He might be the “The Boss” now – but Bruce Springsteen has worked for decades to reach icon status.
The “Born in the U.S.A” singer has had a long and successful career in the music industry, garnering 12 top 10 hit songs on the Billboard Top 100 list, alongside his E Street Band.
Born in New Jersey in September 1949, the singer-songwriter has gained fame all over the world, but has continued to stay true to his Garden State roots, and often references his home state within his work.
He’s also a family man, raising three children with his wife and touring bandmate Patti Scialfa.
Bruce Springsteen Reflects on Mortality Amid Wife Patti Scialfa’s Cancer
So how does a rock star become a legend? Us Weekly takes a look back at the Boss throughout his career, decade by decade.
1970s
In 1973, Springsteen released his debut album Greetings From Asbury Park, N.J. with Columbia Records. But he didn’t stop there. He also released The Wild, the Innocent & the E Street Shuffle in 1973 and Born to Run in 1975. In the later half of the decade, he released Darkness on the Edge of Town in 1978.
His rise as an artist also coincided with the opening of one of his hometown venues, The Stone Pony, a large, and still-dominant part of the Asbury Park music scene, where he did many shows early on in his career.
1980s
Springsteen started off the ’80s strong with The River in 1980, followed by Nebraska in 1982. In 1984, he released Born in The U.S.A. This album changed the trajectory of his career, launching him into huge commercial success, garnering seven top 10 singles and three Grammy Award Nominations – including one win for the single “Dancing in the Dark.”
Following this big moment for Springsteen, he released Tunnel of Love in 1987. This decade saw Bruce Springsteen marrying his first wife – actress Julianne Phillips – in 1985. However, the union didn’t last long: They separated in 1988, and finalized their divorce the next year.
1990s
Releasing three albums in the 90’s, Springsteen had 2 in 1992 alone – Human Touch, and Lucky Town – which his website describes as “companion albums.” This makes sense, as they were literally released on the same day.
The ’90s saw him find success through the song “Streets of Philadelphia,” for the Oscar-winning film Philadelphia. That song garnered him four more Grammy wins in 1994. In 1995 he released The Ghost of Tom Joad.
The ’90’s were also a decade of personal change in Springsteen’s life. In 1990, he had his first son, Evan, with bandmate Patti Scialfa. The following year, he and Scialfa got married; the same year she gave birth to his second child, Jessica. In 1994, they had their youngest, a boy named Sam.
In a 2019 CBS interview with Gayle King, the rocker opened up about parenthood – Springsteen has spoken about the fraught relationship that he had with his own father growing up, and said that he didn’t want it to negatively impact his kids.
“There were a lot of mistakes I didn’t want to make,” he told the broadcaster. “And I think the way you look at it is, like, I don’t want my kids to have to dig themselves out of my hole. They’re gonna have their own hole they got to dig themselves out of. That’s just part of life, you know?”
Springsteen then added that people always “pass something along,” but “that’s just life, you know? So as a parent, you do your best to not lay too much of your own bulls— on them.”
2000s
In the early 2000s the “Born in the U.S.A” singer returned to his roots once again by releasing another album with his E Street Band – the first in 18 years. His 2002 album The Rising is his personal and artistic response to the tragedy of September 11.
Following The Rising he released four more studio albums that decade. Devils & Dust in 2005 was acoustic, and featured Springsteen mainly solo. In 2006 he released We Shall Overcome: The Seeger Sessions, Magic in 2007, and Working on a Dream in 2009.
2010s
As the world got used to the 2000s, Bruce Springsteen released his 17th studio album, Wrecking Ball, in 2012, followed by High Hopes in 2014. In 2019, he released Western Stars which was made to be a tribute to ’60s and ’70s Southern California pop.
2020s
Bruce Springsteen’s 2020 album Letter to You was recorded at his New Jersey home. Per an interview with Associated Press, that album was a reflection on grief, and the loss of friends over the years.
In 2022, he released an album of covers titled Only the Strong Survive, including songs like the Commodores’ “Nightshift” and Tyrone Davis’ “Turn Back the Hands of Time.” That year, the legendary rocker also saw his family grow – he became a grandfather for the first time. Scialfa announced the birth of Lily Harper Springsteen on Instagram, as their son Sam became a dad.
Scialfa touched on some family health issues in the 2024 documentary Road Diary: Bruce Springsteen and the E Street Band. She spoke publicly about her 2018 cancer diagnosis in the film, which premiered at the Toronto International Film Festival in September 2024. Scialfa has a rare form of blood cancer called multiple myeloma. Per People, Springsteen spoke about his wife’s health during the film’s Los Angeles Premiere, and how it changed his perspective.
“Hey, you get up around our age, and those are the things you’re thinking about,” he said. “Patti and I have had to deal with her illness, and you’re worried about … it is a part of your life now, questions of mortality, and it just becomes a part of your life.”
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