Opening Topic: Who is Bruce Springsteen?

 Major Hits include: Born In The USA, Born To Run, Hungry Heart & Dancing In The Dark
 Especially Known for his live shows

Biography?

 He was born Bruce Frederick Joseph Springsteen

 He was Born September 23rd 1949 Randolph St, Freehold N.J.
 He was the only son of Douglas & Adele Springsteen
 He had 2 sisters
 He had a fairly rough childhood growing up in a minimum wage household
 Adele was a secretary earning minimum wage
 Douglas never stuck to one job. He worked in a factory, bus driver & prison guard

More about Bruce

 Was a bit of a loner

 Never fit in at school got ridiculed for having long hair
 Influenced by Artists like The Animals, The Rolling Stones, Bob Dylan
 He learned to play music from listening to those records
 Bought his first electric guitar for $60
 It was a Kent guitar made in Japan
 He was drafted into the Vietnam war but managed to fail the physical exam
 His parents moved to California but he stayed behind to pursue a music career.

First Musical Works

 Joined his first band The Castiles at age 16

 May 1966 made his first official recordings 2 songs
 Formed many bands such as Earth, Steelmill, Child, Doctor Zoom & the Sonic Boom.
 Played in the nearby town of Asbury Park
 At the time he was living in a surfboard factory with his friend Steve Van Zant.

First Management Deal

 Signed his first management deal on the hood of a car in a dark parking lot
 Very dodgy deal that he will later regret
 The man he signed the deal with was Mike Appel
 Mike was not a very big producer at the time, he wrote one song for the Partridge Family.
‘Somebody wants to love you’.
 For Bruce he was the closest thing to the music industry, and Mike believed in Bruce
 He eventually got him an audition with John Hammond of Columbia Records

Released 5 records between 1973-1979

First Album

 Bruce Springsteen & The East Street Band Greetings From Asbury Park, Jan 5th 1973
 Before the East Street band Columbia records viewed him as folk
 The East Street Band was Clarence Clemons / Sax Dany Federici / Organ
Mad Dog Lopez / Drums David Sanchez / Tenor Sax
Gary Talent / Bass Bruce Springsteen / Vocals
 This Album had 9 tracks
 Produced by Mike Appel Columbia Records
 People began to say he was the next Bob Dylan
 Others Said he was just a media hype

Second Album

 The Wild, The Innocent & The East Street Shuffle

 Released September 11, 1973
 East Street Band Same line up
 7 tracks, Columbia Records
 The songs where too long for radio
 Fortunately he had a massive cult following for his live shows

Third Album

 Born To Run
 Released August 25th 1975 Columbia records
 8 tracks

The Story Behind Born To Run

 Early 1974 there was talk that the label was planning to drop him
 He had a rough recording of Born to Run which he managed to sneak out of the studio.
 He then took it to his local Pro Springsteen radio stations.
 After it aired the fans loved it, and created major anticipation for the next record.
 So the record company could no drop him.

 He had this one song and nothing else, and he needed an entire album that was just as good.
 It took him a year to finish recording the album.
 In that time 2 members of the East Street band left, They were replaced by Roy Bitten
& Max Weinberg.
 And Jon Landau was the new co-producer, and Mike Appel was concerned that he was being
replaced.
 They finished recording the album July 20th 1975 and went on tour that night.

Play Audio Recording of Born To Run

  The Album was a major Success.
 Sadly Bruce Springsteen did not reap the rewards of the albums success
 Mike Appel still owned the rights to his music, and was making more money from the album
sales than Bruce.
 This sparked a massive legal battle between Mike and Bruce.
 As a result Bruce did not release another album for 3 years.
 The law suet finally ended at 3am May 28th 1977.
 Bruce had to give up a large sum of money, and Mike gave up control.
 Jon Landau became his new manager

The Fourth Album

 Darkness on the edge of town

 Was released June 7th 1978
 10 tracks
 The album was a real reflection of his struggles over the previous years.
 Very Dark & Sad
 But now he had full control over his music
 In that year of 1978 he played 109 shows in 86 cities.
 He also moved up from playing in theatres, to playing Arena’s.

The Fifth Album

 Finally he released his 5th album The River

 20 tracks
 Official release October 17th 1980
 This album featured the tune Hungry Heart.
 This was his first chart topping single.

Play Audio Recording of Hungry Heart

Conclusion/after the 70’s

 So after that period he wrote many other big hit singles (Born in The USA & Dancing In the
Dark)
 He later got married
 In November 1989 The east Street band broke up
 He was inducted into the rock and roll hall of fame 1999
 The most respectable thing I found about Bruce was that his music was always a reflection of
his reality, all his songs had meaning.
 Bruce is still an active figure in the music industry today.