By Eunice Charles
FROM WIKIPEDIA COMMONS
Bruce Frederick Joseph Springsteen (born September 23, 1949) is an American singer, songwriter, and guitarist. Nicknamed “the Boss“, Springsteen has released 21 studio albums spanning six decades; most of his albums feature the E Street Band, his backing band since 1972. Springsteen is a pioneer of heartland rock, combining commercially successful rock with poetic, socially conscious lyrics that reflect working class American life. He is known for his energetic concerts, some of which last more than four hours.
Springsteen released his first two albums, Greetings from Asbury Park, N.J. and The Wild, the Innocent & the E Street Shuffle, in 1973. Although both were well received by critics, neither earned him a large audience. He changed his style and achieved worldwide popularity with Born to Run (1975). Springsteen followed with Darkness on the Edge of Town (1978) and The River (1980), Springsteen’s first album to top the Billboard 200 chart. After the solo acoustic album Nebraska (1982), he recorded Born in the U.S.A. (1984) with the E Street Band, which became his most commercially successful album and the 23rd-best selling album ever as of 2024. All seven singles from Born in the U.S.A. reached the Top 10 of the Billboard Hot 100, including the title track. Springsteen mostly hired session musicians for the recording of his next three albums, Tunnel of Love (1987), Human Touch (1992), and Lucky Town (1992). He reassembled the E Street Band for Greatest Hits (1995), and recorded the acoustic album The Ghost of Tom Joad (1995) and the EP Blood Brothers (1996) solo.
Springsteen then released The Rising (2002), which was dedicated to the victims of the September 11 attacks. He released two more folk albums, Devils & Dust (2005) and We Shall Overcome: The Seeger Sessions (2006), his first cover album. Springsteen followed with two more albums with the E Street Band, Magic (2007) and Working on a Dream (2009). His next albums, Wrecking Ball (2012) and High Hopes (2014), topped album charts worldwide. In 2017, 2018 and 2021, Springsteen performed the critically acclaimed show Springsteen on Broadway, in which he performed songs and told stories from his 2016 autobiography; an album version from the Broadway performances was released in 2018. He released the solo album Western Stars in 2019, Letter to You with the E Street Band in 2020, and a solo covers album entitled Only the Strong Survive in 2022. Letter to You reached No. 2 in the US, making Springsteen the first artist to release a top-five album in six consecutive decades.
A prominent musician from the album era, Springsteen has sold more 140 million records worldwide, making him one of the best-selling music artists of all time. His accolades include 20 Grammy Awards, two Golden Globes, an Academy Award, and a Special Tony Award. He was inducted into the Songwriters Hall of Fame and the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame in 1999, received the Kennedy Center Honors in 2009, was named MusiCares person of the year in 2013, and was awarded the Presidential Medal of Freedom in 2016 and the National Medal of Arts in 2023. In 2010, Rolling Stone ranked Springsteen 23rd on its list of the “100 Greatest Artists of All Time“, describing him as “the embodiment of rock and roll”. In 2025, Springsteen became one of only of five artists to gross over $2.3 billion in touring thanks to his 2023-2025 Tour with the E Street Band.
TODAY’S ALMANAC
Question of the Day
Advice of the Day
Home Hint of the Day
Word of the Day
Puzzle of the Day
In music I’m an instrument, Of sweet and solemn tone, But if I be transposed aright, I then become a moan. (What word fits the first clue, but when rearranged, fits the second?)
organ – groan
Died
- Elizabeth Kortright Monroe (U.S. First Lady) –
- Urbain Le Verrier (astronomer) –
- William Marsh Rice (merchant) –
- Sigmund Freud (psychologist) –
- Chief Dan George (chief, actor) –
- Bob Fosse (director, choreographer) –
- Robert Wells (songwriter, co-wrote The Christmas Song) –
- Mary Frann (actress) –
Born
- Victoria Woodhull (social reformer) –
- William Stewart Halsted (surgeon) –
- John Avery Lomax (folklorist) –
- Walter Lippman (journalist) –
- Elliot Roosevelt (politician) –
- Mickey Rooney (actor) –
- John Coltrane (American saxophonist; born in Hamlet, North Carolina) –
- Ray Charles (musician) –
- Mary Kay Place (actress) –
- Bruce Springsteen (musician) –
- Larry Mize (golf professional) –
- Jason Alexander (actor) –
- Chi McBride (actor) –
Events
- During the American Revolution, Captain John Paul Jones commanded a small squadron including the flagship USS Bonhomme Richard. On this date, in the evening, his squadron attacked the British frigate HMS Serapis and royal sloop Countess of Scarborough, which were guarding a convoy of merchant ships off the coast of England. The Bonhomme Richard engaged with the Serapis, commanded by Captain Richard Pearson, whereupon a 3.5-hour battle ensued. At one point, when asked to surrender, Jones is credited as saying: I have not yet begun to fight! Jones eventually achieved Pearson’s surrender and captured the Serapis and Countess of Scarborough. Both sides suffered heavy losses and the damaged Bonhomme Richard sank shortly after. –
- N.Y. Knickerbocker Base Ball Club organized –
- Planet Neptune was discovered –
- Bryn Mawr College, the first U.S. graduate school for women, opened in Pennsylvania –
- A time capsule was buried on the site of the NY World’s Fair, to be opened in the year 6939 to reveal such artifacts as a bible, mail order catalog, film of FDR, and college football game –
- Big Thunder Mountain Railroad opened at Walt Disney World’s Magic Kingdom in Orlando, Florida –
- Manon Rhéaume first woman player in an NHL game –
- Cabot Creamery and Chef John Folse created the world’s largest macaroni and cheese. The previous record of 440 pounds was blown away by the team’s 2,469 pound macaroni and cheese. –
Weather
- The remains of Hurricane Eloise merged with a stationary front over New York, Pennsylvania, and Maryland to produce major flooding –
- Snow and sleet fell in Binghamton, New York –
- The temperature in Richmond, Virginia, fell from 84 degrees F to 54 degrees F in 2 hours –
COURTESY www.almanac.com
