Bruce Springsteen
Bruce Springsteen has been one of America's top rock musicians and song-writers for the past thirty-five years, over which time he has won an astonishing fifteen Grammy awards between 1984 and 2006 as well as selling millions of albums.
Bruce Springsteen was an admirer of the Dave Clark Five, one of the “British Invasion” bands that stormed American shores in the early 1960s with hits like “Bits and Pieces,” “Glad All Over,” and “Catch Us If You Can.” Springsteen reportedly played the Dave Clark Five to his E Street Band and told them, “This is what we should sound like.”
The harmonica has been an integral part of Spring steen's recordings and performances since the beginning of his career, and in many ways he has carried on the Woody Guthrie tradition of the American singer/song-writer/harmonica-playing guitarist. He has played the harmonica on every recording and in every concert, especially featuring the instrument on his acoustic albums including Nebraska and Ghost of Tom Joad. But even while carrying this traditional torch, Springsteen has also forged new paths on the harmonica, incorporating it into top songs in the loud, electric rock genre in a prominent way on songs including “Thunder Road” from the Born to Run album, “Promised Land” from the Darkness on the Edge of Town album, and “The River” from The River album.
Springsteen was born in Long Branch, New Jersey, in 1949. He is still recording and touring today.
