50 Fun Facts About Bruce Springsteen

What is Bruce Springsteen's famous nickname?

He earned it in his early bar-band days by collecting the night's pay and handing it out to his bandmates. The Big Man was saxophonist Clarence Clemons.

In which New Jersey town did Springsteen grow up?

He was born at Monmouth Medical Center in Long Branch, attended St. Rose of Lima Catholic School and Freehold High, and skipped his own graduation ceremony.

Which Columbia scout, who had signed Bob Dylan, signed Springsteen in 1972?

Managers Mike Appel and Jim Cretecos brought Springsteen to Hammond's attention. His debut, Greetings from Asbury Park, N.J., came out in 1973.

Which critic wrote in 1974 that he 'saw rock and roll future, and its name is Bruce Springsteen'?

Landau saw him at the Harvard Square Theater and soon became his co-producer and longtime manager.

In October 1975 Springsteen became the first artist to do what?

The double cover accompanied Born to Run, the album that made him a worldwide star after two modest sellers.

How long did Springsteen spend recording the title track of Born to Run alone?

He was chasing Phil Spector's Wall of Sound, and the full sessions with the E Street Band ran from January 1974 to July 1975.

Whose shoulder is Springsteen leaning on in the iconic Born to Run cover photo?

Eric Meola shot it in his studio on June 20, 1975. The pose has been imitated endlessly, including by the Muppets and Sesame Street.

What was the working title of 'Thunder Road'?

The song opens Born to Run and was finished in April 1975 after months of rewrites.

The E Street Band is named after a street in which New Jersey town?

Keyboardist David Sancious's mother lived on E Street and let the band rehearse in her garage. Founded in 1972, the band was not formally named until 1974.

Which Springsteen album was his first to top the Billboard 200?

The 1980 double album also gave him his first top-ten single as a performer, 'Hungry Heart,' which he had originally written for the Ramones.

For which band did Springsteen originally write 'Hungry Heart' before deciding to keep it for himself?

Joey Ramone asked him for a song when they met in Asbury Park. It became Springsteen's first top-ten hit as a performer, reaching number five.

Which Springsteen song became a number one hit for Manfred Mann's Earth Band in 1977?

Springsteen has never had a Billboard number one single himself. The Pointer Sisters took 'Fire' to number two in 1979.

With whom did Springsteen share writing credit on 'Because the Night,' a 1978 hit for her group?

Smith rewrote the lyrics to his unfinished song while both were recording in the same studio complex, and it appeared on her album Easter.

On what equipment did Springsteen record the songs that became the album Nebraska?

He cut the demos at his rented house in Colts Neck intending to redo them with the band, but the full-band versions lost the mood and the demos were released as-is.

The title track of Nebraska is sung in the voice of which real-life killer?

Springsteen was inspired by Terrence Malick's film Badlands. The 2025 biopic Deliver Me from Nowhere dramatizes the making of the album.

Who plays Springsteen in the 2025 film Springsteen: Deliver Me from Nowhere?

White did his own singing. Scott Cooper wrote and directed the film, based on Warren Zanes's book about the making of Nebraska.

How many top-ten singles came from Born in the U.S.A.?

The 1984 album sold about 30 million copies worldwide, and Columbia backed it with five videos and three dance remixes in the post-Thriller 'mega-album' era.

Which photographer shot the Born in the U.S.A. cover of Springsteen's backside in front of a flag?

Springsteen said the flag shot simply looked better than the ones of his face. Meola had shot the Born to Run cover nine years earlier.

Which future Friends star dances on stage with Springsteen in the 'Dancing in the Dark' video?

Brian De Palma directed the clip in Saint Paul, Minnesota. The single spent four weeks at number two behind Duran Duran and Prince.

Which president praised Springsteen's 'patriotism' at a 1984 New Jersey rally, drawing a dismissive reply?

Reagan, like many listeners, took 'Born in the U.S.A.' as a flag-waving anthem rather than a bitter song about a Vietnam veteran.

At which Asbury Park club did Springsteen meet Patti Scialfa in 1984?

She joined the E Street Band that year and married Springsteen in 1991. His first marriage, to actress Julianne Phillips, took place in Oregon in 1985.

For which 1993 film's title song did Springsteen win an Academy Award?

'Streets of Philadelphia' also won four Grammys, including Song of the Year. He later got a Golden Globe for 'The Wrestler.'

How many Grammy Awards has Springsteen won?

Alongside the Grammys he holds two Golden Globes, an Oscar and a Special Tony Award for Springsteen on Broadway.

How many spectators reportedly attended Springsteen's July 1988 concert in East Berlin?

Later that year he headlined Amnesty International's Human Rights Now! tour around the world.

Which 2002 album, dedicated to 9/11 victims, reunited Springsteen with the E Street Band in the studio?

It followed the 1999-2000 Reunion Tour. Two folk albums, Devils & Dust and The Seeger Sessions, came next.

Springsteen played the halftime show of which Super Bowl, on February 1, 2009?

He famously slid knees-first into a TV camera. His well-worn Fender, 'the Mutt,' came out of retirement for the show.

At which Broadway theater did Springsteen on Broadway open in 2017?

Announced as an eight-week run, it stretched into 2018 and returned in 2021. Netflix streamed a filmed version hours after the final 2018 show.

What is the title of Springsteen's 2016 autobiography, which the Broadway show drew on?

He narrated the audiobook himself. The book took him seven years to write and was released on September 27, 2016.

With Letter to You in 2020, Springsteen became the first artist to do what?

The album reunited him with the E Street Band. He has released 21 studio albums across six decades.

Which E Street Band member is famous for playing Silvio Dante on The Sopranos?

Van Zandt had played with Springsteen since the Steel Mill days. He later starred in Lilyhammer.

Which E Street drummer spent years as Conan O'Brien's late-night bandleader?

He led the Max Weinberg 7 on Late Night and followed O'Brien to The Tonight Show, all while keeping his seat with the E Street Band.

The E Street Band's founding saxophonist died in June 2011 of complications from what?

Weeks earlier he had played on Lady Gaga's 'The Edge of Glory.' His nephew Jake Clemons later took over the sax chair.

On which pop star's Born This Way album did the E Street sax man play shortly before his death?

He appears on 'Hair' and 'The Edge of Glory.' Clemons also popped up on TV in Diff'rent Strokes, The Simpsons and The Wire.

In what year was the E Street Band inducted into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame?

Springsteen himself had been inducted 15 years earlier, in 1999, the same year he entered the Songwriters Hall of Fame.

Which presidential candidate received Springsteen's first-ever political endorsement, in 2004?

He went on to back Obama, Clinton, Biden and Harris, and debuted 'Working on a Dream' at an Obama rally in 2008.

How much did Springsteen's mother pay per week to rent his first guitar from a local music shop?

He was seven and freshly inspired by Elvis on Ed Sullivan. He quit lessons quickly, then bought an $18.95 guitar after seeing the Beatles in 1964.

Which of Springsteen's early bands, active 1969 to 1971, began under the name Child?

It began as Child. A San Francisco critic called Steel Mill 'the first big thing that's happened to Asbury Park' since a ship burned there in 1934.

Why did Springsteen fail his draft physical at age 19?

The injury from two years earlier, combined with his behavior at induction, made him unacceptable for service and likely kept him out of Vietnam.

Which 2006 album was Springsteen's first collection of cover songs?

Released in 2006, it followed Devils & Dust. His second covers album, Only the Strong Survive, was a set of soul songs in 2022.

Roughly how many records has Springsteen sold worldwide?

Rolling Stone ranked him 23rd among the 100 Greatest Artists in 2010, calling him 'the embodiment of rock and roll.'

Springsteen's ancestry combines Italian, Irish and which other heritage, the source of his surname?

The name comes from Groningen and means 'jump stone,' a stepping stone on unpaved streets. His grandfather Anthony Zerilli came from Vico Equense.

Which honor did Springsteen receive from President Obama in 2016?

He had received the Kennedy Center Honors in 2009 and later got the National Medal of Arts in 2023.

How much did the 22-year-old Springsteen pay for the modified Fender Telecaster he calls his 'mutt'?

Bought from a luthier in Belmar, it appears on the covers of Born to Run and Wrecking Ball and is now insured at $1–5 million.

Which book by John Steinbeck inspired Springsteen's 1995 album The Ghost of Tom Joad?

On the solo acoustic tour that followed, he told audiences to 'shut the fuck up' and not clap during songs.

Which pair of albums did Springsteen release simultaneously in 1992?

He had dissolved the E Street Band in 1989 and risked accusations of 'going Hollywood' by moving to Los Angeles.

Who inducted Springsteen into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame in 1999?

Springsteen returned the favour by inducting U2 in 2005.

Where did Springsteen marry actress Julianne Phillips shortly after midnight on 13 May 1985?

Many songs on Tunnel of Love reflected the unhappiness of the marriage, which ended in 1989.

In which New Jersey township do Springsteen and Patti Scialfa live on a horse farm?

Daughter Jessica is a champion show-jumper who debuted for Team USA in 2014.

Springsteen's 2022 album Only the Strong Survive is a collection of covers from which genre?

It was his 21st studio album; a Volume 2 has been recorded.

Which hobby does Springsteen pursue at HO scale?

He is also known for avoiding hard drugs entirely and running up to six miles a day.