Bruce Springsteen Biography

Fast Facts

• Received his first guitar at age 9 as a gift from his mother
• Signed a 10-album deal with Columbia in June 1972 at the age of 22 after auditioning for legendary music executive John Hammond, who also discovered Billie Holiday and Bob Dylan
• First two albums, Greetings from Asbury Park, N
• J
• (1973) and The Wild, the Innocent and the E Street Shuffle (1973), didn't sell particularly well at first, but the buzz about his third, Born to Run (1975), was so great that he was famously on the covers of both Time and Newsweek the same week in October 1975
• Was inducted into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame in 1999
• Was part of the inaugural class inducted into the New Jersey Hall of Fame in 2008
• Made his first arena appearance at the Spectrum in Philadelphia in 1973, opening for the band Chicago
• He played there a total of 35 times, which included performances in the spring and fall of 2009, the final year the Spectrum held events before its demolition
• Was one of the honorees at the 2009 Kennedy Center Honors
• Is often a surprise guest at the annual Asbury Park, NJ, Light of Day concerts, which raise money to battle Parkinson's disease
• In 2010, released The Promise: The Darkness on the Edge of Town Story, which included a reissue of his 1978 album, previously unreleased outtakes, a documentary about making the album and DVDs of live performances
• Helped E Street Band guitarist Steven Van Zandt celebrate the ninth anniversary of Little Steven's Underground Garage radio show by making his debut appearance on the show in April 2011