Name	Thunder Road
Caption	Theatrical poster
Writer	Robert Mitchum (story)James Atlee PhillipsWalter Wise
Starring	Robert MitchumGene Barry
Director	Arthur Ripley
Producer	Robert Mitchum
Music	Jack MarshallRobert Mitchum (song)Don Raye (song)
Distributor	United Artists
Released
Runtime	93 minutes
Country
Language	English

Thunder Road is the title of a 1958 drama–crime film about running moonshine in the mountains of Kentucky and Tennessee in the early 1950s. It was directed by Arthur Ripley and starred Robert Mitchum, who also produced the film, co-wrote the screenplay, and is rumored to have directed much of the film himself. He also co-wrote (with Don Raye) the theme song, "The Ballad of Thunder Road".

The film became a cult classic and continued to play at drive-in movie theaters in some Southeastern markets through the 1970s and 1980s.

Plot

Korean War veteran Lucas Doolin (Robert Mitchum) works in the family moonshine business— delivering the illegal liquor his father distills to clandestine distribution points throughout the south in his souped-up hot rod. However, Lucas has more problems than evading the usual government agents ("revenuers"), led by determined newcomer Troy Barrett (Gene Barry). Lucas is concerned that his younger brother Robin (James Mitchum), who is also his mechanic, will be tempted into following in his footsteps and becoming a moonshine runner.

A well-funded outside gangster, Carl Kogan (Jacques Aubuchon), tries to gain control of the independent local moonshine producers and their distribution points, and is willing to kill anyone who stands in his way. The stakes rise when an attempt by Kogan to kill Lucas results in the death of a government agent as well as another moonshine driver.

In a romantic subplot, Lucas becomes involved with nightclub singer Francie Wymore (Keely Smith). He is unaware one of the neighbor girls, Roxanna Ledbetter (Sandra Knight), has a crush on him and fears for his life.

When a series of government raids destroy their hidden stills, Lucas' father and the other local moonshines shut down production "for a spell" to let the government deal with Kogan in its own time, but Lucas is forced by circumstances and his own code of honor to make a final run.

Factual background

The film was based loosely on an incident in which a driver transporting moonshine was said to have crashed to his death on Kingston Pike in Knoxville, Tennessee between Bearden Hill and Morrell Road. Per Metro Pulse writer Jack Renfro, the incident occurred in 1952 and may have been witnessed by James Agee, who passed the story on to Mitchum.

Cast

Robert Mitchum as Lucas Doolin

Gene Barry as Troy Barrett

Jacques Aubuchon as Carl Kogan

Keely Smith as Francie Wymore

Trevor Bardette as Vernon Doolin

Sandra Knight as Roxanna Ledbetter

James Mitchum as Robin Doolin

Peter Breck as a rival driver

Mitchell Ryan as a decoy driver

Role of Robin Doolin

The role of Robin Doolin, Lucas's younger brother, was originally written for Elvis Presley per Mitchum's request. Mitchum personally submitted the script to Elvis in Los Angeles.

The singer was eager to play the role, but his manager, Colonel Tom Parker, stepped in and demanded Elvis be paid an enormous sum of money, more than the entire budget for the movie, which ended negotiations.

Mitchum's son James got the part, which worked well due to the close physical resemblance.

Production

In the film, Mitchum drove a souped-up 1951 Ford 2-door sedan hot-rod with a custom tank in the back for moonshine and later a 1957 Ford coupe with the same alterations. The '51 Ford was modified with a '49 hood and grill and the rear taillight trim was removed. The film's dialogue refers to the car as a '50, but it is not, although at least one exterior shot, when the car spills oil on the road, is of the trunk of a '50.

Most of the scenes were filmed in Asheville, North Carolina Highway 16 and others at Lake Lure. Some scenes were actual local moonshine drivers shot with a camera mounted on pickup tailgate.

The stunt coordinator was Cary Loftin. The Team, Ray Austin, Neil Castes Sr., Robert Hoy and dale Van Sickel.

The movie's theme song, "The Ballad of Thunder Road", was later recorded by Mitchum and became a popular single record, although Mitchum's rendition is not the one in the film itself.

External links

Lyrics & recording: Ballad of Thunder Road

Thunder Road Movie Trailer

"Thunder Road festival held yearly (April) in Rockwood, TN."

James Mitchum interview http://www.knoxnews.com/news/2008/Jun/15/q-actor-james-mitchum/

Category:1958 films Category:Fictional streets and roads Category:Films shot in North Carolina Category:Films directed by Arthur Ripley Category:1950s crime films Category:Crime drama films Category:American films Category:Black-and-white films

Name	Bruce Springsteen
Landscape	No
Background	solo_singer
Alias	The Boss
Born	September 23, 1949Long Branch, New JerseyUnited States
Instrument	Vocals, guitar, harmonica, piano
Genre	Rock, heartland rock, folk rock, roots rock, Americana
Occupation	Musician, singer-songwriter
Years active	1972–present
Label	Columbia
Associated acts	E Street Band, Steel Mill, Miami Horns, The Sessions Band
Url	brucespringsteen.net
Notable instruments	Fender TelecasterFender EsquireTakamine GuitarsHohner Marine Band Harmonica

Bruce Frederick Joseph Springsteen (born September 23, 1949), nicknamed "The Boss", is an American singer-songwriter who records and tours with the E Street Band. Springsteen is widely known for his brand of Heartland rock, poetic lyrics, and Americana sentiments centered on his native New Jersey.

Springsteen's recordings have included both commercially accessible rock albums and more sombre folk-oriented works. His most successful studio albums, Born to Run and Born in the U.S.A., showcase a talent for finding grandeur in the struggles of daily American life; he has sold more than 65 million albums in the United States and 120 million worldwide and he has earned numerous awards for his work, including 20 Grammy Awards, two Golden Globes and an Academy Award.

Early life

Springsteen was born in Long Branch, New Jersey, and spent his childhood and high school years in Freehold Borough. Springsteen is a vegetarian. He lived on South Street in Freehold Borough and attended Freehold Borough High School. His father, Douglas Frederick Springsteen, was of Dutch and Irish ancestry and worked, among other vocations, as a bus driver; his surname is Dutch for jump stone. His mother, Adele Ann (née Zerilli), was a legal secretary and was of Italian ancestry. Overall, his heritage is 50% Italian, 37% Irish and 13% Dutch. His maternal grandfather was born in Vico Equense, a city near Naples. He has two younger sisters, Virginia and Pamela. Pamela had a brief film career, but left acting to pursue still photography full time; she took photos for the Human Touch and Lucky Town albums.

Raised a Roman Catholic, Springsteen attended the St. Rose of Lima Catholic school in Freehold Borough, where he was at odds with the nuns and rejected the strictures imposed upon him, even though some of his later music reflects a Catholic ethos and included a few rock-influenced, traditional Irish-Catholic hymns.

In ninth grade, he transferred to the public Freehold Regional High School, but did not fit in there, either. Old teachers have said he was a "loner, who wanted nothing more than to play his guitar." He completed high school, but felt so uncomfortable that he skipped his own graduation ceremony. He briefly attended Ocean County College, but dropped out.

Called for induction when he was 18, Springsteen failed his physical examination and did not serve in Vietnam. In an interview in Rolling Stone magazine in 1984, he said, "When I got on the bus to go take my physical, I thought one thing: I ain't goin'." He had suffered a concussion in a motorcycle accident when he was 17, and this together with his "crazy" behaviour at induction and not taking the tests, was enough to get him a 4F.

, New Jersey inspired the themes of ordinary life in Bruce Springsteen's music.]]

In the late 1960s, Springsteen performed briefly in a power trio known as Earth, playing in clubs in New Jersey. Springsteen acquired the nickname "The Boss" during this period as when he played club gigs with a band he took on the task of collecting the band's nightly pay and distributing it amongst his bandmates. Springsteen is not fond of this nickname, due to his dislike of bosses, but seems to have since given it a tacit acceptance. Previously he had the nickname "Doctor". From 1969 through early 1971, Springsteen performed with Steel Mill, which also featured Danny Federici, Vini Lopez, Vinnie Roslin and later Steve Van Zandt and Robbin Thompson. They went on to play the mid-Atlantic college circuit, and also briefly in California. In January 1970 well-known San Francisco Examiner music critic Philip Elwood gave Springsteen credibility in his glowing assessment of Steel Mill: "I have never been so overwhelmed by totally unknown talent." Elwood went on to praise their "cohesive musicality" and, in particular, singled out Springsteen as "a most impressive composer." During this time Springsteen also performed regularly at small clubs in Canton, Massachusetts, Asbury Park and along the Jersey Shore, quickly gathering a cult following. Other acts followed over the next two years, as Springsteen sought to shape a unique and genuine musical and lyrical style: Dr Zoom & the Sonic Boom (early–mid 1971), Sundance Blues Band (mid 1971), and The Bruce Springsteen Band (mid 1971–mid 1972). With the addition of pianist David Sancious, the core of what would later become the E Street Band was formed, with occasional temporary additions such as horn sections, "The Zoomettes" (a group of female backing vocalists for "Dr. Zoom") and Southside Johnny Lyon on harmonica. Musical genres explored included blues, R&B;, jazz, church music, early rock'n'roll, and soul. His prolific songwriting ability, with "More words in some individual songs than other artists had in whole albums," as his future record label would describe it in early publicity campaigns, brought his skill to the attention of several people who were about to change his life: new managers Mike Appel and Jim Cretecos, and legendary Columbia Records talent scout John Hammond, who, under Appel's pressure, auditioned Springsteen in May 1972.

Even after Springsteen gained international acclaim, his New Jersey roots showed through in his music, and he often praised "the great state of New Jersey" in his live shows. Drawing on his extensive local appeal, he routinely sold out consecutive nights in major New Jersey and Philadelphia venues. He also made many surprise appearances at The Stone Pony and other shore nightclubs over the years, becoming the foremost exponent of the Jersey Shore sound.

1972–1974: Initial struggle for success

Springsteen signed a record deal with Columbia Records in 1972, with the help of John Hammond, who had signed Bob Dylan to the same label a decade earlier. Springsteen brought many of his New Jersey–based colleagues into the studio with him, thus forming the E Street Band (although it would not be formally named as such for several more years). His debut album, Greetings from Asbury Park, N.J., released in January 1973, established him as a critical favorite, though sales were slow. Because of Springsteen's lyrical poeticism and folk rock–rooted music exemplified on tracks like "Blinded by the Light" and "For You", as well as the Columbia and Hammond connections, critics initially compared Springsteen to Bob Dylan. "He sings with a freshness and urgency I haven't heard since I was rocked by "Like a Rolling Stone"," wrote Crawdaddy magazine editor Peter Knobler in Springsteen's first interview/profile, in March 1973, on newsstands in February 1973. Crawdaddy discovered Springsteen in the rock press and was his earliest champion. (Springsteen and the E Street Band acknowledged by giving a private performance at the Crawdaddy 10th Anniversary Party in New York City in June 1976.) Music critic Lester Bangs wrote in Creem in 1975 that when Springsteen's first album was released "... many of us dismissed it: he wrote like Bob Dylan and Van Morrison, sang like Van Morrison and Robbie Robertson, and led a band that sounded like Van Morrison's." The track "Spirit in the Night" especially showed Morrison's influence, while "Lost in the Flood" was the first of many portraits of Vietnam veterans and "Growin' Up", his first take on the recurring theme of adolescence.

In September 1973 his second album, The Wild, the Innocent & the E Street Shuffle, was released, again to critical acclaim but no commercial success. Springsteen's songs became grander in form and scope, with the E Street Band providing a less folky, more R&B; vibe and the lyrics often romanticized teenage street life. "4th of July, Asbury Park (Sandy)" and "Incident on 57th Street" would become fan favorites, and the long, rousing "Rosalita (Come Out Tonight)" continues to rank among Springsteen's most beloved concert numbers.

In the May 22, 1974, issue of Boston's The Real Paper, music critic Jon Landau wrote after seeing a performance at the Harvard Square Theater, "I saw rock and roll future, and its name is Bruce Springsteen. And on a night when I needed to feel young, he made me feel like I was hearing music for the very first time." Landau subsequently became Springsteen's manager and producer, helping to finish the epic new album, Born to Run. Given an enormous budget in a last-ditch effort at a commercially viable record, Springsteen became bogged down in the recording process while striving for a wall of sound production. But, fed by the release of an early mix of "Born to Run" to progressive rock radio, anticipation built toward the album's release. All in all the album took more than 14 months to record, with six months alone spent on the song "Born To Run." During this time Springsteen battled with anger and frustration over the album, saying he heard "sounds in [his] head" that he could not explain to the others in the studio. It was during these recording sessions that "Miami" Steve Van Zandt would stumble into the studio just in time to help Springsteen organize the horn section on "Tenth Avenue Freeze-Out" (it is his only written contribution to the album), and eventually led to his joining the E Street Band. Van Zandt had been a long-time friend of Springsteen, as well as a collaborator on earlier musical projects, and understood where he was coming from, which helped him to translate some of the sounds Springsteen was hearing. Still, by the end of the grueling recording sessions, Springsteen was not satisfied, and, upon first hearing the finished album, threw the record into the alley and told Jon Landau he would rather just cut the album live at The Bottom Line, a place he often played.

1975–1983: Breakthrough

On August 13, 1975, Springsteen and the E Street Band began a five-night, 10-show stand at New York's Bottom Line club. The engagement attracted major media attention, was broadcast live on WNEW-FM, and convinced many skeptics that Springsteen was for real. (Decades later, Rolling Stone magazine would name the stand as one of the 50 Moments That Changed Rock and Roll.) With the release of Born to Run on August 25, 1975, Springsteen finally found success. The album peaked at number 3 on the Billboard 200, and while there were no hit singles, "Born to Run" (Billboard #23), "Thunder Road", "Tenth Avenue Freeze-Out" (Billboard #83), and "Jungleland" all received massive album-oriented rock airplay and remain perennial favorites on many classic rock stations. The songwriting and recording was more disciplined than before, while still maintaining an epic feel. With its panoramic imagery, thundering production and desperate optimism, Born to Run is considered by some fans to be among the best rock and roll albums of all time and Springsteen's finest work. It established him as a sincere and dynamic rock and roll personality who spoke for and in the voice of a large part of the rock audience. To cap off the triumph, Springsteen appeared on the covers of both Time and Newsweek in the same week, on October 27 of that year. So great did the wave of publicity become that Springsteen eventually rebelled against it during his first venture overseas, tearing down promotional posters before a concert appearance in London.

A legal battle with former manager Mike Appel kept Springsteen out of the studio for nearly a year, during which time he kept the E Street Band together through extensive touring across the U.S. Despite the optimistic fervor with which he often performed, his new songs had taken a more somber tone than much of his previous work. Reaching settlement with Appel in 1977, Springsteen returned to the studio, and the subsequent sessions produced Darkness on the Edge of Town (1978). Musically, this album was a turning point in Springsteen's career. Gone were the raw, rapid-fire lyrics, outsized characters and long, multi-part musical compositions of the first two albums; now the songs were leaner and more carefully drawn and began to reflect Springsteen's growing intellectual and political awareness. The cross-country 1978 tour to promote the album would become legendary for the intensity and length of its shows.

By the late 1970s, Springsteen had earned a reputation in the pop world as a songwriter whose material could provide hits for other bands. Manfred Mann's Earth Band had achieved a U.S. number one pop hit with a heavily rearranged version of Greetings' "Blinded by the Light" in early 1977. Patti Smith reached number 13 with her take on Springsteen's unreleased "Because the Night" (with revised lyrics by Smith) in 1978, while The Pointer Sisters hit number two in 1979 with Springsteen's also unreleased "Fire".

. Drammenshallen, Drammen, Norway, May 5, 1981.]] In September 1979, Springsteen and the E Street Band joined the Musicians United for Safe Energy anti-nuclear power collective at Madison Square Garden for two nights, playing an abbreviated set while premiering two songs from his upcoming album. The subsequent No Nukes live album, as well as the following summer's No Nukes documentary film, represented the first official recordings and footage of Springsteen's fabled live act, as well as Springsteen's first tentative dip into political involvement.

Springsteen continued to consolidate his thematic focus on working-class life with the 20-song double album The River in 1980, which included an intentionally paradoxical range of material from good-time party rockers to emotionally intense ballads, and finally yielded his first hit Top Ten single as a performer, "Hungry Heart". This album marked a shift in Springsteen's music toward a pop-rock sound that was all but missing from any of his earlier work. This is apparent in the stylistic adoption of certain eighties pop-rock hallmarks like the reverberating-tenor drums, very basic percussion/guitar and repetitive lyrics apparent in many of the tracks. The title song pointed to Springsteen's intellectual direction, while a couple of the lesser-known tracks presaged his musical direction. The album sold well, becoming his first topper on the Billboard Pop Albums chart, and a long tour in 1980 and 1981 followed, featuring Springsteen's first extended playing of Europe and ending with a series of multi-night arena stands in major cities in the U.S.

The River was followed in 1982 by the stark solo acoustic Nebraska. Recording sessions had been held to expand on a demo tape Springsteen had made at his home on a simple, low-tech four-track tape deck. However during the recording process Springsteen and producer Landau realized the songs worked better as solo acoustic numbers than full band renditions and the original demo tape was released as the album. Although the recordings of the E Street Band were shelved, other songs from these sessions would later be released, including "Born in the U.S.A." and "Glory Days". According to the Marsh biographies, Springsteen was in a depressed state when he wrote this material, and the result is a brutal depiction of American life. While Nebraska did not sell well, it garnered widespread critical praise (including being named "Album of the Year" by Rolling Stone magazine's critics) and influenced later significant works by other major artists, including U2's album The Joshua Tree. It helped inspire the musical genre known as lo-fi music, becoming a cult favorite among indie-rockers. Springsteen did not tour in conjunction with Nebraska's release.

1984–1991: Commercial and popular phenomenon

Springsteen probably is best known for his album Born in the U.S.A. (1984), which sold 15 million copies in the U.S. and became one of the best-selling albums of all time, with seven singles hitting the Top 10, and the massively successful world tour that followed it. The title track was a bitter commentary on the treatment of Vietnam veterans, some of whom were Springsteen's friends and bandmates. The lyrics in the verses were entirely unambiguous when listened to, but the anthemic music and the title of the song made it hard for many, from politicians to the common person, to get the lyrics—except those in the chorus, which could be read many ways. The song was widely misinterpreted as jingoistic, and in connection with the 1984 presidential campaign became the subject of considerable folklore. Springsteen also turned down several million dollars offered by the Chrysler Corporation to use the song in a car commercial. (In later years, to eliminate the bombast and make the song's original meaning more explicitly clear, Springsteen performed the song accompanied only by acoustic guitar. An acoustic version also appeared on Tracks, a later album.) "Dancing in the Dark" was the biggest of seven hit singles from Born in the U.S.A., peaking at number 2 on the Billboard music charts. The music video for the song featured a young Courteney Cox dancing on stage with Springsteen, an appearance which helped kickstart the actress's career. The song "Cover Me" was written by Springsteen for Donna Summer, but his record company persuaded him to keep it for the new album. A big fan of Summer's work, Springsteen wrote another song for her, "Protection". Videos for the album were made by noted film directors Brian De Palma and John Sayles. Springsteen was featured on the "We Are the World" song and album in 1985.

During the Born in the U.S.A. Tour, Springsteen met actress Julianne Phillips, whom he would marry in 1985.

at the Radrennbahn Weißensee in East Berlin on July 19, 1988.]] The Born in the U.S.A. period represented the height of Springsteen's visibility in popular culture and the broadest audience demographic he would ever reach (aided by the release of Arthur Baker's dance mixes of three of the singles). Live/1975–85, a five-record box set (also on three cassettes or three CDs), was released near the end of 1986 and became the first box set to debut at number 1 on the U.S. album charts. It is one of the most commercially successful live albums of all time, ultimately selling 13 million units in the U.S. Live/1975–85 summed up Springsteen's career to that point and displayed some of the elements that made his shows so powerful to his fans: the switching from mournful dirges to party rockers and back; the communal sense of purpose between artist and audience; the long, intense spoken passages before songs, including those describing Springsteen's difficult relationship with his father; and the instrumental prowess of the E Street Band, such as in the long coda to "Racing in the Street". Despite its popularity, some fans and critics felt the album's song selection could have been better. Springsteen concerts are the subjects of frequent bootleg recording and trading among fans.

During the 1980s, several Springsteen fanzines were launched, including Backstreets magazine, which started in Seattle and continues today as a glossy publication, now in communication with Springsteen's management and official website.

After this commercial peak, Springsteen released the much more sedate and contemplative Tunnel of Love album (1987), a mature reflection on the many faces of love found, lost and squandered, which only selectively used the E Street Band. It presaged the breakup of his marriage to Julianne Phillips and described some of his unhappinesses in the relationship. Reflecting the challenges of love in "Brilliant Disguise", Springsteen sang:

The subsequent Tunnel of Love Express tour shook up fans with changes to the stage layout, favorites dropped from the set list, and horn-based arrangements. During the European leg in 1988, Springsteen's relationship with backup singer Patti Scialfa became public and Phillips and Springsteen filed for divorce in 1988. Later in 1988, Springsteen headlined the worldwide Human Rights Now! tour for Amnesty International. In the fall of 1989 he dissolved the E Street Band, and he and Scialfa relocated to California, marrying in 1991.

1992–2001: Artistic and commercial ups and downs

In 1992, after risking charges of "going Hollywood" by moving to Los Angeles (a radical move for someone so linked to the blue-collar life of the Jersey Shore) and working with session musicians, Springsteen released two albums at once. Human Touch and Lucky Town were even more introspective than any of his previous work and displayed a newly revealed confidence. As opposed to his first two albums, which dreamed of happiness, and his next four, which showed him growing to fear it, at points during the Lucky Town album, Springsteen actually claims happiness for himself.

An electric band appearance on the acoustic MTV Unplugged television program (later released as In Concert/MTV Plugged) was poorly received and further cemented fan dissatisfaction. Springsteen seemed to realize this a few years hence when he spoke humorously of his late father during his Rock and Roll Hall of Fame acceptance speech: }}

A multiple Grammy Award winner, Springsteen also won an Academy Award in 1994 for his song "Streets of Philadelphia", which appeared on the soundtrack to the film Philadelphia. The song, along with the film, was applauded by many for its sympathetic portrayal of a gay man dying of AIDS. The music video for the song shows Springsteen's actual vocal performance, recorded using a hidden microphone, to a prerecorded instrumental track. This technique was developed on the "Brilliant Disguise" video.

In 1995, after temporarily re-organizing the E Street Band for a few new songs recorded for his first Greatest Hits album (a recording session that was chronicled in the documentary Blood Brothers), he released his second (mostly) solo guitar album, The Ghost of Tom Joad, inspired by John Steinbeck's The Grapes of Wrath, Journey to Nowhere: The Saga of the New Underclass, a book by Pulitzer Prize-winners author Dale Maharidge and photographer Michael Williamson. This was generally less well-received than the similar Nebraska, due to the minimal melody, twangy vocals, and political nature of most of the songs, although some praised it for giving voice to immigrants and others who rarely have one in American culture. The lengthy, worldwide, small-venue solo acoustic Ghost of Tom Joad Tour that followed successfully featured many of his older songs in drastically reshaped acoustic form, although Springsteen had to explicitly remind his audiences to be quiet and not to clap during the performances. During the shows Bruce did occasional take request. Rejecting some "popular" songs by saying things like "Not that old thing."Another change from the usual Springsteen concert experience, no alcohol was served at the venues.

Following the tour, Springsteen moved back to New Jersey with his family. In 1998, Springsteen released the sprawling, four-disc box set of out-takes, Tracks. Subsequently, Springsteen would acknowledge that the 1990s were a "lost period" for him: "I didn't do a lot of work. Some people would say I didn't do my best work."

Springsteen was inducted into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame in 1999 by Bono of U2, a favor he returned in 2005.

In 1999, Springsteen and the E Street Band officially came together again and went on the extensive Reunion Tour, lasting over a year. Highlights included a record sold-out, 15-show run at Continental Airlines Arena in East Rutherford, New Jersey and a ten-night, sold-out engagement at New York City's Madison Square Garden which ended the tour. The final two shows were recorded for an HBO Concert, with corresponding DVD and album releases as . A new song, "American Skin (41 Shots)", about the police shooting of Amadou Diallo which was played at these shows proved controversial.

2002–2007: Return to mainstream success

parking lot for banner-marked, record-setting, 10-night stand of The Rising Tour during July 2003.]] In 2002, Springsteen released his first studio effort with the full band in 18 years, The Rising, produced by Brendan O'Brien. The album, mostly a reflection on the September 11 attacks, was a critical and popular success. (Many of the songs were influenced by phone conversations Springsteen had with family members of victims of the attacks who in their obituaries had mentioned how his music touched their lives.) The title track gained airplay in several radio formats, and the record became Springsteen's best-selling album of new material in 15 years. Kicked off by an early-morning Asbury Park appearance on The Today Show, The Rising Tour commenced, barnstorming through a series of single-night arena stands in the U.S. and Europe to promote the album in 2002, then returning for large-scale, multiple-night stadium shows in 2003. While Springsteen had maintained a loyal hardcore fan base everywhere (and particularly in Europe), his general popularity had dipped over the years in some southern and midwestern regions of the U.S. But it was still strong in Europe and along the U.S. coasts, and he played an unprecedented 10 nights in Giants Stadium in New Jersey, a ticket-selling feat to which no other musical act has come close. During these shows Springsteen thanked those fans who were attending multiple shows and those who were coming from long distances or another country; the advent of robust Bruce-oriented online communities had made such practices more common. The Rising Tour came to a final conclusion with three nights in Shea Stadium, highlighted by renewed controversy over "American Skin" and a guest appearance by Bob Dylan.

During the early 2000s, Springsteen became a visible advocate for the revitalization of Asbury Park, and played an annual series of winter holiday concerts there to benefit various local businesses, organizations, and causes. These shows were explicitly intended for the devoted fans, featuring numbers such as the E Street Shuffle outtake "Thundercrack", a rollicking group-participation song that would mystify casual Springsteen fans. He also frequently rehearses for tours in Asbury Park; some of his most devoted followers even go so far as to stand outside the building to hear what fragments they can of the upcoming shows. The song "My City of Ruins" was originally written about Asbury Park, in honor of the attempts to revitalize the city. Looking for an appropriate song for a post-Sept. 11 benefit concert honoring New York City, he selected "My City of Ruins," which was immediately recognized as an emotional highlight of the concert, with its gospel themes and its heartfelt exhortations to "Rise up!" The song became associated with post-9/11 New York, and he chose it to close The Rising album and as an encore on the subsequent tour.

At the Grammy Awards of 2003, Springsteen performed The Clash's "London Calling" along with Elvis Costello, Dave Grohl, and E Street Band member Steven Van Zandt and No Doubt's bassist, Tony Kanal, in tribute to Joe Strummer; Springsteen and the Clash had once been considered multiple-album-dueling rivals at the time of the double The River and the triple Sandinista!. In 2004, Springsteen and the E Street Band participated in the "Vote for Change" tour, along with John Mellencamp, John Fogerty, the Dixie Chicks, Pearl Jam, R.E.M., Bright Eyes, the Dave Matthews Band, Jackson Browne, and other musicians. All concerts were to be held in swing states, to benefit the liberalism political organization group America Coming Together and to encourage people to register and vote. A finale was held in Washington, D.C., bringing many of the artists together. Several days later, Springsteen held one more such concert in New Jersey, when polls showed that state surprisingly close. While in past years Springsteen had played benefits for causes in which he believed – against nuclear energy, for Vietnam veterans, Amnesty International, and the Christic Institute – he had always refrained from explicitly endorsing candidates for political office (indeed he had rejected the efforts of Walter Mondale to attract an endorsement during the 1984 Reagan "Born in the U.S.A." flap). This new stance led to criticism and praise from the expected partisan sources. Springsteen's "No Surrender" became the main campaign theme song for John Kerry's unsuccessful presidential campaign; in the last days of the campaign, he performed acoustic versions of the song and some of his other old songs at Kerry rallies.

performance at the Festhalle Frankfurt, June 15, 2005.]] Devils & Dust was released on April 26, 2005, and was recorded without the E Street Band. It is a low-key, mostly acoustic album, in the same vein as Nebraska and The Ghost of Tom Joad although with a little more instrumentation. Some of the material was written almost 10 years earlier during, or shortly after, the Ghost of Tom Joad Tour, a couple of them being performed then but never released. The title track concerns an ordinary soldier's feelings and fears during the Iraq War. Starbucks rejected a co-branding deal for the album, due in part to some sexually explicit content but also because of Springsteen's anti-corporate politics. The album entered the album charts at No. 1 in 10 countries (United States, Austria, Switzerland, Sweden, Denmark, Italy, Germany, the Netherlands, the United Kingdom, and Ireland). Springsteen began the solo Devils & Dust Tour at the same time as the album's release, playing both small and large venues. Attendance was disappointing in a few regions, and everywhere (other than in Europe) tickets were easier to get than in the past. Unlike his mid-1990s solo tour, he performed on piano, electric piano, pump organ, autoharp, ukulele, banjo, electric guitar, and stomping board, as well as acoustic guitar and harmonica, adding variety to the solo sound. (Offstage synthesizer, guitar, and percussion were also used for some songs.) Unearthly renditions of "Reason to Believe", "The Promised Land", and Suicide's "Dream Baby Dream" jolted audiences to attention, while rarities, frequent set list changes, and a willingness to keep trying even through audible piano mistakes kept most of his loyal audiences happy.

In November 2005, Sirius Satellite Radio started a 24-hour, seven-day-a-week radio station on Channel 10 called E Street Radio. This channel featured commercial-free Bruce Springsteen music, including rare tracks, interviews, and daily concerts of Bruce Springsteen & the E Street Band recorded throughout their career.

performing on their tour at the Fila Forum, Milan, Italy on May 12, 2006.]] In April 2006, Springsteen released , an American roots music project focused around a big folk sound treatment of 15 songs popularized by the radical musical activism of Pete Seeger. It was recorded with a large ensemble of musicians including only Patti Scialfa, Soozie Tyrell, and The Miami Horns from past efforts. In contrast to previous albums, this was recorded in only three one-day sessions, and frequently one can hear Springsteen calling out key changes live as the band explores its way through the tracks. The Bruce Springsteen with The Seeger Sessions Band Tour began the same month, featuring the 18-strong ensemble of musicians dubbed The Seeger Sessions Band (and later shortened to The Sessions Band). Seeger Sessions material was heavily featured, as well as a handful of (usually drastically rearranged) Springsteen numbers. The tour proved very popular in Europe, selling out everywhere and receiving some excellent reviews, but newspapers reported that a number of U.S. shows suffered from sparse attendance. By the end of 2006, the Seeger Sessions tour toured Europe twice and toured America for only a short span. , containing selections from three nights of November 2006 shows at The Point Theatre in Dublin, Ireland, was released the following June.

behind him, on the Magic Tour stop at Veterans Memorial Arena, Jacksonville, Florida, August 15, 2008.]] Springsteen's next album, titled Magic, was released on October 2, 2007. Recorded with the E Street Band, it featured 10 new Springsteen songs plus "Long Walk Home", performed once with the Sessions band, and a hidden track (the first included on a Springsteen studio release), "Terry's Song", a tribute to Springsteen's long-time assistant Terry Magovern, who died on July 30, 2007. The first single, "Radio Nowhere", was made available for a free download on August 28. On October 7, Magic debuted at number 1 in Ireland and the UK. Greatest Hits reentered the Irish charts at number 57, and Live in Dublin almost cracked the top 20 in Norway again. Sirius Satellite Radio also restarted E Street Radio on Channel 10 on September 27, 2007, in anticipation of Magic. Radio conglomerate Clear Channel Communications was alleged to have sent an edict to its classic rock stations to not play any songs from the new album, while continuing to play older Springsteen material. However, Clear Channel Adult Alternative (or "AAA") station KBCO did play tracks from the album, undermining the allegations of a corporate blackout. The Springsteen and E Street Band Magic Tour began at the Hartford Civic Center with the album's release and was routed through North America and Europe. Springsteen and the band performed live on NBC's Today Show in advance of the opener. Longtime E Street Band organist Danny Federici left the tour in November 2007 to pursue treatment for melanoma from which he would die in 2008

2008–present: Recent events

Springsteen supported Barack Obama's 2008 presidential campaign, announcing his endorsement in April 2008 and going on to appear at several Obama rallies as well as performing several solo acoustic performances in support of Obama's campaign throughout 2008, culminating with a November 2 rally where he debuted "Working On A Dream" in a duet with Scialfa. At an Ohio rally, Springsteen discussed the importance of "truth, transparency and integrity in government, the right of every American to have a job, a living wage, to be educated in a decent school, and a life filled with the dignity of work, the promise and the sanctity of home...But today those freedoms have been damaged and curtailed by eight years of a thoughtless, reckless and morally-adrift administration."

Following Obama's electoral victory on November 4, Springsteen's song "The Rising" was the first song played over the loudspeakers after Obama's victory speech in Chicago's Grant Park. Springsteen was the musical opener for the on January 18, 2009 which was attended by over 400,000. He performed "The Rising" with an all-female choir. Later he performed Woody Guthrie's "This Land Is Your Land" with Pete Seeger.

On June 18, 2008, Springsteen appeared live from Europe at the Tim Russert tribute at the Kennedy Center in Washington, D.C., to play one of Russert's favorite songs, "Thunder Road." Springsteen dedicated the song to Russert, who was "one of Springsteen's biggest fans."

On January 11, 2009, Springsteen won the Golden Globe Award for Best Song for "The Wrestler", from the Mickey Rourke film by the same name. After receiving a heartfelt letter from Mickey Rourke, Springsteen supplied the song for the film for free.

Springsteen performed at the halftime show at Super Bowl XLIII on February 1, 2009, agreeing to do it after many previous offers A few days before the game, Springsteen gave a rare press conference, where he promised a "twelve-minute party." His 12:45 set, with the E Street Band and the Miami Horns, included abbreviated renditions of "Tenth Avenue Freeze-Out"", "Born to Run", "Working on a Dream, and "Glory Days", the latter complete with football references. The set of appearances and promotional activities led Springsteen to say, "This has probably been the busiest month of my life."

Springsteen's Working on a Dream album was released in late January 2009 and the supporting Working on a Dream Tour ran from April 2009 until November 2009. The tour featured few songs from the new album, with instead set lists dominated by classics and selections reflecting the ongoing late-2000s recession. The tour also featured Springsteen playing songs requested by audience members holding up signs as on the final stages of the Magic Tour. and Hard Rock Calling in the UK. Several shows on the tour featured full album presentations of Born to Run, Darkness on the Edge of Town, or Born in the U.S.A. The band performed a stretch of five final shows at his homestate Giants Stadium, opening with a new song highlighting the historic stadium, and his Jersey roots, named "Wrecking Ball". The tour ended as scheduled in Buffalo, NY in November 2009 amid speculation that it was the last performance ever by the E Street Band, but during the show Springsteen said it was goodbye “for a little while.” A DVD from the Working of a Dream Tour entitled was released in 2010.

In addition to his own touring, Springsteen made a number of appearances at tribute and benefit concerts during 2009, including The Clearwater Concert, a celebration of Pete Seeger's 90th birthday, the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame's 25th anniversary benefit concert, a benefit for the charity Autism Speaks at Carnegie Hall. On January 22, 2010, he joined many well-known artists to perform on , organized by George Clooney to raise money to help the victims of the 2010 Haiti earthquake.

.]]

In 2009, Springsteen performed in The People Speak a documentary feature film that uses dramatic and musical performances of the letters, diaries, and speeches of everyday Americans, based on historian Howard Zinn's "A People's History of the United States".

Springsteen was among the recipients of the Kennedy Center Honors, an annual award to figures from the world of arts for their contribution to American culture, in December 2009. President Obama gave a speech in which he talked about how Springsteen has incorporated the life of regular Americans in his expansive pallette of songs and how his concerts are beyond the typical rock-and-roll concerts, how, apart from being high-energy concerts, they are "communions". He ended the remark "while I am the president, he is The Boss". Tributes were paid by several well-known celebrities including Jon Stewart (who described Springsteen's "unprecedented combination of lyrical eloquence, musical mastery and sheer unbridled, unadulterated joy"). A musical tribute featured John Mellencamp Ben Harper and Jennifer Nettles, Rob Mathes band. Melissa Etheridge Eddie Vedder and Sting, The Joyce Garrett Choir

The 2000s ended with Springsteen being named one of eight Artists of the Decade by Rolling Stone magazine and with Springsteen's tours ranking him fourth among artists in total concert grosses for the decade.

In September 2010, a documentary about the making of his 1978 album "Darkness on The Edge of Town" was premiered at the Toronto International Film Festival. The film, The Promise: The Making of Darkness on the Edge of Town, will be included in a box set reissue of the album, entitled The Promise: The Darkness on the Edge of Town Story to be released in November 2010. The Documentary, "The Promise: The Making of ‘Darkness on the Edge of Town" aired on HBO on October 7th, 2010. The documentary explored Springsteen's making of the acclaimed album, and his role in the production and development of the tracks.

Musical style

Bruce Springsteen draws on many musical influences from the reservoir of traditional American popular music, folk, blues and country. From the beginning, rock and roll has been the dominant influence. On his debut album, Greetings from Asbury Park, New Jersey, the folk-influence is clear to hear. An example of the influence of this music genre to Springsteen's music is his song "This Hard Land" which demonstrates a clear influence of the style of Woody Guthrie.

He expanded the range of his musical compositions on his second album, The Wild, the Innocent & the E Street Shuffle. Elements of Latin American music, jazz, soul, and funk influences can be heard; the song "New York City Serenade" is even reminiscent of the music of George Gershwin. These two records prominently featured pianist David Sancious, who left the band shortly into the recording of Springsteen's third album, Born To Run. This album, however, also emphasized the piano, the responsibility now of Roy Bittan.

Later in his career, Springsteen has focused more on the rock elements of his music. He initially compressed the sound and developed Darkness On The Edge Of Town just as straightforward as concise musical idiom, for the simple riffs and clearly recognizable song structures are dominant. His music has been categorized as heartland rock, a style typified by Springsteen, John Fogerty, Tom Petty, Bob Seger, and John Mellencamp. This music has a lyrical reference to the U.S. everyday and the music is kept rather simple and straightforward. This development culminated with Springsteen's hit album Born in the U.S.A., the title song of which has a constantly repeating, fanfare-like keyboard riff and a pounding drum beat. These sounds fit with Springsteen's voice: it cries to the listener the unsentimental story of a disenchanted angry figure. Even songs that can be argued to be album tracks proved to be singles that enjoyed some chart success, such as "My Hometown" and "I'm on Fire", in which the drum line is formed from subtle hi-hat and rim-clicks-shock (shock at the edge of the snare drum).

In recent years, Springsteen has changed his music further. There are more folk elements up to the gospel to be heard. His last solo album, Devils and Dust, drew rave reviews not only for Springsteen's complex songwriting, but also for his expressive and sensitive singing.

On the album Springsteen performs folk classics with a folk band, rather than his usual E Street Band. On his ensuing tour he also interpreted some of his own rock songs in a folk style.

The 2007 album Magic was a reflection on the old stadium rock attitude and with its lush arrangements was almost designed to be performed at large stadiums, which also succeeded on the corresponding tour.

Lyrical themes

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Often described as cinematographic in their scope, Springsteen's lyrics frequently explore highly personal themes such as individual committment, dissatisfaction and dismay with life in a context of every day situations.

It has been recognized that there was a shift in his lyrical approach starting with the album "Darkness on the Edge of Town", in which he focused on the emotional struggles of working class life.

Politics and activism

Springsteen's music has often contained political themes, and he has publicly campaigned for several causes, including his opposition to the Iraq War and support for the presidential campaigns of Senator John Kerry and President Barack Obama. He is also noted for his support of various relief and rebuilding efforts in New Jersey and elsewhere, and for his response to the September 11 attacks in 2001, on which his album The Rising reflects. A Democrat, his work has often stirred controversy and caused some to identify his music with modern American liberalism.

In 1988, Springsteen headlined the worldwide Human Rights Now! tour for Amnesty International.

Springsteen has been associated with various local food banks, particularly with the New Jersey Food bank for many years. During concerts, he usually breaks the routine to announce his support and later matches the total collection during the concert with his own money. During his Charlotte, North Carolina concert on November 3, 2009, he started with a $10,000 donation for the local food bank to start the collections process - which he again matched later.

He has made substantial financial contributions to various workers' unions both in America and in Europe.

Personal life

, in 2005.]] on November 2, 2008.]] Springsteen's girlfriend in 1975 was Karen Darvin, 20, a model living in New York City.

Springsteen married Julianne Phillips (born May 6, 1960) in Lake Oswego, Oregon on May 13, 1985. The marriage helped her acting career flourish, although the two were opposites in background, and his traveling took its toll on their relationship. The final blow came when Bruce began an affair with Patti Scialfa (born July 29, 1953), whom he had dated briefly in 1984 shortly after she joined the band. Phillips and Springsteen separated in the spring of 1988, and on August 30, 1988, Julianne filed for divorce. The Springsteen/Phillips divorce was finalized on March 1, 1989.

After his wife filed for divorce in 1988, Bruce began living with Scialfa. Springsteen received press criticism for the hastiness in which he and Scialfa took up their relationship. In a 1995 interview with The Advocate, Springsteen spoke about the negative publicity the couple subsequently received. "It's a strange society that assumes it has the right to tell people whom they should love and whom they shouldn't. But the truth is, I basically ignored the entire thing as much as I could. I said, "Well, all I know is, this feels real, and maybe I have got a mess going here in some fashion, but that's life." In 1990, Springsteen and Scialfa welcomed their first child, son Evan James. They were expecting their second child, daughter Jessica Rae (born December 30, 1991), when Bruce and Patti married on June 8, 1991. "I went through a divorce, and it was really difficult and painful and I was very frightened about getting married again. So part of me said, Hey, what does it matter? But it does matter. It's very different than just living together. First of all, stepping up publicly- which is what you do: You get your license, you do all the social rituals- is a part of your place in society and in some way part of society's acceptance of you...Patti and I both found that it did mean something."

They have three children: Evan James (b. 1990), Jessica Rae (b. 1991) and Sam Ryan (b. January 5, 1994). The family lives in Rumson, New Jersey, and owns a horse farm in nearby Colts Neck. Springsteen also owns two adjacent homes in Wellington, Florida, a wealthy horse community near West Palm Beach. His eldest son, Evan, atttends Boston College in Chestnut Hill, a village in Newton, Massachusetts. His daughter Jessica Springsteen is a nationally-ranked champion equestrian and attends Duke University.

In November 2000, Springsteen filed legal action against Jeff Burgar which accused him of registering the domain brucespringsteen.com (along with several other celebrity domains) in bad faith to funnel web users to his Celebrity 1000 portal site. Once the legal complaint was filed, Burgar pointed the domain to a Springsteen biography and message board. In February 2001, Springsteen lost his dispute with Burgar. A WIPO panel ruled 2 to 1 in favor of Burgar.

Springsteen has led a relatively quiet and private life for a well-known popular performer and artist. He moved from Los Angeles to New Jersey in the early 1990s specifically to raise a family in a non-paparazzi environment. It has been reported that the press conference regarding the 2009 Super Bowl XLIII half-time show was his first press conference for more than 25 years. However, he has appeared in a few radio interviews, most notably on NPR and BBC. 60 minutes aired his last extensive interview on TV before his tour to support his album, Magic.

Bands

Bruce Springsteen has been a member of, or has been backed by, several bands during his career, most notably The E Street Band.

Prior to signing his first record deal in 1972, Springsteen was a member of several bands including Steel Mill. In October 1972 he formed a new band for the recording of his debut album Greetings from Asbury Park, N.J., which became known as The E Street Band, although the name was not officially introduced until September 1974. The E Street Band performed on all of Springsteen's recorded works from his debut until 1982's Nebraska, a solo album on which Springsteen himself played all the instruments. The full band returned for the next album Born in the USA, but there then followed a period from 1988 to 1999 in which albums were recorded with session musicians. The E Street band were briefly reunited in 1995 for new contributions to the Greatest Hits compilation, and on a more permanent basis from 1999, since which time they have recorded 3 albums together (The Rising, Magic and Working on a Dream) and performed a number of high profile tours.

The 2005 album Devils & Dust was largely a solo recording, with some contribution from session musicians and the 2006 folk rock album was recorded and toured with another band, known as The Sessions Band.

E Street Band

Current members:

Bruce Springsteen – lead vocals, guitar, harmonica, piano

Garry Tallent – bass guitar, tuba

Clarence "Big Man" Clemons – saxophone, percussion, backing vocals

Max Weinberg – drums, percussion

Roy Bittan – piano, keyboards

Steven Van Zandt – lead guitar, backing vocals, mandolin

Nils Lofgren – guitar, pedal steel guitar, backing vocals

Patti Scialfa – backing and duet vocals, acoustic guitar, percussion

Soozie Tyrell – violin, acoustic guitar, percussion, backing vocals Charles Giordano – organ, accordion, glockenspiel He also corroborated with Bjork in 2010 on a song called "I'm in love with you".

Film

Music used in films

Springsteen's music has been used in many films and he has also written and performed several works specifically for films, examples include Philadelphia, Dead Man Walking, and The Wrestler.

{| class="wikitable sortable" |- ! Film !! Year of film release !! Song(s) !! Notes |- | Dead End Street || 1982 || "Point Blank", "Hungry Heart" and "Jungleland" || First use of Springsteen's music in film |- | Light of Day || 1987 || (Just Around the Corner to the) Light of Day || Song written for the film. |- | In Country || 1989 || I'm On Fire || Film also contained many Springsteen references |- | Baby, It's You || 1983 || "It's Hard To Be A Saint In The City", "The E Street Shuffle", "She's The One" and "Adam Raised A Cain". || Film directed by John Sayles who later directed music videos for songs from Born in the U.S.A. and Tunnel of Love. |- | High Fidelity (film) || 2000 || "The River" and Blues Guitar Riff || Played by Springsteen, on-screen during his cameo appearance. |- | The Perfect Storm || 2000 || "Hungry Heart" || |- | The Wedding Singer || 1998 || "Hungry Heart" || |- | Risky Business || 1983 || "Hungry Heart" || |- | Thunderheart|| 1992 || "Badlands" (instrumental version) || |- | Reign Over Me || 2007 || "Drive All Night" and "Out In The Streets" || The album The River was also well mentioned in the movie. |- | Cop Land || 1997 || "Drive All Night" and "Stolen Car"|| Sylvester Stallone's character plays the songs on his turntable. |- | Jerry Maguire || 1996 || "Secret Garden" || |- | The Crossing Guard || 1995 || "Missing" || Song later was released in 2003 on The Essential Bruce Springsteen. |- | 25th Hour || 2002 || "The Fuse" || |- | Philadelphia || 1993 || "Streets of Philadelphia" || Song written for film. Won an Oscar. |- | Dead Man Walking || 1995 || "Dead Man Walkin'" || Song written for film. Nominated for a Oscar. |- | In the Land of Women || 2007 || "Iceman" || |- | The Wrestler || 2008 || "The Wrestler" || Written for film. The song was awarded a Golden Globe Award for Best Original Song and nominated for the MTV Movie Award as "Best Song From a Movie". |- | The Heartbreak Kid || 2007 || "Rosalita (Come Out Tonight)" || |- | Lucky You || 2007 || "Lucky Town" || |- | Big Daddy || 1999 || "Growin' Up" || Played over a montage near the end of the film. |- | Limbo || 1999 || "Lift Me Up" || A John Sayles film. |- | Honeymoon in Vegas || 1992 || "Viva Las Vegas" || A 1964 song recorded by Elvis Presley. |- | Food, Inc. || 2009 || This Land Is Your Land || Live version, Bruce Springsteen's performance of the Woody Guthrie song |}

Films inspired by music

In turn, films have been inspired by his music, including The Indian Runner, written and directed by Sean Penn, which Penn has specifically noted as being inspired by Springsteen's song "Highway Patrolman".

In September 2010, a documentary about the making of his 1978 album "Darkness of The Edge of Town" was premiered at the Toronto International Film Festival. and named his film Jersey Girl after the Tom Waits song which Springsteen made famous. The song was also used on the soundtrack.

Acting

Springsteen made his first on-screen appearance in a brief cameo as himself in High Fidelity in 2000 and it was voted "Best Cameo in a Movie" at the MTV Movie Awards.

Discography

in Ivory Coast during Amnesty International's 1988 Human Rights Now! Tour.]] Major studio albums (along with their chart positions in the U.S. Billboard 200 at the time of release):

1973: Greetings from Asbury Park, N.J. (#60)

1973: The Wild, the Innocent & the E Street Shuffle (#59)

1975: Born to Run (#3)

1978: Darkness on the Edge of Town (#5)

1980: The River (#1)

1982: Nebraska (#3)

1984: Born in the U.S.A. (#1)

1987: Tunnel of Love (#1)

1992: Human Touch (#2)

1992: Lucky Town (#3)

1995: The Ghost of Tom Joad (#11)

1998: Tracks (#64)

2002: The Rising (#1)

2005: Devils & Dust (#1)

2006: (#3)

2007: Magic (#1)

2009: Working on a Dream (#1)

2010: The Promise

Awards and recognition

Grammy Awards

:Springsteen has won 20 Grammy Awards, as follows (years shown are the year the award was given for, not the year in which the ceremony was held):

Best Rock Vocal Performance, Male, 1984, "Dancing in the Dark"

Best Rock Vocal Performance, Male, 1987, "Tunnel of Love"

Song of the Year, 1994, "Streets of Philadelphia"

Best Rock Song, 1994, "Streets of Philadelphia"

Best Rock Vocal Performance, Solo, 1994, "Streets of Philadelphia"

Best Song Written Specifically for a Motion Picture or Television, 1994, "Streets of Philadelphia"

Best Contemporary Folk Album, 1996, The Ghost of Tom Joad

Best Rock Album, 2002, The Rising

Best Rock Song, 2002, "The Rising"

Best Male Rock Vocal Performance, 2002, "The Rising"

Best Rock Performance by a Duo or Group with Vocal, 2003, "Disorder in the House" (with Warren Zevon)

Best Solo Rock Vocal Performance, 2004, "Code of Silence"

Best Solo Rock Vocal Performance, 2005, "Devils & Dust"

Best Traditional Folk Album, 2006,

Best Long Form Music Video, 2006,

Best Solo Rock Vocal Performance, 2007, "Radio Nowhere"

Best Rock Song, 2007, "Radio Nowhere"

Best Rock Instrumental Performance, 2007, "Once Upon a Time in the West"

Best Rock Song, 2008, "Girls in Their Summer Clothes"

Best Solo Rock Vocal Performance, 2009, "Working on a Dream"

Only one of these awards has been one of the cross-genre "major" ones (Song, Record, or Album of the Year); he has been nominated a number of other times for the majors, but failed to win.

Golden Globe Awards

Golden Globe Award for Best Original Song for "Streets of Philadelphia" in 1994.

Emmy Awards

The HBO special won two technical Emmy Awards in 2001.

Other recognition

October 27, 1975: Bruce Springsteen appears simultaneously on the covers of 'Newsweek' and 'Time'

Polar Music Prize in 1997. Inducted into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame, 1999. Inducted into the Songwriters Hall of Fame, 1999. Inducted into the New Jersey Hall of Fame, 2007. "Born to Run" named "The unofficial youth anthem of New Jersey" by the New Jersey state legislature; something Springsteen always found to be ironic, considering that the song "is about leaving New Jersey". The minor planet 23990, discovered Sept. 4, 1999, by I. P. Griffin at Auckland, New Zealand, was officially named in his honor. Ranked #23 on Rolling Stone magazines 2004 list of the 100 Greatest Artists of All Time. Ranked #36 on Rolling Stone magazines 2004 list of the 100 Greatest Singers Of All Time. Made Time magazine's 100 Most Influential People Of The Year 2008 list. Won Critic's Choice Award for Best Song with "The Wrestler" in 2009.

Performed at the Super Bowl XLIII half time show.

Kennedy Center Honors, 2009.

Rolling Stone magazine also ranked 8 out of 16 Springsteen's studio albums in their 500 Greatest Albums Of All Time list.

Rolling Stone magazine ranked Born to Run and Thunder Road in its 500 Greatest Songs Of All Time list, in 21st and 86th, respectively.

Forbes ranked him 6th in The Celebrity 100 in 2009

John Steinbeck Award

Influence

In addition to his noted influence on music in his native New Jersey, Springsteen is also cited as an influence by Bon Jovi, Arcade Fire, The Gaslight Anthem, The Constantines, The Hold Steady, The National, Kings of Leon, The Killers, U2, Willy DeVille, Johnny Cash in his later recordings, and countless others. His songs have been covered by diverse artists such as The Pointer Sisters, Melissa Etheridge, Emmylou Harris, Johnny Cash, McFly, Tegan and Sara, Damien Jurado, Vampire Weekend, Free Energy, Aimee Mann, Social Distortion, Rage Against The Machine, Ben Harper, Eric Bachmann, Josh Ritter, Frank Turner, Hank Williams III, and Adam Green, in addition to above-noted bands like Arcade Fire and The National.

For Springsteen's influence on academic writers, see "Library of Hope and Dreams":a comprehensive annotated bibliography of published Springsteen scholarship in English. Note, bibliography is indexed by song, album, author and subject keywords.

See also

List of best selling music artists

List of artists who reached number one on the U.S. Mainstream Rock chart

Notes

References

Alterman, Eric. It Ain't No Sin To Be Glad You're Alive : The Promise of Bruce Springsteen. Little Brown, 1999. ISBN 0-316-03885-7.

Coles, Robert. Bruce Springsteen's America: The People Listening, a Poet Singing. Random House, 2005. ISBN 0-375-50559-8.

Cross, Charles R. Backstreets: Springsteen – the man and his music Harmony Books, New York 1989/1992. ISBN 0-517-58929-X. Contains 15+ interviews and a complete list of all Springsteen songs including unreleased compositions. Complete lising of all concerts 1965–1990 – most of them with tracklists. Hundreds of previously unreleased high quality color pictures.

Cullen, Jim. Born in the U.S.A.: Bruce Springsteen and the American Tradition. 1997; Middletown, CT: Wesleyan University Press, 2005. New edition of 1997 study book places Springsteen's work in the broader context of American history and culture. ISBN 0-8195-6761-2

Eliot, Marc with Appel, Mike. Down Thunder Road. Simon & Schuster, 1992. ISBN 0-671-86898-5.

Graff, Gary. The Ties That Bind: Bruce Springsteen A to E to Z. Visible Ink, 2005. ISBN 1-57859-151-1.

Guterman, Jimmy. Runaway American Dream: Listening to Bruce Springsteen. Da Capo, 2005. ISBN 0-306-81397-1.

Hilburn, Robert. Springsteen. Rolling Stone Press, 1985. ISBN 0-684-18456-7.

Knobler, Peter with special assistance from Greg Mitchell. "Who Is Bruce Springsteen and Why Are We Saying All These Wonderful Things About Him?", Crawdaddy, March 1973.

Marsh, Dave. Bruce Springsteen: Two Hearts : The Definitive Biography, 1972–2003. Routledge, 2003. ISBN 0-415-96928-X. (Consolidation of two previous Marsh biographies, Born to Run (1981) and Glory Days (1987).)

Wolff, Daniel. 4 July, Asbury Park: A History of the Promised Land. Bloomsbury, 2005. ISBN 1-58234-509-0.

Further reading

Greetings from E Street: The Story of Bruce Springsteen and the E Street Band. Chronicle Books, 2006. ISBN 0-8118-5348-9.

Days of Hope and Dreams: An Intimate Portrait of Bruce Springsteen. Billboard Books, 2003. ISBN 0-8230-8387-X.

Racing in the Street: The Bruce Springsteen Reader. Penguin, 2004. ISBN 0-14-200354-9.

Runaway American Dream: Listening to Bruce Springsteen. Da Capo Press, 2005. ISBN 0-306-81397-1.

The Ties That Bind: Bruce Springsteen A to E to Z. Visible Ink Press, 2005. ISBN 1-57859-157-0.

Bruce Springsteen: "Talking". Omnibus Press, 2004. ISBN 1-84449-403-9.

For You: Original Stories and Photographs by Bruce Springsteen's Legendary Fans. LKC Press, 2007. ISBN 978-0-9784156-0-0.

Bruce Springsteen on Tour: 1968–2005. by Dave Marsh Bloomsbury USA, 2006. ISBN 978-1-59691-282-3.

The Gospel according to Bruce Springsteen: Rock and Redemption from Asbury Park to Magic. by Jeffrey B. Symynkywicz. Westminster John Knox Press, 2008. ISBN 978-0-664-23169-9.

Magic in the Night: The Words and Music of Bruce Springsteen by Rob Kirkpatrick. St. Martin's Griffin, 2009. ISBN 0-312-53380-2.

Land of Hope and Dreams: Celebrating 25 Years of Bruce Springsteen In Ireland by Greg Lewis and Moira Sharkey. Magic Rat Books. ISBN 978-0-9562722-0-1

External links

Bruce Springsteen – official website

Bruce Springsteen at Rolling Stone

Bruce Springsteen at Idiomag''

brucespringsteen.it database of setlists, discography, tour, bootlegs

Complete Bruce Springsteen Discography

in 2005

Gridskipper: Mapping Out Bruce Springsteen's Asbury Park

Highlights of Springsteen at Glastonbury 2009.

Bruce Springsteen at NPR Music

Bruce Springsteen – Asbury Park, New Jersey boardwalk history including Bruce Springsteen stories.

NewsDay

Bruce Springsteen at Wolfgangsvault.com

Bruce Springsteen Special Collection (research archives)

http://articles.latimes.com/2009/dec/12/entertainment/la-et-people-speak12-2009dec12

iPhone Complete Bruce Springsteen Setlist Archive from 1971

Bruce Springsteen Concerts Setlist for iPhone

"Library of Hope and Dreams":bibliography of published Springsteen scholarship in English. Indexed by song, album, author and subject keywords.

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Name	Melissa Etheridge
Background	solo_singer
Birth name	Melissa Lou Etheridge
Born	May 29, 1961
Origin	Leavenworth, Kansas, U.S.
Spouse	Tammy Lynn Michaels (2003–2009)
Instrument	Vocals, guitar, piano, harmonica, mandolin
Voice type	Contralto
Genre	Rock
Occupation	Singer-songwriter, musician, activist
Years active	1988–present
Label	Island Records
Url	MelissaEtheridge.com

Melissa Lou Etheridge (born May 29, 1961) is an American rock singer-songwriter and musician. She has received fifteen Grammy Award nominations winning two, one Academy Award and has sold twenty-seven million albums worldwide and almost fourteen million in the United States alone.

Known for her mixture of confessional lyrics, pop-based folk-rock, and raspy vocals, Etheridge has been an iconic gay and lesbian activist since her public coming out in January 1993.

Life and career

1961–86: Early life and career

Etheridge was born in Leavenworth, Kansas, the younger of two girls, to John Etheridge, a psychology teacher at Leavenworth High School, and Elizabeth Williamson, a computer consultant. She attended David Brewer School, which is still located at 17th and Osage Streets. She graduated in 1979 from Leavenworth High School (LHS), 10th Avenue and Halderman. Etheridge was a member of the first "Power and Life" musical/dance group at LHS which is still active today. Her childhood home was at 1902 Miami Street.

Etheridge's interest in music began early; she picked up up her first guitar at 8. She began to play in all-men country music groups throughout her teenage years, until she moved to Boston to attend Berklee College of Music.

During her time in Berklee, she befriended fellow student Lauren Passarelli, now a guitar professor at Berklee. Etheridge played the club circuit around Boston, but after three semesters decided to drop out of Berklee and head to Los Angeles to attempt a career in music. This, in addition to her gigs in lesbian bars around Los Angeles, got her discovered by Island Records chief Chris Blackwell. She got a publishing deal to write songs for movies including the 1986 movie Weeds.

In 1985, prior to her signing, Etheridge sent her demo to Olivia Records, a lesbian record label, but was ultimately rejected. She saved the rejection letter, signed by "the women of Olivia", which was later featured in Intimate Portrait: Melissa Etheridge, the Lifetime Television documentary of her life.

After an unreleased first effort that was rejected by Island Records as being too polished and glossy, she completed her stripped down self-titled debut in just four days. Her eponymous debut album Melissa Etheridge was an underground hit, and the single, "Bring Me Some Water", a turntable hit, was nominated for a Grammy.

In 1992 Etheridge established a performing arts scholarship at LHS in honor of her father. She said her father used to "spend his weekends driving me to Kansas City and all points around there so I could play in bands. I was underage so I couldn't have gone without him."

1993: Yes I Am

On September 21, 1993, Etheridge released what would become her mainstream breakthrough recording Yes I Am. Co-produced with former The Police and Genesis Grammy-winning and Producer of the Year award-winning producer Hugh Padgham, Yes I Am spent 138 weeks on the Billboard 200 charts and peaked at #15 and scored mainstream hits "Come to My Window" and her only Billboard Top 10 single "I'm the Only One", which also hit #1 on Billboard's Adult Contemporary chart. Sales-wise, Yes I Am earned a RIAA certification of 6× Platinum making it her biggest selling album to date.

Etheridge earned her second Grammy for Best Rock Vocal Performance, Female for her single "Come to My Window". She also garnered two additional nominations in the Best Rock Song category for "I'm the Only One" and "Come to My Window" losing to Bruce Springsteen's "Streets of Philadelphia".

Many theorize that Yes I Am's title refers to Etheridge's acknowledgment of her lesbianism. Etheridge was still not out when the album was released but did so soon thereafter at the Gay and Lesbian Triangle Ball during the inaugural celebration of President Bill Clinton's victory.

In 1993, Etheridge boycotted playing shows in Colorado over its passage of Amendment 2.

In a visit to Leavenworth in November 1994, she performed a benefit concert for a new park to be built near the high school. A ball field at the park will be named after her father. While she was here, she also donated money to help refurbish the Performing Arts Center in Leavenworth at 401 Delaware.

In 1994, Etheridge played a cover version of "Burning Love" live in Memphis, during the "It's Now Or Never, The Tribute To Elvis".

1995–2002: After her breakthrough

The success of Yes I Am helped increase sales of Etheridge's earlier albums. In 1995 Melissa Etheridge earned a RIAA certification of 2× Platinum Recorded post her breakup with first partner Julie Cypher, critics noted that Skin was "A harrowing, clearly autobiographical dissection of a decaying relationship." Despite the positive reviews, Skin sold less than 500,000 copies. On the Billboard charts, it peaked at #9 but dropped out of the Top 200 after just 12 weeks. The single "I Want to Be in Love" was nominated for the Best Rock Vocal Performance, Female (losing to Lucinda Williams).

In 2002, Etheridge released her autobiography "The Truth Is: My Life in Love and Music."

2004–present: Lucky, cancer diagnosis, Academy Awards and Fearless Love

Etheridge began 2004 with the release of her eighth album Lucky on February 10. The album was a more joyful Etheridge who was now in the midst of celebrating a new relationship with actress Tammy Lynn Michaels whom she began dating in 2001. Lucky performed similarly to Skin, selling less than 500,000 copies, peaking on the Billboard charts at #15 and spending 13 weeks on the charts. It also garnered a Grammy nomination for Etheridge's cover of the Greenwheel song "Breathe" for the Grammy Award for Best Rock Vocal Performance, Solo (losing to Bruce Springsteen).

In October 2004, Etheridge was diagnosed with breast cancer. At the 2005 Grammy Awards (the same ceremony for which "Breathe" was nominated), she made a return to the stage and, although bald from chemotherapy, performed a tribute to Janis Joplin with the song "Piece of My Heart". Etheridge was praised for her performance, which was considered one of the highlights of the show. Etheridge's bravery was lauded in song in India.Arie's "I Am Not My Hair".

On September 10, 2005, Etheridge participated in , a telethon in support for the victims of Hurricane Katrina. ReAct Now, part of an ongoing effort by MTV, VH1, CMT, seeks to raise funds for the American Red Cross, the Salvation Army, and America's Second Harvest. Etheridge introduced a new song specially written for the occasion called "Four Days". The a cappella song included themes and images that were on the news during the aftermath of the hurricane. Other charities she supports include The Dream Foundation and Love Our Children USA.

On November 15, 2005, Etheridge appeared on the Tonight Show to perform her song "I Run for Life", which references her own fight with breast cancer and her determination to overcome it, and seeks to encourage other breast cancer survivors and their families. After her performance Jay Leno told her, "Thanks for being a fighter, kiddo".

Etheridge wrote the song "I Need to Wake Up" for the film documentary An Inconvenient Truth, which won the Academy Award for Best Original Song in 2006. The song was released only on the enhanced version of her greatest hits album, .

Etheridge was also a judge for the 5th annual Independent Music Awards to support independent artists' careers.

in Denver, Colorado.]] On July 7, 2007, Etheridge performed at the Giants Stadium on the American leg of Live Earth. Etheridge performed the songs "Imagine That" and "What Happens Tomorrow" from The Awakening, her tenth album, released on September 25, 2007, as well as the song "I Need To Wake Up" before introducing Al Gore. On December 11, 2007 she performed at the Nobel Peace Prize Concert in Oslo, Norway, together with a variety of artists, which was broadcast live to over 100 countries. In addition, she performed at the U.S. 2008 Democratic National Convention on August 27, 2008. In July 2009, Etheridge announced through her website that she and John Shanks would begin recording her 11th studio album the following summer. This was the first time since 1999 Etheridge and Shanks were the only ones involved in the production of a project.

Etheridge will be featured in UniGlobe Entertainment's breast cancer docudrama titled 1 a Minute scheduled for release in 2010. The documentary is being made by actress Namrata Singh Gujral and will also feature breast cancer suriviors Olivia Newton-John, Diahann Carroll, Namrata Singh Gujral, Mumtaz and Jaclyn Smith as well as William Baldwin, Daniel Baldwin and Priya Dutt. The feature is narrated by Kelly McGillis. The film will also star Barbara Mori, Lisa Ray, Deepak Chopra and Morgan Brittany.

Etheridge also held a private listening party hosted at Michele Clark's Sunset Sessions 2010. She debuted her new album Fearless Love at the event held at the Rancho Bernardo Inn where she did a question and answer and played an acoustic set of her new singles in front of convention attendees and about 50 listeners of host station KPRI/SAN DIEGO.

Etheridge performed her title track "Fearless Love" from her new album and "Come to My Window" from 1993 on the airing of April 27, 2010's "Dancing With the Stars" on ABC.

Personal life

Etheridge's father, John Etheridge, was a high school psychology teacher, counselor and athletic director at her alma mater, Leavenworth High School. He died in 1993. Her mother Elizabeth, was a homemaker and a computer analyst and is now retired.

Etheridge is famous as a gay rights activist, having come out publicly as a lesbian in January 1993 at the Triangle Ball, a gay/lesbian celebration of President Bill Clinton's first inauguration. She is also a committed advocate for environmental issues and in 2006, she toured the US and Canada using biodiesel.

Etheridge had a long-term partnership with Julie Cypher, and their relationship occasionally received press coverage. During this partnership, Cypher gave birth to two children, Bailey Jean, born February 10, 1997, and Beckett, born November 1998, fathered by sperm donor David Crosby.

In 2000, Cypher began to reconsider her sexuality and on September 19, 2000, Etheridge and Cypher announced they were separating. In 2001, Etheridge documented her breakup with Cypher and other experiences in her memoir.

In April 2003, Etheridge became engaged to actress Tammy Lynn Michaels. The two married in Malibu, CA on September 20, 2003. Their wedding was featured on ABC's InStyle Celebrity Weddings.

In October 2004, Etheridge was diagnosed with breast cancer and underwent chemotherapy.

In October 2005, in honor of Breast Cancer Awareness Month, Etheridge appeared on Dateline NBC with Michaels to discuss her struggle with cancer. By the time of the interview, Etheridge's hair had grown back after being lost during chemotherapy. She said that her partner had been very supportive during her illness. Etheridge also discussed using medicinal marijuana while she was receiving the chemotherapy. She said that the drug improved her mood and increased her appetite.

In April 2006, Etheridge and Michaels announced that Michaels was pregnant with twins via an anonymous sperm donor. Michaels gave birth to a daughter, Johnnie Rose and a son, Miller Steven, on October 17, 2006.

In October 2008, five months after the Supreme Court of California overturned the state's ban on same-sex marriage, Etheridge announced that she and Michaels were planning to marry but were currently "trying to find the right time... to go down and do it".

In November 2008, in response to the passing of California’s Proposition 8 banning gay marriage, Etheridge announced that she would not pay her state taxes as an act of civil disobedience.

Etheridge supported Barack Obama's decision to have conservative Christian and gay marriage opponent Rick Warren speak at the 2009 Presidential inauguration, believing that he can sponsor dialogue to bridge the gap between gay and straight Christians. She stated in her column at The Huffington Post that "Sure, there are plenty of hateful people who will always hold on to their bigotry like a child to a blanket. But there are also good people out there, Christian and otherwise that are beginning to listen."

In a June 15, 2009 interview with Anderson Cooper, Etheridge admitted that she still uses marijuana to lessen the effects of acid reflux or in extremely stressful situations. Medical marijuana is legal in the state of California.

On April 15, 2010 Etheridge and wife Tammy Lynn Michaels announced they had separated.

Awards

Academy Awards

The Academy Awards are presented annually by the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences (AMPAS) |- |rowspan="1"|2007 |"I Need To Wake Up" from the documentary An Inconvenient Truth |Best Original Song | |-

Grammy Awards

The Grammy Awards are awarded annually by the National Academy of Recording Arts and Sciences. Etheridge has won two awards from fifteen nominations.

In 1996 she was awarded ASCAP's Songwriter of the Year Award.

In 2001, she won the Gibson Guitar Award for Best Rock Guitarist: Female.

In 2006, at the 17th GLAAD Media Awards, Etheridge received GLAAD's Stephen F. Kolzak Award, honoring openly lesbian, gay, bisexual or transgender media professionals who have made a significant difference in promoting equal rights. In addition, she was awarded as Outstanding Music Artist for .

On February 18, 2009, Etheridge was named the "Celebrity Marshall" for Boston's 2009 Pride Parade, by the Boston Pride Committee.

Discography

1988: Melissa Etheridge

1989: Brave and Crazy

1992: Never Enough

1993: Yes I Am

1995: Your Little Secret

1999: Breakdown

2001: Skin

2004: Lucky

2005:

2007: The Awakening

2008: A New Thought For Christmas

2010: Fearless Love

References

External links

allaccess.com

sunsetsessions.org

JUST CAUSE Magazine interview about activism, family, breast cancer. (Sept, 2009)

Melissa Etheridge @ Island Records

Melissa Etheridge Information Network

60 Minutes II Interview (June 30, 2000) with Charlie Rose

CNN interview (May 24, 2003)

CBS Early Show interview (October 26, 2005) (includes video)

CMT.com: Melissa Etheridge: Biography

Category:1961 births Category:1980s singers Category:1990s singers Category:2000s singers Category:2010s singers Category:Living people Category:People from Leavenworth County, Kansas Category:American contraltos Category:American female guitarists Category:American female singers Category:American rock guitarists Category:American rock singers Category:Best Song Academy Award winning songwriters Category:Berklee College of Music alumni Category:Breast cancer survivors Category:Female rock singers Category:Grammy Award winners Category:Lesbian musicians Category:LGBT musicians from the United States Category:LGBT rights activists from the United States Category:LGBT parents Category:Musicians from Kansas Category:Island Records artists

Name	Robert Mitchum
Caption	in The Sundowners (1960)
Birth name
Birth date	August 06, 1917
Birth place	Bridgeport, Connecticut, U.S.
Death date	July 01, 1997
Death place	Santa Barbara, California, U.S.
Occupation	Actor, author, composer, singer
Years active	1942–1996
Spouse	Dorothy Spence (1940–1997)

Robert Charles Durman Mitchum (August 6, 1917 – July 1, 1997) was an American film actor, author, composer and singer and is #23 on the American Film Institute's list of the greatest male American screen legends of all time. Mitchum is largely remembered for his starring roles in several major works of the film noir style, and is considered a forerunner of the anti-heroes prevalent in film during the 1950s and 1960s.

Early life and career

Mitchum was born in Bridgeport, Connecticut into a Methodist family. His mother, Ann Harriet (née Gunderson), was a Norwegian immigrant and sea captain's daughter, and his father, James Thomas Mitchum, was a shipyard and railroad worker. A sister, Annette, (known as Julie Mitchum during her acting career) was born in 1913. James Mitchum was crushed to death in a railyard accident in Charleston, South Carolina in February 1919, when his son was less than 2 years old. After his death, Ann Mitchum was awarded a government pension, and soon realized she was pregnant. She returned to her family in Connecticut, and married a former British Army major who helped her care for the children. In September 1919 a second son, John, was born. When all of the children were old enough to attend school, Ann found employment as a linotype operator for the Bridgeport Post.

Throughout Mitchum's childhood, he was known as a prankster, often involved in fistfights and mischief. When he was 12, his mother sent Mitchum to live with his grandparents in Felton, Delaware, where he was promptly expelled from his middle school for scuffling with a principal. A year later, in 1930, he moved in with his older sister, in New York's Hell's Kitchen. After being expelled from Haaran High School, he left his sister and traveled throughout the country on railroad cars, taking a number of jobs including as a ditch-digger for the Civilian Conservation Corps and as a professional boxer. He experienced numerous adventures during his years as one of the Depression era's "wild boys of the road." At age 14 in Savannah, Georgia, he was arrested for vagrancy and put on a local chain gang. By Mitchum's own account, he escaped and returned to his family in Delaware. It was during this time, while recovering from injuries that nearly lost him a leg, that he met the woman he would marry, a teenaged Dorothy Spence. He soon went back on the road, eventually riding the rails to California.

Mitchum arrived in Long Beach, California, in 1936, staying again with his sister Julie. Soon the rest of the Mitchum family joined them in Long Beach. During this time he worked as a ghostwriter for astrologer Carroll Righter. It was sister Julie who convinced him to join the local theater guild with her. In his years with the Players Guild of Long Beach, he made a living as a stagehand and occasional bit player in company productions. He also wrote several short pieces which were performed by the guild. According to Lee Server's biography (Robert Mitchum: Baby, I Don't Care), Mitchum put a talent for poetry to work writing song lyrics and monologues for his sister Julie's nightclub performances. In 1940 he returned East to marry Dorothy, taking her back to California. He remained a footloose character until the birth of their first child, Jim, nicknamed Josh (two more children would follow, Christopher and Petrine). Mitchum then got a steady job as a machine operator with the Lockheed Aircraft Corporation.

A nervous breakdown (which resulted in temporary blindness), apparently from job-related stress, led Mitchum to look for work as an actor or extra in movies. An agent he had met got him an interview with the producer of the Hopalong Cassidy series of B-westerns; he was hired to play the villain in several films in the series during 1942 and 1943. He continued to find further work as an extra and supporting actor in numerous productions for various studios. After impressing director Mervyn LeRoy during the making of Thirty Seconds Over Tokyo, Mitchum signed a seven-year contract with RKO Radio Pictures. He found himself groomed for B Western stardom in a series of Zane Grey adaptations.

Following the moderately successful western Nevada, Mitchum was lent from RKO to United Artists for the William Wellman-helmed The Story of G.I. Joe. In the film, he portrayed war-weary officer Bill Walker (based on Captain Henry T. Waskow), who remains resolute despite the troubles he faces. The film, which followed the life of an ordinary soldier through the eyes of journalist Ernie Pyle (played by Burgess Meredith), became an instant critical and commercial success. Shortly after making the film, Mitchum himself was drafted into the U.S. Army, serving at Fort MacArthur, California. At the 1946 Academy Awards, The Story of G.I. Joe was nominated for four Oscars, including Mitchum's only nomination for Best Supporting Actor. He finished the year off with a western (West of the Pecos) and a story of returning Marine veterans (Till the End of Time), before filming in a genre that came to define Mitchum's career and screen persona: film noir.

Work in film noir

Mitchum was initially known for his work in the film noir genre. His first entry into this world of dark crime stories was the well-regarded B-movie, When Strangers Marry, about a serial killer. One of Mitchum's early film noir outings, Undercurrent, featured him playing against type as a troubled, sensitive man entangled in the affairs of his brother (Robert Taylor) and his brother's suspicious wife (Katharine Hepburn). The ill-received film was director Vincente Minnelli's only film noir.

John Brahm's The Locket (1946) featured Mitchum as a bitter ex-husband to Laraine Day's femme fatale, while the Raoul Walsh directed Pursued (1947) combined the western with film noir, with Mitchum's character trying to remember his past and find those responsible for killing his family. Crossfire (also 1947), featured Mitchum as a member of a group of soldiers, one of whom killed a Jew. It featured themes of anti-Semitism and the failings of military training. The film, directed by Edward Dmytryk, gained five Academy Award nominations.

Following Crossfire, Mitchum starred in Out of the Past (aka Build My Gallows High), directed by Jacques Tourneur and benefiting from the cinematography of Nicholas Musuraca. Mitchum played Jeff Markham, a small-town gas station owner whose unfinished business with gambler Whit Sterling (Kirk Douglas) and femme fatale Kathie Moffett (Jane Greer), comes back to haunt him. Though ignored by most critics on its release, the film was a modest box office hit at the time and has received a positive reappraisal. Mitchum was photographed again by Musuraca in the Robert Wise "psychological western" Blood on the Moon the following year.

On September 1, 1948, after a string of successful films for RKO, Mitchum and actress Lila Leeds were arrested for possession of marijuana. The arrest was the result of a sting operation designed to capture other Hollywood partiers as well, but Mitchum and Leeds did not receive the tip-off. After serving a week at the county jail, (he described the experience to a reporter as being "like Palm Springs, but without the riff-raff") Mitchum spent 43 days (February 16 to March 30) at a Castaic, California, prison farm, with Life magazine photographers right there taking photos of him mopping up in his prison uniform. The arrest became the inspiration for the exploitation film She Shoulda Said No! (1949), which starred Leeds. The arrest did little to affect Mitchum's career in the long term, but was seen as an embarrassment by his studio, who ordered Mitchum to clean up his act. The conviction was later overturned by the Los Angeles court and District Attorney's office on January 31, 1951, with the following statement, after it was exposed as a set-up:

Despite troubles with the law and his studio, the films released immediately after his arrest were box-office hits. Rachel and the Stranger (1948) featured Mitchum in a supporting role as a mountain man competing for the hand of Loretta Young, the indentured servant and wife of William Holden, while he appeared in the film adaptation of John Steinbeck's novella The Red Pony (1949) as a trusted cowhand to a ranching family.

Mitchum returned to true film noir in The Big Steal (also 1949), where he again joined Jane Greer in an early Don Siegel film.

Career in the 1950s and 1960s

In Where Danger Lives (1950) he played a doctor who comes between a mentally unbalanced Faith Domergue and cuckolded Claude Rains. The Racket was a noir remake of the early crime drama of the same name and featured Mitchum as a police captain fighting corruption in his precinct. The Josef von Sternberg film Macao (1952) saw Mitchum a victim of mistaken identity at an exotic resort casino, playing opposite Jane Russell. Otto Preminger's Angel Face was the first of three collaborations between Mitchum and British stage actress Jean Simmons. In the film, Simmons plays an insane heiress who plans to use young ambulance driver Mitchum to kill for her.

Mitchum's cynical, mischievous attitude through his career had led him to shrug off fame as a fluke. His expulsion from Blood Alley (1955) is frequently attributed to his pranks, especially one in which he reportedly threw the film's transportation manager into San Francisco Bay. According to Sam O'Steen's memoir, Cut to the Chase, Mitchum showed up on set after a night of drinking and tore apart a studio office when they didn't have a car ready for him. Mitchum walked off the set of the third day of filming Blood Alley, claiming he could not work with the director. Because he was showing up late and behaving erratically, producer John Wayne, after failing to obtain Humphrey Bogart as a replacement, took over the role himself.

Following a series of conventional westerns and films noirs, including the Marilyn Monroe vehicle River of No Return (1954), he appeared in Charles Laughton's only film as director, The Night of the Hunter (1955). Based on a novel by Davis Grubb, the film noir thriller starred Mitchum as a monstrous criminal posing as a preacher to find money hidden by his cellmate in the cellmate's home. His performance as Reverend Harry Powell is considered by many to be one of the best of his career. Stanley Kramer's melodrama Not as a Stranger though, also released in 1955, was a box office hit for Mitchum. The film starred Mitchum against type, as an idealistic young doctor, who marries an older nurse (Olivia de Havilland), only to question his morality many years later. However, the film was not well received, with most critics pointing out that Mitchum, Frank Sinatra and Lee Marvin were all too old for their characters.

Following a succession of average westerns and the poorly received Foreign Intrigue (1956), Mitchum starred in the first of three films with British actress Deborah Kerr. The John Huston war drama Heaven Knows, Mr. Allison starred Mitchum as a marine corporal shipwrecked on a Pacific Island with a nun, Sister Angela (Deborah Kerr), being his sole companion. In this character study they struggle to resist the elements and the invading Japanese army. The film was nominated for two Academy Awards, including Best Actress and Best Adapted Screenplay. For his role, Mitchum was nominated for a BAFTA Award for Best Foreign Actor.

Thunder Road (1958) was loosely based on an incident in which a driver transporting moonshine was said to have crashed to his death on Kingston Pike in Knoxville, Tennessee somewhere between Bearden Hill and Morrell Road. According to Metro Pulse writer Jack Renfro, the incident occurred in 1952 and may have been witnessed by James Agee, who passed the story on to Mitchum–who not only starred in the movie, but also produced the film, co-wrote the screenplay, and is rumored to have directed much of the film himself. Mitchum also co-wrote (with Don Raye) the theme song, "The Ballad of Thunder Road."

Mitchum and Kerr reunited for the Fred Zinnemann film, The Sundowners (1960), where they played husband and wife struggling in Depression-era Australia. Opposite Mitchum, Kerr was nominated for yet another Academy Award for Best Actress, while the film was nominated for a total of five Oscars. Robert Mitchum was awarded that year's National Board of Review award for Best Actor for his performance. The award also recognized his superior performance in the Vincente Minnelli western drama Home from the Hill (also 1960). He was teamed with both Kerr and previous leading lady Jean Simmons as well as Cary Grant for the extremely offbeat Stanley Donen ensemble comedy The Grass Is Greener the same year.

Mitchum's performance as the menacing southern rapist Max Cady in Cape Fear (1962) brought him even more attention and furthered his renown as playing cool, predatory characters. The 1960s were marked by a number of lesser films and missed opportunities. Among the films Mitchum passed on during the decade was John Huston's The Misfits, the last film of its stars Clark Gable and Marilyn Monroe, the Academy Award–winning Patton, and Dirty Harry. The most notable of his films in the decade included the war epics The Longest Day (1962) and Anzio (1968), the Shirley MacLaine comedy-musical What a Way to Go! (1964), and the Howard Hawks western El Dorado (1966), a remake of Rio Bravo (1959), in which Mitchum took over Dean Martin's role of the drunk who comes to the aid of John Wayne.

Music career

One of the lesser known aspects of Mitchum's career was his forays into music, both as singer and composer

Mitchum's voice was often used instead of that of a professional singer when his characters sang in his films. Notable productions featuring Mitchum's own singing voice included Rachel and the Stranger, River of No Return and The Night of the Hunter. After hearing traditional calypso music and meeting artists such as Mighty Sparrow and Lord Invader while filming Heaven Knows, Mr. Allison in the Caribbean island of Tobago, he recorded Calypso — is like so... in March 1957. On the album, released through Capitol Records, he emulated the calypso sound and style, even adopting the style's unique pronunciations and slang. A year later he recorded a song he had written for the film Thunder Road, titled "The Ballad of Thunder Road". The country-styled song became a modest hit for Mitchum, reaching #69 on the Billboard Pop Singles Chart. The song was included as a bonus track on a successful reissue of Calypso... and helped market the film to a wider audience.

Though Mitchum continued to use his singing voice in his film work, he waited until 1967 to record his follow-up record, That Man, Robert Mitchum, Sings. The album, released by Nashville-based Monument Records, took him further into country music, and featured songs similar to The Ballad of Thunder Road. "Little Old Wine Drinker Me," the first single, was a top ten hit at country radio, reaching #9 there, and crossed over onto mainstream radio, where it peaked at #96. Its follow-up, "You Deserve Each Other," also charted on the Billboard Country Singles Chart.

Mitchum also co-wrote and composed the music for an oratorio which was produced by Orson Welles at the Hollywood Bowl.

Albums

Singles

Later career

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Mitchum made a departure from his typical screen persona with the 1970 David Lean film Ryan's Daughter, in which he starred as Charles Shaughnessy, a mild-mannered schoolmaster in World War I era Ireland. Though the film was nominated for four Academy Awards (winning two) and Mitchum was much publicized as a contender for a Best Actor nomination, he was not nominated. George C. Scott won the award for his performance in Patton, a project which Mitchum had rejected for Ryan's Daughter.

The 1970s featured Mitchum in a number of well-received crime dramas. The Friends of Eddie Coyle (1973) saw the actor playing an aging Boston hoodlum caught between the Feds and his criminal friends. Sydney Pollack's The Yakuza (1975) transplanted the typical film noir story arc to the Japanese underworld. Mitchum's stint as an aging Philip Marlowe in the Raymond Chandler adaptation Farewell, My Lovely (1975) was well-received by audiences and critics. He also appeared in 1976's Midway about an epic 1942 World War II battle. He reprised the Marlowe role in 1978's The Big Sleep.

In 1982, Mitchum went on location to Scranton, Pennsylvania to play Coach Delaney in the film adaptation of playwright/actor Jason Miller's 1973 Pulitzer Prize winning play That Championship Season. He played a hard-boiled, bigoted coach whose former star players continue to swear allegiance to him, with one exception.

Mitchum expanded into the medium of television with the 1983 miniseries The Winds of War. The big-budget Herman Wouk story aired on ABC and starred Mitchum as naval officer "Pug" Henry, and examined the events leading up to America's involvement in World War II. He followed it in 1988 with War and Remembrance, which followed America through the war, and returned to the big screen for a memorable supporting role in Bill Murray's Scrooged.

In 1987, Mitchum was the guest host on Saturday Night Live where he played private eye Phillip Marlowe for the last time in the parody sketch, "Death Be Not Deadly". The show also ran a short comedy film he made (written and directed by his daughter, Trina) called Out of Gas. This was a mock sequel to his 1947 classic Out of the Past. Jane Greer reprised her role from the original film.

In 1991, he won a lifetime achievement award from the National Board of Review of Motion Pictures and the Cecil B. DeMille Award from the Golden Globe Awards in 1992.

Though Mitchum continued to appear in films throughout the 1990s, such as Tombstone, Jim Jarmusch's Dead Man, and appeared in contrast to his role as the antagonist in the original, a protagonist police detective in Martin Scorsese's remake of Cape Fear, the actor gradually slowed his workload. His last film appearance was in the television biopic, James Dean: Race with Destiny. His last starring role was in the 1995 Norwegian movie Pakten.

Death

Mitchum died on July 1, 1997, in Santa Barbara, California, due to complications of lung cancer and emphysema. He was survived by his wife of 57 years, Dorothy Mitchum, and actor sons, James Mitchum, Christopher Mitchum, and daughter Petrina (Trina) Mitchum. His grandchildren, Bentley Mitchum and Carrie Mitchum, are also actors, as was his younger brother John Mitchum, who died in 2001. His other grandson, Kian Mitchum, is a successful model.

Legacy

Mitchum is regarded by critics as one of the finest actors of the Golden Age of Hollywood. Roger Ebert called him 'the soul of film noir'. Mitchum himself, however, was self-effacing; in an interview with Barry Norman for the BBC about his contribution to cinema, Mitchum stopped Norman in mid flow and in his typical phlegmatic style said, "Look! I have two kinds of acting. One on a horse and one off a horse. That's it." He had also succeeded in annoying some of his fellow actors by voicing his puzzlement at those who viewed the profession as challenging and hard work, saying that acting was actually very simple and that his job was to "show up on time, know his lines, hit his marks, and go home." What possibly annoyed the opposition was how very easy he made it all seem.

Interviewer Larry King has said on a number of occasions that Mitchum's interview was his most challenging. Mitchum, a man of few words, tended to answer simply "Yes" or "No" to many of King's questions.

He was the voice of the famous American Beef Council commercials that touted "Beef . . . it's what's for dinner", from the early 1980s, until his death.

Filmography

Features

Hoppy Serves a Writ (1943)

The Human Comedy (1943)

Aerial Gunner (1943)

Border Patrol (1943)

Follow the Band (1943)

Leather Burners (1943)

Colt Comrades (1943)

We've Never Been Licked (1943)

Lone Star Trail (1943)

Beyond the Last Frontier (1943)

Corvette K-225 (1943)

Bar 20 (1943)

Doughboys in Ireland (1943)

False Colors (1943)

Minesweeper (1943)

The Dancing Masters (1943)

Cry 'Havoc' (1943) (uncredited)

Riders of the Deadline (1943)

Gung Ho! (1943)

Johnny Doesn't Live Here Any More (1944)

Mr. Winkle Goes to War (1944)

When Strangers Marry (1944)

Girl Rush (1944)

Thirty Seconds over Tokyo (1944)

Nevada (1944)

The Story of G.I. Joe (1945)

West of the Pecos (1945)

Till the End of Time (1946)

Undercurrent (1946)

The Locket (1946)

Pursued (1947)

Crossfire (1947)

Desire Me (1947)

Out of the Past (1947)

Rachel and the Stranger (1948)

Blood on the Moon (1948)

The Red Pony (1949)

The Big Steal (1949)

Holiday Affair (1949)

Where Danger Lives (1950)

My Forbidden Past (1951)

His Kind of Woman (1951)

The Racket (1951)

Macao (1952)

One Minute to Zero (1952)

The Lusty Men (1952)

Angel Face (1952)

White Witch Doctor (1953)

Second Chance (1953)

She Couldn't Say No (1954)

River of No Return (1954)

Track of the Cat (1954)

Not as a Stranger (1955)

The Night of the Hunter (1955)

Man with the Gun (1955)

Foreign Intrigue (1956)

Bandido (1956)

Heaven Knows, Mr. Allison (1957)

Fire Down Below (1957)

The Enemy Below (1957)

Thunder Road (1958)

The Hunters (1958)

The Angry Hills (1959)

The Wonderful Country (1959)

Home from the Hill (1960)

A Terrible Beauty (1960)

The Sundowners (1960)

The Grass Is Greener (1960)

The Last Time I Saw Archie (1961)

Cape Fear (1962)

The Longest Day (1962)

Two for the Seesaw (1962)

The List of Adrian Messenger (1963)

Rampage (1963 film)

Man in the Middle (1963)

What a Way to Go! (1964)

Mister Moses (1965)

El Dorado (1966)

The Way West (1967)

Villa Rides (1968)

Anzio (1968)

5 Card Stud (1968)

Secret Ceremony (1968)

Young Billy Young (1969)

The Good Guys and the Bad Guys (1969)

Ryan's Daughter (1970)

Going Home (1971)

The Wrath of God (1972)

The Friends of Eddie Coyle (1973)

The Yakuza (1974)

Farewell, My Lovely (1975)

Midway (1976)

The Last Tycoon (1976)

The Amsterdam Kill (1977)

The Big Sleep (1978)

Matilda (1978)

Breakthrough (1979)

Agency (1980)

Nightkill (1980)

That Championship Season (1982)

One Shoe Makes It Murder (1982) (TV)

The Ambassador (1984)

''A Killer In the Family (1983) (TV)

The Winds of War TV mini-series (1983)

Maria's Lovers (1984)

Reunion at Fairborough (1985)

Remembering Marilyn (1987) (documentary)

War and Remembrance TV mini-series (1988)

Mr. North (1988)

Scrooged (1988)

Brotherhood of the Rose (1989) TV movie

John Huston: The Man, the Movies, the Maverick (1989) (documentary)

Midnight Ride (1990)

Supposedly Dangerous (1990)

''Cape Fear (1991)

The Seven Deadly Sins (1992)

Woman of Desire (1993)

Tombstone (1993) (narrator)

Backfire! (1995)

Dead Man (1995)

Waiting for Sunset (1995)

Wild Bill: Hollywood Maverick (1996) (documentary)

Short subjects

The Magic of Make-up (1942)

Screen Snapshots: Hollywood Goes to Bat (1950)

Waiting for the Wind (1990)

Discography

Albums

Calypso — is like so... (1957, Capitol)

That Man, Robert Mitchum, Sings (1967, Monument) Country: #35

Singles

"The Ballad of Thunder Road" (1958, Capitol) Pop: #62

"Little Old Wine Drinker Me" (1967, Monument) Country: #9 Pop: #96

"You Deserve Each Other" (1967, Monument) Country: #55

Further reading

Mike Tomkies The Robert Mitchum Story, "It Sure Beats Working" Ballantine Books, 1972, ISBN 0-345-23484-7

John Mitchum Them Ornery Mitchum Boys, The Adventures of Robert and John Mitchum, Creatures at Large, 1989, ISBN 0-940064-07-3

TCM Film Guide, "Leading Men: The 50 Most Unforgettable Actors of the Studio Era", Chronicle Books, San Francisco, California, 2006, ISBN 0-8118-5467-1

References

External links

Profile @ Turner Classic Movies

Robert Mitchum's ashes at Find-A-Grave

Photographs and literature

Category:1917 births Category:1997 deaths Category:American Methodists Category:Actors from Connecticut Category:American film actors Category:Cancer deaths in California Category:Cecil B. DeMille Award Golden Globe winners Category:Deaths from emphysema Category:Deaths from lung cancer Category:American actors of Norwegian descent Category:American people of Norwegian descent Category:People from Bridgeport, Connecticut Category:Western (genre) film actors

Name	Prince William
Imgw	220
Caption	Prince William on 12 June 2010.
House	House of Windsor
Full name	William Arthur Philip Louis|group=N|name=sur}}

| titles = HRH Prince William of Wales | father = Prince Charles, Prince of Wales | mother = Diana, Princess of Wales | heightft = | heightinch = | heightm = 1.95 | date of birth = June 21, 1982 | place of birth = St Mary's Hospital, London | date of christening = 4 August 1982 | place of christening = Buckingham Palace, London |}}

Prince William of Wales (William Arthur Philip Louis; born 21 June 1982), is the elder son of Charles, Prince of Wales, and Diana, Princess of Wales, and grandson of Queen Elizabeth II and Prince Philip, Duke of Edinburgh. He is second in the line of succession, behind his father, to the thrones of 16 independent states, although he is resident in, and most directly involved with, the United Kingdom, the oldest of these realms.

Following his education at numerous schools around the United Kingdom, obtaining a degree from the University of St Andrews, and spending parts of a gap year in Chile, Belize, and countries in Africa, William enrolled in the military. He was commissioned as a lieutenant in the Blues and Royals regiment of the Household Cavalry serving with his brother Prince Harry and, two years later, earned his wings by completing pilot training at Royal Air Force College Cranwell. In 2009, the Prince transferred to the Royal Air Force, was promoted to flight lieutenant and underwent helicopter flying training with the aim of becoming a full time pilot with the Search and Rescue Force. As of Autumn 2010, he has completed his generic and special-to-type helicopter training and is now at RAF Valley on No. 22 Squadron performing co-pilot duties on the Sea King search and rescue helicopter. On 16 November 2010 it was announced by Clarence House, his home near Buckingham Palace, that Prince William and his long-term girlfriend Kate Middleton are to marry. The wedding will be on 29 April 2011 in Westminster Abbey, London.

Early life

Prince William was born at St Mary's Hospital in London, England, on 21 June 1982, the first child of Prince Charles, Prince of Wales, and Diana, Princess of Wales, and third grandchild of Queen Elizabeth II and Prince Philip, Duke of Edinburgh. " Baptised in the Music Room of Buckingham Palace on 4 August 1982 (the 82nd birthday of his paternal great-grandmother, Queen Elizabeth the Queen Mother), by the then Archbishop of Canterbury, Robert Runcie, William's godparents were: former King Constantine II of Greece (his paternal cousin); Princess Alexandra, The Hon Mrs Angus Ogilvy (his paternal cousin); the Duchess of Westminster; the Lady Susan Hussey; Lord Romsey (his paternal cousin); and Sir Laurens van der Post. As a male-line grandchild of the sovereign and son of the Prince of Wales, William was styled His Royal Highness Prince William of Wales, though he was affectionately called Wombat or Wills (the latter a name by which he is still known by the general public) by his parents.

It was reported that, at age seven, the Prince said to his mother that he desired to be a police officer when he was older, so that he might be able to protect her; a statement to which his brother responded: "Oh, no you can't. You've got to be King." William's first public appearance was on 1 March 1991 (Saint David's Day), during an official visit of his parents to Cardiff, Wales. After arriving by aeroplane, the Prince was taken to Llandaff Cathedral, where he signed the visitors' book, thereby demonstrating that he was left-handed. On 3 June 1991, William was admitted to Royal Berkshire Hospital after having been hit on the side of the forehead by a fellow student wielding a golf club. The Prince did not lose consciousness, but did suffer a depressed fracture of the skull and was operated on at the Great Ormond Street Hospital, resulting in a permanent scar. William's mother desired that he, along with his younger brother, not just have "normal" experiences that other royal children had not had until later in life, if at all, but also more profound lessons, taking both boys to locales that ranged from Disney World and McDonald's to AIDS clinics and shelters for the homeless. She also bought them things typical teenagers used like video games. Diana, Princess of Wales, who was by then divorced from the Prince of Wales, died in a car accident in 1997. William, along with his brother and father, was staying at Balmoral Castle at the time, and the Prince of Wales waited until early the following morning to tell his sons about their mother's death. At his mother's funeral, William accompanied his father, brother, paternal grandfather, and maternal uncle in walking behind the funeral cortège from Buckingham Palace to Westminster Abbey.

Education

William was educated at independent schools, starting at Jane Mynors' nursery school and the pre-preparatory Wetherby School, both in London. Following this, he attended Ludgrove School and was privately tutored during summers by Rory Stewart. William sat for the entrance exam to Eton College and was admitted. There he studied geography, biology and history of art at A-Level, obtaining an A in geography, a C in biology and a B in history of art. At Ludgrove he also participated in football along with swimming, basketball, clay pigeon shooting, and cross-country running. At Eton he continued to play football, captaining his house team, and took up water polo. The decision to place William in Eton went against the family tradition of sending royal children to Gordonstoun (William's grandfather, father, two uncles, and two cousins all attended); it did, however, make the Prince follow in the Spencer family footsteps, as both Diana's father and brother had attended Eton.

By 2001 William was back in the United Kingdom and had enrolled, under the name William Wales, at the University of St Andrews. News of this caused the number of applications to St Andrews to swell, mostly from young women who wanted an opportunity to meet the Prince. The extra attention did not deter him, though, and he embarked on a degree course in art history, later changing his main subject to geography, and going on to earn a Scottish Master of Arts degree with upper second class honours in geography the highest honours of any heir to the British and other Commonwealth realms' thrones. While at university, Prince William also represented the Scottish national universities water polo team at the Celtic Nations tournament in 2004. a decision made by the Princess of Wales that was considered to be unconventional; not only was William so young, but both the first and second in line for the throne would be travelling together. Successfully completing the course, William graduated from Sandhurst on 15 December 2006, the graduation parade being attended by the Queen and the Prince of Wales, along with other members of the Royal Family, and William officially received his commission as a lieutenant at midnight. With his rank obtained, the Prince, under the name of William Wales, followed his younger brother into the Blues and Royals as a troop commander in an armoured reconnaissance unit, after which he spent four months in training for the post at Bovington Camp, Dorset.

Once officially enrolled and commissioned in the Armed Forces, William expressed a desire to participate in active service; in this there was a recent precedent of the service of his grandmother's uncle Edward VIII who, as Prince of Wales, served in France during the First World War; his great-grandfather George VI who also served during World War I (with the Navy at the Battle of Jutland and in France with the Air Force); and his paternal grandfather, the Duke of Edinburgh, who served with distinction during World War Two. More recently, his uncle the Duke of York served in the Falklands war. Though Major General Sebastian Roberts, general officer commanding the Household Division, had said William being deployed was possible, the Prince's position as second in line to the throne, and the convention of ministers advising against the person in that position being put into dangerous situations, cast doubts on William's ability to see combat. These doubts increased after Prince Harry's deployment was cancelled in 2007, due to "specific threats". William, instead, went on to training in the Royal Navy and Royal Air Force, obtaining his commission as a sub-lieutenant in the former and flying officer in the latter (both broadly equivalent to the rank of lieutenant in the Army). With this complete, the Prince undertook an attachment with the Air Force, undergoing an intensive four-month training course at RAF Cranwell, which, upon completing the course on 11 April 2008, he was presented with his RAF wings by his father, It was later revealed that it had been during this secondment that Prince William had helped to man a C-17 Globemaster to Afghanistan, during which he assisted in the repatriation of the body of Trooper Robert Pearson. The Prince had been affectionately known by his fellow airmen, and his callsign was designated, as Billy the Fish, a pun on his title, which also uses a part of his father's title for his surname.

William then moved to train with the Navy for two months, from June to August 2008, during which time he spent three weeks at the Britannia Royal Naval College, training on units of the surface fleet, and submarines, as well as with the Fleet Air Arm and Royal Marines, before deploying for a further five weeks on HMS Iron Duke in the Caribbean. It was during this tour that the Prince took part in a secret underwater mission, as well as helping to identify and capture a small vessel that had been transporting an approximate £40 million worth of cocaine, and taking part in other raids.

Due to William's future role, a long term career in the military was considered out of the question; due to his position, his desire to see active service was always unlikely to be granted. William originally joined the military on a short-service commission lasting three years. However, it was announced in September 2008 that the Prince would be extending his time in the forces, first by taking on another secondment in the autumn of 2008 (including working at the MOD and non-operational flying with the Army Air Corps),. Then it was announced that he would transfer from the Army to the RAF in order to train as a full time search and rescue helicopter pilot; this role enables him to take an active role as a member of the armed forces without him being deployed on combat operations. In January 2009 William transferred his commission to the RAF and was promoted to Flight Lieutenant. He trained to become a helicopter pilot with the RAF's Search and Rescue Force. In January 2010, he graduated from the Defence Helicopter Flying School at RAF Shawbury, where he had been under the instruction of Squadron Leader Craig Finch. On 26 January 2010 he transferred to the Search and Rescue Training Unit at RAF Valley on Anglesey to receive training on the Sea King search and rescue helicopter and graduated from this course 17 September 2010. It was announced on 15 April 2010 that William will remain at RAF Valley for his operational tour, being assigned to No. 22 Squadron and initially performing co-pilot duties. It is expected that William's operational tour will last 30 to 36 months.

Prince William participated in his first rescue mission (as co-pilot of an RAF Sea King Helicopter) and responded on Saturday, 2 October 2010, to an emergency call from the Liverpool Coastguard. The prince, who was excited to finally take part in an active mission, and the other three members of the crew flew from their base at RAF Valley in Anglesey, North Wales, to an offshore gas rig in Morecambe Bay, northwest England. William and three other crew members picked up a man who had suffered an apparent heart attack on the rig and airlifted him to a local hospital, where he was resting comfortably.

Royal duties

.]] At the age of 21, Prince William was appointed as a Counsellor of State, and began his royal duties by first serving in that capacity when the Queen was abroad to attend the Commonwealth Heads of Government Meeting 2003, in Nigeria. For his 21st birthday, William also accompanied his father on a royal tour of Wales, where they visited the Anglesey Food Fair and opened a centre for the homeless in Newport. By July 2005, he was on his first overseas tour, travelling to New Zealand on behalf of his grandmother in her role as Queen of New Zealand, to participate in World War II commemorations, and, for the 30th anniversary of his father's charity, The Prince's Trust, William and his brother were interviewed together for the first time by Ant & Dec. though fulfillment of the idea was considered doubtful by then-Prime Minister of Australia John Howard, who said: "We have for a long time embraced the idea that the person who occupies that post should be in every way an Australian citizen."

In January 2010, Prince William toured Auckland and Wellington on behalf of his grandmother in her role as Queen of New Zealand. As the Queen's representative, Prince William opened the new building of the Supreme Court of New Zealand and was welcomed as a Chief. Speculation in late 2009 that William would be taking over increasing numbers of the Queen's ceremonial and state duties has been denied by the Palace.

Personal interests

Following his parents' examples, William took interest in various causes from a relatively early age. The late Princess of Wales' work with HIV/AIDS aid and prevention, and the Prince of Wales' work with the natural environment and the inner-city disadvantaged, directed William into those areas. He also showed a desire to focus on the needy in Africa, sometimes working with his brother's charity, Sentebale.

On 23 January 2009, it emerged that Prince William had written the foreword to a book for the first time. The cover of Home from War, the autobiography of a soldier from the Prince's regiment who was seriously wounded in a Taliban ambush, notes his contribution.

Humanitarian and environmental causes

William was first familiarised with HIV/AIDS in the mid 1990s when his mother would take the Prince and his brother to visit shelters and clinics for those suffering from the disease. In January 2005, Prince William and his brother volunteered at a British Red Cross aid distribution centre to pack emergency supplies for countries that were affected by the 2004 Boxing Day tsunami. William granted his patronage to Centrepoint, a charity that assists the homeless. During the period when his mother had been patron of Centrepoint, he had accompanied her on visits to its headquarters and projects.

Prince William also worked in the children's unit at The Royal Marsden Hospital for two days of work experience in 2005, as well as helping out in the medical research, catering, and fund raising departments. The same year, he spent two weeks in North Wales with a mountain rescue team of Mountain Rescue England and Wales. William became associated with the organisation after he witnessed its work first hand when he was in Africa. Saying "rural African initiatives that foster education, responsibility and participation in the local community light the way to conservation", he carried out his first official duty with the trust in launching a bike ride across the African continent in 2007.

Also in 2006, the Prince, along with other Sandhurst officers, took part in running one mile to support the charity Sport Relief, as he had done in 2004 with a team from Clarence House. In May 2007, William became patron of the English Schools' Swimming Association. though in June, Middleton attended a party at Lulworth Army Barracks as the guest of Prince William, in July she attended the Concert for Diana, which had been organised by Princes William and Harry. in August, she accompanied William on holiday in the island of Des Roches in the Seychelles, and in October she joined Prince Charles and Prince Harry for a shooting party at Balmoral. In June 2008, along with the Royal Family, Middleton attended William's investiture into the Order of the Garter.

On 19 October 2010, on a trip to Kenya, the 28-year-old prince proposed to Middleton at Lewa game reserve, a favourite spot for Prince William.

Engagement

On 16 November 2010 it was announced by Clarence House that Prince William and Kate Middleton are to marry. On 23 November 2010, after much speculation, it was announced the wedding will take place on 29 April 2011 in Westminster Abbey, London and will be a bank holiday in the UK. The engagement ring given to Kate was the 18 carat sapphire engagement ring of Diana, Princess of Wales. Clarence House, the official residence of Prince Charles and his sons William and Harry, announced on the same day that the couple became engaged in Kenya in October, a fact that Prince William confirmed in a widely circulated television interview beamed from London.

Titles, styles, honours and arms

Titles and styles

Name	HRH Prince William of Wales
Dipstyle	His Royal Highness
Offstyle	Your Royal Highness
Altstyle	Sir

21 June 1982 present: His Royal Highness Prince William of Wales

The Prince's style and title in full: His Royal Highness Prince William Arthur Philip Louis of Wales, Royal Knight Companion of the Most Noble Order of the Garter. As a British prince, William does not use a surname for everyday purposes. For formal and ceremonial purposes, Prince William has used the name of the area over which his father holds title, i.e. Wales (as Princess Beatrice and Princess Eugenie use York, per their father, Prince Andrew, Duke of York). Past precedent is that such area-based surnames are dropped from usage in adulthood, after which either title alone or family surname is used. For the male-line grandchildren of Elizabeth II, however, there is currently some uncertainty over the correct form of family surname to use, or whether there even is a surname. The Queen has stipulated all her male-line descendants who do not bear the titular dignity of prince shall use Mountbatten-Windsor as their family surname although Letters Patent exist stipulating the name Windsor, but with the same caveat. According to their flight suits as seen in television interviews, Princes William and Harry both continue to use Wales as their surname for military purposes.

When Prince William marries in 2011, it will be in line with past custom for him to receive a dukedom. Possible titles suggested as most likely are the titles of Duke of Clarence, Duke of Cambridge, or Duke of Sussex. Another possibility which has been discussed is that of Duke of Windsor, previously held by his great-great uncle Edward VIII. Those of Kendal, Avondale and Strathearn have also been mooted, some of them as secondary or subsidiary title to the first list. However, there are also rumours suggesting that Prince William asked the Queen not to make him a duke. Should his father accede to the throne, William will immediately obtain the titles of Duke of Cornwall and Duke of Rothesay, and it is expected that he would be invested as Prince of Wales, although the latter is not automatic. If Prince William succeeds to the throne and uses his first given name as his regnal name, he would be known as William V.

Prince William succeeded Lord Attenborough in 2010 as the fifth President of BAFTA.

Military ranks

January 2006 16 December 2006: Officer Cadet 16 December 2006 16 December 2006: Cornet (Second Lieutenant), The Blues and Royals (short service commission) 16 December 2006 1 January 2009 : Lieutenant, The Blues and Royals 1 January 2008 1 January 2009 : Sub-Lieutenant, Royal Navy 1 January 2009 present: Lieutenant, Royal Navy 1 January 2009 present: Captain, The Blues and Royals (and transferred to a full regular commission) 1 January 2009 present: Flight Lieutenant, Royal Air Force

Honours

;Appointments 23 April 2008 present: Royal Knight Companion of the Most Noble Order of the Garter (KG) 6 July 2009: Called to the Bar by the Honourable Society of the Middle Temple 6 July 2009: Called to the Bench by the Honourable Society of the Middle Temple 23 June 2010: Made an Honorary Fellow of the Royal Society (FRS)

;Medals 6 February 2002: Queen Elizabeth II Golden Jubilee Medal

Prince William, upon his appointment to the order, became the 1,000th member of the register of the Order of the Garter; he was officially invested by the Queen into the order on 16 June 2008, at a service at St George's Chapel in Windsor Castle. The last time a monarch had appointed a grandchild into the Order of the Garter was in 1894, when Queen Victoria invested Prince Alfred, Hereditary Prince of Saxe-Coburg and Gotha.

Honorary military appointments

; Canada 10 November 2009 present: Canadian Ranger

; United Kingdom 3 October 2008 present: Honorary Air Commandant of RAF Coningsby 8 August 2006 present: Commodore-in-Chief of HMNB Clyde 8 August 2006 present: Commodore-in-Chief of the Royal Navy Submarine Service 8 August 2006 present: Commodore-in-Chief of Scotland

Honorific eponyms

United Kingdom: Prince William School, Oundle, Northamptonshire

Arms

Notes	On his 18th birthday, Prince William was granted his own personalised coat of arms; these consist of the escutcheon of the arms of the sovereign in right of the United Kingdom with a label for difference.
Adopted	1990
Escutcheon	Quarterly 1st and 4th Gules, three lions passant guardant in pale or (England) Or, a lion rampant within a double tressure flory counterflory gules (Scotland) Azure, a harp or stringed argent (Ireland).
Orders	The Order of the Garter ribbon.HONI SOIT QUI MAL Y PENSE(Shame be to him who thinks evil of it)
Other elements	The whole distinguished by a label of three points argent, the central point charged with an escallop gules.
Symbolism	As the eldest son of the Prince of Wales, Prince William's coat of arms has a label of three points. The escallop (seashell) alludes to his late mother Diana, Princess of Wales, whose Spencer coat of arms includes three escallops argent.

Ancestry

Through his maternal grandfather, Prince William is descended from Henry IV, Charles II and James II and VII. Should he become king, William will be the first monarch since Queen Anne to be descended from Charles I. Through his mother, William is of English descent and of remote Irish and Scottish descent. Through the Spencer family, he is also distantly related to several American presidents and British prime ministers.

Prince William is descended from all kings and queens of England, Great Britain, and the United Kingdom with surviving offspring from Harold II onwards except for these eighteen: Henry V, Henry VI, Henry VIII (their lines are all extinct), Richard III, George IV, William IV (all of whom outlived their legitimate children), William II, Richard I, Richard II, Edward V, Edward VI, Jane, Mary I, Elizabeth I, William III, Mary II, Anne, and Edward VIII. He is also descended from many of the pre-Union monarchs of Scotland and the pre-Conquest monarchs of England. He is also descended from many notable foreign monarchs including, Peter I of Russia ("Peter the Great"), Catherine II of Russia ("Catherine the Great"), George I of Greece, Christian IX of Denmark, Afonso I of Portugal, Andrew II of Hungary, Ferdinand II of Aragon, Isabella I of Castile, and early French kings.

He and his brother are also descended from Caterina Sforza, an Italian noblewoman who had trouble with the Borgia (Pope Alexander IV's family), via their mother, Diana, Princess of Wales.

See also

Royal William, a German red rose named after Prince William shortly after his birth.

British prince

Notes

References

External links

Royal.gov.uk - Prince William

Prince of Wales.gov.uk - Prince William

Monarchy Wales - leading campaign organisation

Illustrated biography of Prince William

Prince William graduates from RMAS

Prince William talks with NBC's Matt Lauer

|- |- in England and Wales and in Northern Ireland

Category:1982 births Category:Living people Category:People from London Category:Mountbatten-Windsor family Category:Princes of the United Kingdom Category:Old Etonians Category:Old Ludgrovians Category:Sandhurst graduates Category:Blues and Royals officers Category:Royal Air Force officers Category:Royal Navy officers Category:English Anglicans Category:English polo players Category:Alumni of the University of St Andrews Category:Presidents of the Football Association Category:Knights of the Garter Category:People from Paddington

Name	Frank Turner
Background	solo_singer
Birth name	Francis E. Turner
Alias	Frank Turner
Born	December 29, 1981Manama, Bahrain
Origin	London, England
Height	6'00
Occupation	Singer-songwriter
Instrument	Guitar, Vocals
Genre	Folk, folk-punk, post-hardcore, hardcore punk, alternative rock
Years active	2001–present
Label	Xtra Mile Recordings (UK), Epitaph, Paper + Plastick
Associated acts	Million Dead, The Record Buying Public, Kneejerk, Badger Doritos, Dive Dive
Url

Frank Turner (born 28 December 1981) is an English folk/punk singer-songwriter from Meonstoke, Winchester. Initially the vocalist of post-hardcore band Million Dead, Turner embarked upon a primarily acoustic-based solo career following the band's split in 2005. To date, Turner has released three solo albums, a rarities compilation album and four EPs. His most recent album, Poetry of the Deed, was released on September 7, 2009.

Early life

Turner attended Eton College where he was educated alongside Prince William, and later went on to attend the London School of Economics where he studied History. His father Roger Turner, is the son of Sir Mark Turner, formerly chairman of high street retailer Bhs, and had himself also attended Eton before becoming a City investment banker, while his mother, Jane, the daughter of a bishop, is a primary school headmistress.

Musical career

Beginnings and Million Dead (Up to 2005)

Turner's musical career began at school, with the short-lived alternative band Kneejerk. The band self-released three albums and played several shows around the UK (including a support slot for Boysetsfire), before disbanding in November 2001.

In 2001, Turner joined London post-hardcore band Million Dead at the invitation of former Kneejerk drummer Ben Dawson. In 2005, after four years and two albums, the band announced that they were parting ways, as “irreconcilable differences within the band mean that it would be impossible to continue.” Turner states that "when Million Dead finished, I wanted to stay on tour, but I didn’t want the hassle of putting a band together."

After a split EP with rock band Reuben, Turner's first solo EP, Campfire Punkrock, was released in May 2006 on Xtra Mile Recordings, with him being recorded and backed by Oxford band Dive Dive who he had met while out on tour with Reuben. Band members Tarrant Anderson, Ben Lloyd and Nigel Powell would become his backing band from this point on, with most of his subsequent UK headline tours being full band shows. After touring in support of American singer-songwriter Jonah Matranga, the two released a split EP in August 2006. In September, he was the last act to appear on Steve Lamacq's “Lamacq Live” show on BBC Radio 1. Turner's debut full-length, Sleep Is for the Week, was released in January 2007, again recorded at Dive Dive's studio, produced by their guitarist Ben Lloyd and featuring drummer Nigel Powell.

After an extensive tour, including dates supporting and Biffy Clyro, and an appearance at SXSW, Turner released an EP, The Real Damage, in May 2007. After a further tour with Jonah Matranga and Jacob Golden, the “All About The Destination” DVD was released in October, before returning to the studio in Hampshire to record his second album. The album, Love Ire & Song again saw Ben Lloyd from Dive Dive in the producer's seat, and was released on March 31, 2008, followed by an extensive UK tour with Andy Yorke and Chris T-T.

During summer 2008, Turner made several festival appearances, including sets at Y Not Festival, Two Thousand Trees Festival, the Cambridge Folk Festival, Truck, Glastonbury, Jam By The Lake (in Durham) and the Reading and Leeds Festivals.

In October/November, during his 2008 UK Tour for the Love, Ire and Song album, he became ill with gastroenteritis, and was forced to leave the stage in Nottingham halfway through his set. All remaining shows, which included Nottingham, Liverpool and Ireland, were cancelled - the first time that Turner had cancelled any show in ten years. He went on to reschedule all cancelled shows in January 2009.

Poetry of the Deed (2008-2010)

In December 2008 Turner released The First Three Years, a compilation of demos, b-sides and covers that are not featured on either of his studio albums. In January 2009, he released a combined package of The First Three Years and Love Ire & Song, and supported The Gaslight Anthem on their tour of the UK and Europe, demoing several new songs and announcing his plans to record a new album in May. The album was produced by Alex Newport, as previously suggested in interview by Turner. His band at the time still consisted of Ben Lloyd, Tarrant Anderson and Nigel Powell from Dive Dive, with keyboardist Matt Nasir having been added on the Love, Ire and Song tour.

Prior to recording Poetry of the Deed, Turner stated that:

Turner was announced as the support act on The Offspring's Summer tour, during which he documented his travels with a blog on British music website NME. Regarding the support slot, Turner stated: "Smash was one of the first punk records I ever bought, and I’m blown away to even be considered for the shows. From a “career” point of view, it’s also great - playing to many thousands of people a night across the States is an opportunity not to be sniffed at."

On April 28, Turner signed with Epitaph Records for releases outside the UK.

Preceded by the single, "The Road", Turner's third studio album, Poetry of the Deed, was released on September 7, 2009 and reached #36 in the UK album chart; his highest charting album to date. The following month he embarked upon a UK tour with his band in support of the album (with singer/songwriter Beans On Toast and US band "Fake Problems" as support acts), culminating in a sell-out show at the O2 Shepherds Bush Empire on 29 October 2009. A live DVD/CD, entitled Take to the Road, documenting two shows from the tour - Shepherds Bush Empire and the Union Chapel - was released in the UK in March 2010. In November 2009, Turner began a tour of the US which moved to Europe from 28 November and returned to the UK on 19 December. He completed the year with a New Year's Eve show at The Spiegeltent in Gloucester.

In early 2010, Turner played several more UK gigs, with Chuck Ragan and Crazy Arm supporting. He also accompanied Flogging Molly and the The Architects on the 2010 Green 17 Tour, and announced via his Twitter that he was working on new songs.

In June, he supported Green Day on their stadium shows, and also featured as the cover star of Kerrang! magazine for the first time, with an article inside documenting his solo career up to that point.

He is currently touring in support of Social Distortion 2010.

Rock & Roll EP and early 2011 album (2010-present)

Turner played at many festivals throughout the summer, including his headlining appearance at the Two Thousand Trees Festival, playing his new song I Still Believe. The song was released first as a single and then appeared on his Rock and Roll EP. I Still Believe will appear on Turner's next album, due to be released in early 2011. Turner also contributed one song, a cover of Build Me Up Buttercup, to Centrepoint's 2010 Charity cover album 1969 Key to Change.

Live Band

Turner's band, both live and in the studio, consists of:

Ben Lloyd - guitar, harmonica, mandolin

Tarrant Anderson - bass

Matt Nasir - piano, organ, guitar, backing vocals

Nigel Powell - drums, percussion, backing vocals

Discography

Studio Albums

Sleep Is for the Week (2007)

Love Ire & Song (2008)

Poetry of the Deed (2009)

EPs

Campfire Punkrock (2006)

The Real Damage (2007)

Itunes Festival 2010 (2010)

Rock & Roll (2010)

Compilations

The First Three Years (2008)

Demos

Frank Turner Demo (2005)

Singles

{|class="wikitable" !rowspan="2"| Year !rowspan="2"| Single !colspan="1"| Peak chart positions !rowspan="2"| Album |- style=font-size:smaller !width=45| UK |- |2006 |"Vital Signs" |align="center"|– |Sleep Is For The Week |- |rowspan="3"|2008 |"Photosynthesis" |align="center"|– |rowspan="3"|Love Ire & Song |- |"Reasons Not to Be an Idiot" |align="center"|124 |- |"Long Live the Queen" |align="center"|65 |- |rowspan="2"|2009 |"The Road" |align="center"|62 |rowspan="4"|Poetry of the Deed |- |"Poetry of the Deed" |align="center"|– |- |rowspan="3"|2010 |"Isabel" |align="center"|– |- |"Try This At Home" |align="center"|– |- |"I Still Believe" |align="center"|163 |Rock & Roll |- |align="center" colspan="4" style="font-size: 8pt"| "—" denotes a release that did not chart or has not been released |}

Guest Appearances

The Automatic - "Steve McQueen" from This Is a Fix - vocals, percussion (2008)

Reuben - "Deadly Leathal Ninja Assasin" from In Nothing We Trust - vocals

Amongst the pigeons - "Larkin About" from Music to brush your teeth to - vocals (2009)

The Dawn Chorus - Guest on backing vocals on various tracks on their 'The Carnival leaves town' album.

Splits and Collaborations

Reuben / Frank Turner - Xtra Mile Single Sessions #4 (30 January 2006)

Jonah Matranga / Frank Turner - Split EP (17 July 2006)

Austin Lucas / Frank Turner - Under The Influence: Volume 7 (17 April 2009)

Frank Turner / Jon Snodgrass - Buddies (22 November 2010)

Compilation appearances

Public Service Broadcast #8 (April 17, 2006)

"Photosynthesis" - "2000 Trees - Cider Smiles Vol.1", (Hide and Seek Records, June 2008)

Xtra Mile High Club (Xtra Mile Recordings, 2008)

"The Quiet One" - "Ciao My Shining Star: The Songs Of Mark Mulcahy" (September 2009)

"Sally" (Kerbdog cover) - Memoria : A Tribute To The Alternative 90s (Yr Letter Records, October 2009)

"Rock & Roll Romance" - "Take Action: Volume 9" (April (April 2010)

"Sons of Liberty" - "2000 Trees - Cider Smiles Vol.3", (Hide and Seek Records, July 2010)

"Build Me Up Buttercup" - "1969 Key to Change", (Centrepoint, 2010)

"Poetry of the Deed" - "New Noise" (Epitaph Records, 2010)

Videography

Casanova Lament (unaired)

Vital Signs (2006)

The Real Damage (2007)

Photosynthesis (2008)

Reasons Not to Be an Idiot (2008)

I Knew Prufrock Before He Got Famous (2008)

Long Live the Queen (2008)

The Road (2009)

Poetry of the Deed (2009)

Isabel (2010)

Try This at Home (2010)

I Still Believe (2010)

DVDs

All About the Destination (October 22, 2007)

Take to the Road (March 22, 2010)

References

External links

Interviews

YuppiePunk Q&A; on pop songwriting, punk rock capitalism and social media

Sept. 26th, 2009 Interview with ThePunkSite.com

Stereokill Interview: 29th October 2008

Stereokill Interview: 4th April 2009

GiggingNI.com talks to Frank Turner

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=YfT0b2INxO4&feature;=avmsc2

Category:English singer-songwriters Category:Living people Category:English folk musicians Category:1981 births Category:Folk punk musicians Category:Old Etonians

Name	Brandon Flowers
Background	solo_singer
Birth name	Brandon Richard Flowers
Born	June 21, 1981
Origin	Henderson, Nevada, United States
Wife	Tana Flowers
Instrument	Vocals, keyboards, Synthesizer, Piano, Bass guitar
Genre	Indie rock, Alternative rock, Heartland rock, New Wave, Post-punk Revival
Years active	2002–present
Label	Island, Vertigo, Marrakesh
Label	Island
Occupation	Musician, songwriter
Years active	2001–present
Associated acts	The Killers
Url
Notable instruments	Roland JP-8000Clavia Nord Lead 2microKORGKorg MS-2000BAlesis Ion

Brandon Richard Flowers (born June 21, 1981) is an American musician, best known as the frontman, vocalist, and keyboardist of the Las Vegas-based rock band The Killers. He has also released a solo album entitled Flamingo.

Early life

Flowers, the youngest of six children, was born on June 21, 1981 in Henderson, Nevada (near Las Vegas) to parents of partial Scottish and Lithuanian ancestry. Growing up, his mother worked at a fast food restaurant (which would later become Brandon's first job) and his father worked for a grocery store. They lived in Henderson until Flowers was eight, when they moved to Nephi, Utah. Flowers lived in Nephi until his junior year in Juab High School, when he moved back to Las Vegas to live with his aunt. He has referred to Las Vegas as "the jewel of the Mojave".

Career

The Killers, 2001–present

Brandon Flowers, after dropping out of college, was a bellhop for a short while at the Gold Coast Hotel and Casino in Las Vegas. In 2001 he was abandoned by the first band that he was in, a synth pop band known as Blush Response, after he declined to move with the rest of them to Los Angeles, California.

Canadian-American singer-songwriter Rufus Wainwright wrote a song about Flowers called "Tulsa" for his fifth album Release the Stars. Wainwright has stated in numerous interviews that it was inspired by their first meeting in a bar in Tulsa, Oklahoma. According to Wainwright, Flowers was "very flattered and somewhat bashful" about this tribute.

Flowers appeared as an interviewee on the 'Pet Shop Boys: A Life in Pop' DVD, and subsequently also presented the artists with an Outstanding Contribution to Music award at the 2009 BRIT Awards. He then performed with Pet Shop Boys as part of a medley of their hits.

While Flowers is usually confined to singing, and playing keyboard on most of the Killers' songs, Flowers plays bass in the song "For Reasons Unknown", the fourth single from the Sam's Town album.

Solo career, 2010–present

Flowers' debut solo album came out of his desire to keep touring while the rest of the band wanted a break. Flamingo was released September 14 in the US and Canada, and September 6 in the UK and Ireland. In an interview with NME, Flowers revealed the titles of two tracks: "Welcome To Fabulous Las Vegas" and "Hard Enough", a duet with Jenny Lewis. Flowers also stated the album would include a gospel song. The first single from Flamingo, "Crossfire", was released on June 21 (Flowers' birthday). The video for "Crossfire" was released on July 8 and includes Charlize Theron.

Flamingo charted in the UK on September 12, 2010 at Number 1. It is Flowers' fourth consecutive album to reach #1 on the UK charts, including work by The Killers. The album made the Top 10 Albums of 2010 list on UpVenue.com.

Spin named Brandon Flowers one of "The 15 Best Shows of the Summer" in 2010 for his show at the Shimmer Showroom in Las Vegas. Author Jason Bracelin wrote, "as the song built momentum, Flowers became increasingly animated, climbing atop a stage monitor, fists clenched, punching the air. 'I've got this burning belief in salvation and love,' he sang, its flames rivaled by the fire in his belly". Spin also listed him as one of "The 25 Best Fall Tours"/"Must-See Fall Tours". On September 9, 2010, Brandon said he was missing the band and hopes to rejoin them in 2011. While on tour Flowers has had special guests including Stuart Price, Andy Summers, and Fran Healy.

Personal life

Flowers married his long-time girlfriend, Tana Mundkowsky, in a small, private ceremony on August 2, 2005 at a Hawaiian hotel. Brandon and his wife have two sons, Ammon (named after a Book of Mormon prophet), born July 14, 2007 and Gunnar, born July 28, 2009. The couple are expecting a third child.

Flowers' mother, Jean Flowers, died on February 11, 2010, after a two-year battle with brain cancer. She was 64.

Flowers is a member of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints, and his wife converted to the faith shortly before their wedding.

Discography

Studio albums

Singles

References

External links

Brandon Flowers official site, from Island Records

Brandon Flowers official facebook page

Brandon Flowers Fansite

Brandon Flowers .com.br (Fansite)

"The Music That Changed My Life: Brandon Flowers", Interview by Kyle Anderson, from Spin magazine''

SPIN's Brandon Flowers Interview

Category:1981 births Category:2000s singers Category:2010s singers Category:American rock keyboardists Category:American Latter Day Saints Category:American male singers Category:American rock musicians Category:American rock singers Category:American musicians of Scottish descent Category:American people of Lithuanian descent Category:Living people Category:Musicians from Nevada Category:People from Henderson, Nevada Category:The Killers members