Award as "Best Song From a Movie".

The album "The River" was also well mentioned in the movie 'Reign Over Me' with Adam Sandler.

Two songs from that very album, "Drive All Night" and "Out In The Streets", were played as background music.

In the 1997 film Cop Land, Sylvester Stallone's character plays the songs "Drive All Night" and "Stolen Car" from 'The River' on his turntable.

His track, "Hungry Heart" was used as a background song both the movies 'The Wedding Singer' and 'Risky Business'. The track, "The Fuse" from his album, 'The Rising', was used during the end credits of the Spike Lee film, '25th Hour'.

More recently, his song, "Lucky Town" from his album of the same name was used in the Eric Bana and Drew Barrymore starring movie, 'Lucky You' in the starting title track.

In turn, films have been inspired by his music, including 'The Indian Runner', written and directed by Sean Penn, which Penn has specifically noted as being inspired by Springsteen's song "Highway Patrolman". Kevin Smith is an admitted fan of fellow New Jersey native Springsteen and named his film 'Jersey Girl' after the Tom Waits song which Springsteen made famous. The song was also used on the soundtrack.

Springsteen made his first on-screen appearance as a cameo in 'High Fidelity' and it was voted "Best Cameo in a Movie" at the MTV Movie Awards.In addition to his noted influence on music in his native New Jersey, Springsteen is also cited as an influence by Bon Jovi, Arcade Fire, Gaslight Anthem, The Constantines, The Hold Steady, The National, Kings of Leon, The Killers, U2, Johnny Cash in his later recordings, and countless others. His songs have been covered by diverse artists such as Melissa Etheridge, Johnny Cash, Mc FLY, Tegan and Sara, Damien Jurado, Aimee Mann, Social Distortion, Rage Against The Machine, Ben Harper, Eric Bachmann, Josh Ritter, Frank Turner, and Hank Williams III, in addition to above-noted bands like Arcade Fire and The National.