Bruce Frederick Joseph Springsteen is an American singer, songwriter, and musician. He has released 21 studio albums, most of which feature his backing band, the E Street Band.
Originally from the Jersey Shore, he is an originator of heartland rock, combining mainstream rock musical styles with narrative songs about working-class American life.
Springsteen released his first two albums, Greetings from Asbury Park, N.J., and The Wild, the Innocent & the E Street Shuffle, neither of which earned him a large audience.
He changed his style and reached worldwide popularity with Born to Run in 1975. It was followed by Darkness on the Edge of Town (1978) and The River (1980), which topped the US Billboard 200 chart.
Why is Springsteen called the boss?
Springsteen acquired the nickname “the Boss” during this period since he took on the task of collecting his band’s nightly pay and distributing it amongst his bandmates.
The nickname also reportedly sprang from games of Monopoly that Springsteen would play with other Jersey Shore musicians.
Springsteen was signed to Columbia Records in 1972 by Clive Davis after having piqued the interest of John Hammond, who had signed Bob Dylan to the same label a decade earlier.
Despite the expectations of Columbia Records’ executives that Springsteen would record an acoustic album, he brought many of his New Jersey-based colleagues into the studio with him and formed the E Street Band (although the band would not be formally named for several months).
