- 10/27/75: Has appeared on the covers of both Time and Newsweek magazines simultaneously. Previously this only happened to world leaders.
- 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.
- 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.
- 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".
- Is a huge fan of Elvis Presley.
- His song "The Ghost of Tom Joad" was inspired by the John Ford film The Grapes of Wrath (1940).
- 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.
- Originally wrote his classic single "Hungry Heart" for Ramones, but recorded himself at the insistence of his manager.
- Father was of Dutch and Irish extraction; mother is of Italian extraction.
- Has suffered from clinical depression since the mid 1980s, a condition that almost crushed him by his early sixties.
- Says his favorite film as a kid was The Searchers (1956).
- 1997: Awarded the Polar Music Prize, the Royal Swedish Academy of Music Award.
- Considered becoming a baseball player prior to devoting himself to music.
- 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.
- 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.
- 1999: Inducted into the American Songwriters Hall of Fame.
- 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.
- His concerts are known as marathons for lasting multiple hours.
- Ranked #27 on VH1's 100 Greatest Artists of Rock & Roll.
- 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.
- 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".
- 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:
(1) You do not use drugs.
(2) You must be on time, and sober, for any and all rehearsals and performances.
(3) You better be on the tour bus when it leaves for the next city.
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. - 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.
- Father, Douglas "Dutch" Springsteen, died in 1998. Mother, Adele, died at age 98 (February 1, 2024) after a 12-year battle with Alzheimer's disease. Has two sisters, Virginia and Pamela Springsteen.
- 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.
- 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.
- Many of his earlier songs make reference to the New Jersey shore, where he spent his youth.
- Frequently works with director John Sayles, a fellow Jerseyite who shares a similar social conscience.
- 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.
- 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".
- 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.
- His late cousin, Lenny Sullivan, was the assistant road manager for his band for the last 10 years [October 27, 2009].
- 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.
- 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).
- 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.
- Has his voice insured for six million dollars.
- One of his most famous songs, "Thunder Road", was inspired by the Robert Mitchum movie 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.
- Ranked #59 on VH1's 100 Sexiest Artists.
- In his nearly-fifty year career Springsteen had never appeared in a commercial or endorsed a product until agreeing to appear in a Super Bowl ad for Jeep in 2021, though Jeep pulled the ad from circulation less than a week later after it came to light that Springsteen had been arrested for driving while intoxicated three months earlier.
- 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.
- Born on the same day as the late rhythm and blues singer Ray Charles and actor Jason Alexander.
- Actress Courteney Cox appeared in his 1984 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. The video was directed by Brian De Palma on location at the Saint Paul Civic Center in Saint Paul, Minnesota.
- Has been a close friend of Robert De Niro since 1975.
- Became a friend of then Senator, now President Barack Obama in 2008, when he gave a series of concerts at Obama for President rallies during Obama's first campaign for President of the United States. Their friendship continues as of 2022, and is also a professional relationship, which includes collaboration on a podcast, "Renegades," beginning in 2021, and publication of a book, "Renegades: Born in the USA," by Barack Obama and Bruce Springsteen, published by Viking Press in 2021. Notably, Obama has driven Springsteen's 1960 Corvette on several occasions, but only on Springsteen's New Jersey farm, since the Secret Service does not allow any president or former president to drive a motor vehicle on public roads.
- 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.
- He inspired and is referred to in the Prefab Sprout song "Cars and Girls" (from their 1988 album "From Langley Park to Memphis").
- 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.
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