Bruce Springsteen

Troubadour, storyteller, empathic rock & roll populist — Bruce Springsteen stands alone as the most iconic singer and songwriter of his generation. Born in 1949 and raised in Freehold, New Jersey, he was already a legend on the Jersey Shore club circuit when he released "Greetings From Asbury Park" (1973) and "The Wild, the Innocent, and the E-Street Shuffle" (1974). Early classic songs like "Spirit in the Night" and "Rosalita" mixed rhythm and blues, soul, folk, and pop; his precocious, playful, word-heavy lyrics sparkled with poetry, earning him comparisons to Bob Dylan. But his concerts were incomparable, incendiary, near-religious events. After witnessing a show in 1974, rock critic Jon Landau famously wrote: "I have seen the future of rock & roll, and its name is Bruce Springsteen." Springsteen more than lived up to the hyperbole, whether he sang about girls and cars, or lost jobs and frustrated American dreams. From the cinematic grandeur of early albums like "Born to Run" (1975) to more introspective efforts like "Tunnel of Love" (1987), the Steinbeck-inspired "The Ghost of Tom Joad" (1995) and a post 9/11 call-to-courage, "The Rising" (2002), Springsteen ripened from a delirious young romantic into a committed, resolute, and mature idealist. Yet his music — and his marathon concerts with the E-Street Band — still capture hope, heartbreak, and redemption with an unshakable faith in ordinary people and extraordinary rock & roll. —Jeff Ousborne