Name	Reason to Believe
Cover	Maggiereason.jpg
Caption	German cover of the "Reason to Believe" single with reversed sides
Artist	Rod Stewart
From album	Every Picture Tells a Story
B-side	"Maggie May"
Released	1971
Format	7" single
Recorded	1971
Genre	Pop
Length	4:10
Label	Mercury Records
Writer	Tim Hardin
Last single	"It's All Over Now"
This single	"Reason to Believe" / "Maggie May"(1970)
Next single	"(I Know) I'm Losing You"(1971)

"Reason to Believe" is a song written and first recorded by American folk singer Tim Hardin in 1965, which has since been recorded by a number of other artists including Brainbox, Rod Stewart (initially released as A-side song to the later more popular song, "Maggie May" (Mercury 6052 097), Johnny Cash, Wilson Phillips, Ron Sexsmith, Bobby Darin, Peter, Paul and Mary, Cher, The Carpenters, Jackie DeShannon, The Dillards, The Youngbloods, Mason Williams, Juice Newton, Glen Campbell, Billy Bragg, Vonda Shepard, Denny Laine, The Jayhawks, Rick Nelson, Aled Jones, Weddings Parties Anything, Scott McKenzie, Play School presenter Rick Jones, Aimee Mann & Michael Penn, Marianne Faithfull and The Beat Farmers.

Original version

After having had his recording contract terminated by Columbia Records, Tim Hardin achieved some success in the 1960s as a songwriter based in Greenwich Village. The original recording of "Reason To Believe" comes from Hardin's debut album, Tim Hardin 1, recorded in 1965 and released on the Verve Records label in 1966 when he was just 25. Tim Hardin's original recording of the song is also on the soundtrack to the 2000 film Wonder Boys.

Rod Stewart's version

Rod Stewart's version is perhaps the best known cover version, as it reached number 1 on the Billboard Hot 100, charting as a double A-side with "Maggie May". It was released in 1971 on the Every Picture Tells a Story album, and then a live version was released in 1993, when it received airplay as part of his MTV Unplugged album and re-charted, reaching number 19 on the Billboard Hot 100.

{| class="wikitable sortable" !align="left"|End of year chart (1993) !align="center"|Position |- |U.S. Billboard Hot 100 |align="center"|90 |- |}

Other versions

Bobby Darin released a version on his If I Were a Carpenter LP on Atlantic Records in 1966, along with other Hardin songs ("Misty Roses" and "If I Were a Carpenter").

The Youngbloods recorded "Reason to Believe" for their second LP, Earth Music, in 1967. It was re-released on the compilation album, Sunlight, in 1971.

Scott McKenzie recorded the song for his San Francisco album, released in 1967.

Rick Nelson recorded it for his album Another Side of Rick, released in 1967.

Marianne Faithfull recorded the song for her 1967 album Love in a Mist.

Peter, Paul and Mary recorded it on their Late Again album, released in 1968.

Cher recorded it for her Backstage album, released in 1968.

Possibly one of the first foreign groups who covered this song was the Dutch band Brainbox in 1969.

The Carpenters recorded "Reason to Believe" for their second LP, Close to You, in 1970. On television, they performed it on the The 5th Dimension Traveling Sunshine Show on August 18, 1971 and Make Your Own Kind of Music on September 7, 1971. Richard Carpenter remixed the song for the release of the 1995 compilation, . Footage of both performances on DVD can be found on The 5th Dimension Traveling Sunshine Show and the Interpretations DVD.

The American vocal group Wilson Phillips recorded a version of the song for their self-titled debut album, Wilson Phillips, released in 1990.

Although they had not yet released a recording of it as of Summer 2009, Crosby, Stills & Nash were performing it live during their 2009 US concert tour.

Johnny Cash in his album John R. Cash in 1975.

Hearts and Flowers, on their 1967 LP Now is the Time for Hearts and Flowers.

Swedish singer-songwriter Stina Nordenstam recorded a stripped-down rock version of the song for her cover album, People Are Strange, released in 1998.

References

Category:Songs written by Tim Hardin Category:Tim Hardin songs Category:Rod Stewart songs Category:The Carpenters songs Category:1971 singles Category:1993 singles Category:Folk songs Category:Pop ballads Category:Billboard Hot 100 number-one singles Category:Soft rock songs

Name	Rod Stewart
Background	solo_singer
Birth name	Roderick David Stewart
Born	January 10, 1945North London, England
Instrument	Vocals, guitar, banjo, harmonica
Genre	Rock, Pop rock, Folk rock, Blue-eyed soul, rhythm and blues, Blues rock
Occupation	Singer-songwriter, musician
Years active	1964–present
Label	Mercury, Warner Bros., J
Associated acts	Shotgun Express, The Steampacket, The Jeff Beck Group, Faces
Url	RodStewart.com

Roderick David "Rod" Stewart, CBE (born 10 January 1945) is a British singer-songwriter and musician, born and raised in North London, England and currently residing in Epping. He is of Scottish and English lineage.

With his distinctive raspy singing voice, Stewart came to prominence in the late 1960s and early 1970s with The Jeff Beck Group and then Faces. He launched his solo career in 1969 with his debut album An Old Raincoat Won't Ever Let You Down (US: The Rod Stewart Album). His work with The Jeff Beck Group and Faces proved to be influential on the formation of the heavy metal and punk rock genres, respectively.

With his career in its fifth decade, Stewart has sold over 100 million records worldwide, making him one of the best selling artists of all time. In the UK, he has garnered six consecutive number one albums, and his tally of 62 hit singles include 31 that reached the top 10, six of which gained the number one position. He has had 16 top ten singles in the U.S, with four of these reaching number one on the Billboard Hot 100. In 2008, Billboard magazine ranked him the 17th most successful artist on the "The Billboard Hot 100 Top All-Time Artists". He was voted at #33 in Q Magazine's list of the top 100 Greatest Singers of all time.

Early life

Roderick David Stewart was born and raised in London, England, the youngest of Robert and Elsie Stewart's five children. His father was Scottish and had been a master builder in Leith outside of Edinburgh, while Elsie was English and had grown up in Upper Holloway in North London. Married in 1928, He then attended the William Grimshaw Secondary Modern School in Hornsey. His father retired from the building trade at age 65, then opened a newsagent's shop on the Archway Road when Stewart was in his early teens; the family lived over the shop.

The Stewart family was mostly focused on football; Combining natural athleticism with near-reckless aggression, he became captain of the school football team and played for Middlesex Schoolboys as centre-half. His introduction to rock and roll was hearing Little Richard's 1956 hit "The Girl Can't Help It" and seeing Bill Haley & His Comets in concert. His father bought him a guitar in January 1959; the first song he learned was the folk tune "It Takes a Worried Man to Sing a Worried Song" and the first record he bought was Eddie Cochran's "C'mon Everybody".

Music career

1960–64: Early recordings

Stewart left school at age 15 and worked briefly as a silk screen printer. Spurred on by his father, his ambition was to become a professional footballer. a Third Division club at the time. However, he disliked the early morning travel to West London and the daily assignment to clean the first team's boots. Stewart left the team, to the great disappointment of his father. then as a grave digger at Highgate Cemetery, partly to face a childhood fear of death. Stewart began listening to British and American topical folk artists such as Ewan MacColl, Alex Campbell, Woody Guthrie, Ramblin' Jack Elliot, and especially Derroll Adams and the debut album of Bob Dylan. He became attracted to beatnik attitudes and left-wing politics, living for a while in a beatnik houseboat at Shoreham-by-Sea. In 1962 he had his first serious relationship, with London art student Suzannah Boffey (and a friend of future model and actress Chrissie Shrimpton); he moved to a bed-sit in Muswell Hill to be near her. She became pregnant, but neither Rod nor his family wanted him to enter marriage; the baby girl was given for adoption and Rod's and Suzannah's relationship ended. Stewart took up playing the then-fashionable harmonica.

In the spring of 1962, Stewart joined The Ray Davies Quartet, later known as the successful British band The Kinks, as their lead singer. He had known three of their members at William Grimshaw School He performed with the group on at least one occasion, but was soon dropped due to complaints about his voice from then-drummer John Start's mother as well as musical and personality differences with the rest of the band.) Disillusioned by rock and roll, he saw Otis Redding perform in concert and began listening to Sam Cooke records; he became fascinated by rhythm and blues and soul music.

After returning to London, Stewart joined a Birmingham-based rhythm and blues group, the Dimensions, in October 1963 as a harmonica player and part-time vocalist. A somewhat more established singer from Birmingham, Jimmy Powell, then hired the group a few weeks later, and it became known as Jimmy Powell & the Five Dimensions, with Stewart being relegated to harmonica player. The group performed weekly at the famed Studio 51 club on Great Newport Street in London, where The Rolling Stones often headlined; Relations soon broke down between Powell and Stewart over roles within the group

On or around 5 January 1964, Stewart was drunk and waiting on the Twickenham railway station platform, playing "Smokestack Lightnin'" on his harmonica after having seen a Cyril Davies All Stars rhythm and blues show at Eel Pie Island. All Stars singer Long John Baldry discovered him and invited him to sit in with the group (which passed into his hands and was renamed the Hoochie Coochie Men when Davies died of leukaemia on 7 January); when Baldry discovered Stewart was a singer as well, he offered him a job for £35 a week, after securing the approval of Stewart's mother. the nickname coming from his dandyish style of grooming and dress.

While still with Baldry, Stewart embarked on a simultaneous solo career. He made some demo recordings, was scouted by Decca Records at the Marquee Club and signed to a solo contract in August 1964. He appeared on several regional television shows around the country and recorded his first single in September 1964. The resulting single, "Good Morning Little Schoolgirl", was recorded released in October 1964; despite Stewart performing it on the popular television show Ready Steady Go!, it failed to enter the charts. The Hoochie Coochie Men broke up, Baldry and Stewart patched up their differences (and indeed became lifelong friends), and impresario Giorgio Gomelsky put together Steampacket, which featured Baldry, Stewart, Brian Auger, Julie Driscoll, Micky Waller, Vic Briggs, and Rick Brown; their first appearance was in support of The Rolling Stones in July 1965. The group was conceived as a white soul revue, analogous to The Ike & Tina Turner Revue, with multiple vocalists and styles ranging from jazz to R & B to blues. Steampacket toured with the Stones and The Walker Brothers that summer, ending in the London Palladium; Stewart, who had been included in the group upon Baldry's insistence, ended up with most of the male vocal parts. although Gomelsky did record one of their Marquee Club rehearsals.

Stewart's "Rod the Mod" image gained wider visibility in November 1965, when he was the subject of a 30-minute Rediffusion, London television documentary titled "An Easter with Rod" that portrayed the Mod scene. His parallel solo career attempts continued on EMI's Columbia label with the November 1965 release of "The Day Will Come", a more heavily arranged pop attempt, and the April 1966 release of his take on Sam Cooke's "Shake", with the Brian Auger Trinity. Stewart had spent the better part of two years listening mostly to Cooke; he later said, "I didn't sound like anybody at all ... but I knew I sounded a bit like Sam Cooke, so I listened to Sam Cooke." and in February 1967, Stewart joined the Jeff Beck Group as vocalist and sometime songwriter. This would become the big break of his early career. Stewart's sputtering solo career also continued, with the March 1968 release of non-hit "Little Miss Understood" on Immediate Records. The first-time-in-America Stewart suffered terrible stage fright during the opening show and hid behind the amplifier banks while singing; only a quick shot of brandy brought him out front. and New Musical Express reporting that the group was receiving standing ovations and pulling receipts equal to those of Jimi Hendrix and The Doors. Stewart also co-wrote three of the songs, (something that has continued throughout Beck's career). In July 1969, Stewart left, following his friend Wood's departure. Stewart later recalled: "It was a great band to sing with but I couldn't take all the aggravation and unfriendliness that developed.... In the two and a half years I was with Beck I never once looked him in the eye – I always looked at his shirt or something like that." During his time with the group, Stewart initially felt overmatched by Beck's presence, and his style was still developing; but later Stewart felt the two developed a strong musical, if not personal, rapport. Much of Stewart's sense of phrasing was developed during his time with the Jeff Beck Group.

1969–71: Solo Career establishment

, Norway, 5 November 1976.]] Mercury Records A&R; man Lou Reizner had seen Stewart perform with Beck, and in October 1968 signed him to a solo contract; Meanwhile, in May 1969, guitarist and singer Steve Marriott left English band The Small Faces.

The Faces toured extensively in 1972 with growing tension in the band over Stewart's solo career enjoying more success than the band's. Stewart released Never a Dull Moment in the same year. Repeating the Every Picture formula for the most part, it reached number two on the US album charts and number one in the UK, and enjoyed further good notices from reviewers. "You Wear It Well" was a hit single that reached number 13 in the US and went to number one in the UK, while "Twisting the Night Away" made explicit Stewart's debt to Sam Cooke. For the body of his early solo work Stewart earned tremendous critical praise. Rolling Stone's 1980 Illustrated History of Rock & Roll includes this in its Stewart entry:

Rarely has a singer had as full and unique a talent as Rod Stewart [...] a writer who offered profound lyricism and fabulous self-deprecating humour, teller of tall tales and honest heartbreaker, he had an unmatched eye for the tiny details around which lives turn, shatter, and reform [...] and a voice to make those details indelible. [... His solo albums] were defined by two special qualities: warmth, which was redemptive, and modesty, which was liberating. If ever any rocker chose the role of everyman and lived up to it, it was Rod Stewart.

The Faces released their final album Ooh La La, which reached number one in the UK and number 21 in the US in 1973. The band toured Australasia, Japan, Europe and the UK in 1974 to support the album and the single "Pool Hall Richard".

1974-75: Smiler and Faces tour

In late 1974 Stewart released his Smiler album. In Britain, it reached number one, and the single "Farewell" number seven, but only number 13 on the Billboard pop album charts and the single "Mine for Me" only number 91 on the Billboard pop singles charts. It was his last original album for Mercury Records. After the release of the double album compilation The Best of Rod Stewart he switched to Warner Bros. Records and remained with them throughout the vast majority of his career.

In 1975 the Faces toured the US twice (with Ronnie Wood joining The Rolling Stones' US tour in between)

1975–81: Atlantic Crossing and further releases

In 1975, Rod Stewart moved to the US, applying for citizenship due to his love affair with Britt Ekland and a fight with the UK tax authorities. He released the Atlantic Crossing album for his new record company, using producer Tom Dowd and a different sound based on the Muscle Shoals Rhythm Section. Atlantic Crossing marked both a return to form and a return to the Top 10 of the Billboard album charts. The first single, a cover of the Sutherland Brothers song "Sailing", was a number one hit in the UK, but it only reached the Top 60 of the US charts. The single returned to the UK Top 10 a year later when used as the theme music for a BBC documentary series about HMS Ark Royal, and having been a hit twice over became, and remains, Stewart's biggest-selling single in the UK. His Holland-Dozier-Holland cover "This Old Heart Of Mine" was also a Top 100 hit in 1976. Additionally in 1976 Stewart covered The Beatles' song "Get Back" for the ephemeral musical documentary All This and World War II.

Later in 1976, Stewart topped the Billboard singles charts for eight weeks and the Australian singles charts with the ballad "Tonight's the Night", with an accompanying music video featuring Ekland. It came from the A Night on the Town album, which went to number two on the Billboard album charts and was Stewart's first album to go platinum. By explicitly marking the album as having a "fast side" and a "slow side", Stewart continued the trend started by Atlantic Crossing. "The First Cut Is the Deepest", a cover of a Cat Stevens song, went Top 30 in the US in 1977 and number one in the UK. "The Killing of Georgie (Part 1 and 2)", about the murder of a gay man, was also a Top 40 hit for Stewart during 1977.

1977-81: Blondes Have More Fun

Foot Loose & Fancy Free featured Rod's own band, the original Rod Stewart Group that featured Carmine Appice, Phil Chen, Jim Cregan, Billy Peek, Gary Grainger and John Jarvis, from 1977 continued Stewart's run of chart success, again reaching number two. "You're In My Heart" was the hit single, reaching number four in the US. The rocker "Hot Legs" achieved a lot of radio airplay as did the confessional "I Was Only Joking". In appearance, Stewart's look had evolved to include a glam element, including make-up and spandex clothes. Stewart scored another UK number one and US number one single with "Da Ya Think I'm Sexy?", which was a crossover hit reaching number five on the Billboard black charts due to its disco sound. This was the lead single from 1978's Blondes Have More Fun...or do they?, which went to number one on the Billboard album charts and sold 4 million albums. It was to be Stewart's last number one album for 25 years.

A focal point of criticisms about this period was his biggest-selling 1978 disco hit "Da Ya Think I'm Sexy?", which was atypical of his earlier output, and disparaged by critics. In interviews, Stewart, while admitting his accompanying look had become "tarty", has defended the lyrics by pointing out that the song is a third-person narrative slice-of-life portrayal, not unlike those in his earlier work, and that it is not about him. However, the song's refrain was identical to Brazilian Jorge Ben Jor's earlier "Taj Mahal" and a lawsuit ensued. Stewart donated his royalties from the song to UNICEF, and he performed it with his band at the Music for UNICEF Concert at the United Nations General Assembly in 1979.

Rod moved a bit to a more New Wave direction in 1980 by releasing the album Foolish Behaviour. The album produced one hit single "Passion"; that proved particularly popular in South Africa (reaching no. 1 on the Springbok Top 20 Charts and Radio 5 Charts in early 1981). It also reached No. 5 on the US Billboard Charts. Later in 1981, Stewart added further elements of New Wave and synth pop to his sound for the Tonight I'm Yours album. The title song reached #20 in the U.S., while "Young Turks" reached the Top 5 with the album going platinum. In August 1981, MTV was launched in the US with several of Stewart's videos in heavy rotation. On 18 December 1981, Stewart played the Los Angeles Forum, along with Kim Carnes and Tina Turner. This show was broadcast around the world to a television audience of 35 million.

1982–2001: Body Wishes, and continued success

Stewart's career then went into a relative slump, and his albums between Tonight I'm Yours (1981) and Out of Order (1988) received harsh criticism from many critics. He was also criticised for breaking the widely observed cultural boycott of South Africa by performing at the Sun City resort complex in the bantustan of Bophuthatswana as part of his Body Wishes (1983) and Camouflage (1984) tours. He only had four Top 10 singles between 1982 and 1988, "Young Turks" (#5,1982), "Some Guys Have All the Luck" (#10, 1984), "Infatuation" (#6, 1984) and "Love Touch" (#6, 1986), although "Baby Jane" became his sixth and final UK number one in 1983. It reached #14 in the US. The corresponding Camouflage album went gold in the UK, and the single "Infatuation" (which featured his old friend Jeff Beck on the guitar) received considerable play on MTV. The second single "Some Guys Have All The Luck" reached #15 in the UK and #10 in the US. A reunion with Jeff Beck produced a successful take on Curtis Mayfield's "People Get Ready", but an attempt to tour together fell apart after a few dates. He reached UK number two in 1986 with "Every Beat Of My Heart".

In January 1985, he performed at the Rock in Rio festival in Rio de Janeiro before an estimated audience of over 100,000. His performance during a stormy night was described by Stewart himself as "winning the world soccer championship". In 1988, he returned with Out Of Order, produced by Duran Duran's Andy Taylor and by Bernard Edwards of Chic. "Lost in You", "Forever Young", "Crazy About Her", and "My Heart Can't Tell You No" from that album were all top 15 hits on the Billboard Hot 100 and mainstream rock charts, with the latter even reaching the Top Five. "Forever Young" was an unconscious revision of Bob Dylan's song of the same name; the artists reached an agreement about sharing royalties. The song reached #12 in the U.S. The name of the child in the video is Alex Zuckerman.

In January 1989, Stewart set out on the South American leg of the Out of Order Tour playing to sell-out audiences throughout Americas. There were 80,000 people at his show at Corregidora Stadium, Querétaro, México (9 April), and 50,000 at Jalisco Stadium, Guadalajara, Jalisco (12 April). In Buenos Aires, the audience at the River Plate Stadium, which seats 70,000+, was at over 90,000, with several thousand outside the stadium. Firehoses were sprayed on the crowd to avoid heat prostration.

Stewart's version of the Tom Waits song "Downtown Train" went to number three on the US singles charts in 1990. This song was taken from a four-CD compilation set called . The Vagabond Heart album continued his comeback with "Rhythm of My Heart" reaching the Top Five and "The Motown Song" reaching the Top 10. Also in 1990 he recorded "It Takes Two" with Tina Turner, which reached number five on the UK charts.

In 1991 Stewart contributed guest lead vocals to the song "My Town" by the Canadian band Glass Tiger.

In 1993, he recorded "All For Love" with Sting and Bryan Adams for the soundtrack to the movie The Three Musketeers; the single reached number one on the US charts. Also in 1993, Stewart reunited with Ronnie Wood to record an MTV Unplugged special that included "Handbags and Gladrags", "Cut Across Shorty", and four selections from Every Picture Tells A Story. The show also featured an acoustic version of Van Morrison's "Have I Told You Lately", which topped the Billboard adult contemporary chart and went Top 10 on the Billboard Hot 100. A rendition of "Reason to Believe" also garnered considerable airplay. The resulting Unplugged...and Seated album reached number two on the Billboard 200 album charts.

Stewart was inducted into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame in 1994. On 31 December on the same year he played in front on 3.5 million people on Copacabana beach in Rio.

By the early 1990s, Stewart had mostly abandoned creating his own material, saying that he was not a natural songwriter and that the tepid response to his recent efforts was not rewarding. In 1995, Stewart released A Spanner in the Works containing a single written by Tom Petty "Leave Virginia Alone," which reached the Top 10 of the adult contemporary charts. The latter half of the 1990s was not so commercially successful, though the 1996 album If We Fall in Love Tonight managed to ship gold and hit #19 on the Billboard album chart, thanks in large part to an appearance on the Oprah Winfrey show.

When We Were the New Boys, his final album on the Warner Bros. label released in 1998, contained versions of songs by Britpop acts such as Oasis and Primal Scream, and reached number two on the UK album charts. In 2000, Stewart decided to leave Warner Bros. and moved to Atlantic Records, another division of Warner Music Group. In 2001, he released Human, his only album for Atlantic. Human only just reached the Top 50 in 2001 with the single "I Can't Deny It" going Top 40 in the UK and Top 20 in the adult contemporary.

Stewart then signed to Clive Davis' new J Records label. The Story So Far: The Very Best Of Rod Stewart, a greatest hits album compiled from his time at Warner Bros., went to the Top 10 in the UK and reached number one in places like Belgium and France in 2001.

2002–09: The Great American Songbook releases

By 2002, Stewart had sold over 100 million records during his career.

On 11 June 2008, Stewart announced that the Faces are discussing a reunion for at least one or two concerts.

2009-present: Songbook

On 20 May 2009, Stewart performed "Maggie May" on the grand finale of American Idol season 8. On 2 July 2009 Stewart performed his only UK date this year at Home Park, Plymouth. On 29 September 2009 a 4-CD, 65-track compilation entitled Rod Stewart Sessions 1971-1998 was released; it is composed of previously-unreleased tracks and outtakes from the bulk of his career. Stewart has also mentioned plans for a compilation of covers of soul classics, the possible release of another edition of the Great American Songbook album and a country covers album.

On 14 November 2009, Stewart recorded a TV program in the UK for ITV that was screened on 5 December 2009. The music in the programme featured tracks from his new album and some old favourites. On 14 Jan 2010, Rhino records released Stewart's "Once in a Blue Moon" a "lost album" originally recorded in 1992, featuring ten cover songs including the Rolling Stones' "Ruby Tuesday", Dylan's "The Groom's Still Waiting at the Altar" and Stevie Nicks' "Stand Back", as well as Tom Waits' "Tom Traubert's Blues." On 19 October 2010, Stewart released another edition of his Great American Songbook series titled "Fly Me to the Moon...The Great American Songbook Volume V" on J Records.

Rod Stewart and Stevie Nicks have joined forces for one of the most anticipated musical events of the year, The Heart & Soul Tour. Launching March 20, 2011 in Fort Lauderdale, Florida, the tour will unite two of music’s most legendary forces for a series of arena concerts throughout North America – with performances already confirmed in New York, Toronto, Los Angeles, Philadelphia, Chicago, Detroit, Tampa, Montreal and more.

Personal life

In May 2000, Stewart was diagnosed with thyroid cancer, for which he underwent surgery in the same month. Besides being a major health scare, the resulting surgery also threatened his famous voice, and he had to re-learn how to sing. Since then he has been active in raising funds for The City of Hope Foundation charity to find cures for all forms of cancer, especially those affecting children. He still kicks footballs into the audience during concerts. He is a well-known supporter of Celtic F.C., which he mentions in his hit "You're in My Heart", and the Scotland national team. Stewart also follows Manchester United as his English side, and he explains his love affair with both Celtic and Man United in Frank Worall's book Celtic United.

Stewart is a keen model railway enthusiast. His 23 x 124-foot HO scale layout in his California home is modelled after the New York Central and the Pennsylvania Railroads during the 1940s. Called the Three Rivers City, the layout was featured in the cover story of the December 2007 and December 2010 issues of Model Railroader Magazine. In the 2007 article Stewart said that he would rather be in a model railroad magazine than a music magazine. His passion for the hobby has been cited as contributing to the end of his second marriage. He has a second layout at his UK home. That layout is based on Britain's East Coast Main Line. Stewart's home is located in Epping, Essex on part of the Copped Hall estate

A keen car enthusiast, Stewart owns one of the 400 Ferrari Enzos. In 1982, Stewart was car-jacked on Los Angeles' Sunset Boulevard, while he was standing next to his $50,000 Porsche. The car was subsequently recovered.

On 11 October 2005, Stewart received a star on the Hollywood Walk of Fame at 6801 Hollywood Blvd. (Star number 2093) On 18 April and 19 April 2006 Stewart was the guest artist and celebrity vocal coach on American Idol, leading the remaining seven finalists in singing entries from the Great American Songbook.

Relationships

Stewart is known for his liaisons with women (fathering eight children with five of them; the oldest being born in 1964 and his latest child being expected to be born in early 2011):

In reference to his divorces, Rod Stewart was once quoted as saying, "Instead of getting married again, I'm going to find a woman I don't like and just give her a house."

Stewart's eighth child, his second son with Lancaster, is due in February 2011.

Awards and recognition

, February 2006]]

Awarded CBE in 2007 New Year's Honours.

Grammy Award for Best Traditional Pop Vocal Album, 2005, Stardust ... The Great American Songbook Volume III

Diamond Award of World Music Awards show for over 100 million records sold worldwide, 2001.

Inducted into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame, 1994

Inducted into the UK Music Hall of Fame, 2006

"Bar none, he's the best singer I've heard in rock 'n' roll. He's also the greatest white soul singer." —Elton John on Rod Stewart

"Is this a white guy? You are kidding me!!" Chuck Berry commented when asked what he thought about Stewart's cover of Sweet Little Rock & Roller in an interview by the Belgian Rock magazine Humo in 1975.

Rod Stewart played to the largest concert crowd ever, with 3.5 million fans in attendance. This was at Copacabana Beach in Rio de Janeiro for the 1994 New Year's Eve celebrations.

According to Stewart, soul singer James Brown called him music's "best white soul singer" in September 2006.

List of bands

During his career, Rod Stewart has been a member of a number of groups including:

Jimmy Powell and the Five Dimensions (1963)

The Hoochie Coochie Men (1964–1965)

Soul Agents (1965–1966)

Shotgun Express (1966)

The Jeff Beck Group (1966–1969)

Faces (1969–1975)

Discography

Stewart's album and single sales total have been variously estimated as more than 100 million, or at 200 million, in either case earning him a place on the list of best-selling music artists.

UK/US number one albums

1971 Every Picture Tells a Story (UK / US)

1972 Never a Dull Moment (UK )

1973 Sing It Again Rod (UK )

1974 Smiler (UK )

1975 Atlantic Crossing (UK )

1976 A Night on the Town (UK )

1978 Blondes Have More Fun (US )

1979 Greatest Hits, Vol. 1 (UK )

2004 (US )

2006 Still the Same... Great Rock Classics of Our Time (US )

UK/US number one singles

1971 "Maggie May" / "Reason to Believe" (UK/US)

1972 "You Wear It Well" (UK)

1975 "Sailing" (UK)

1976 "Tonight's the Night (Gonna Be Alright)" (US)

1977 "I Don't Want to Talk About It" / "The First Cut Is the Deepest" (UK)

1978 "Do Ya Think I'm Sexy?" (UK, US)

1983 "Baby Jane" (UK)

1993 "All for Love" (US) (featuring Bryan Adams and Sting, first appearing on the official soundtrack from the movie "The Three Musketeers")

See also

Best selling music artists

List of number-one hits (United States)

List of artists who reached number one on the Hot 100 (US)

List of number-one dance hits (United States)

List of artists who reached number one on the US Dance chart

Coronet Apartments

Crooner

Notes

References

Bibliography

External links

Rod Stewart official website

BBC Derby profile

Five audio interview clips from 1981

Q magazine's "100 Greatest Singers" list

Category:1945 births Category:Living people Category:Rod Stewart Category:British blues singers Category:British buskers Category:Cancer survivors Category:English male singers Category:English pop singers Category:English rock singers Category:English songwriters Category:English tenors Category:English people of Scottish descent Category:BRIT Award winners Category:Grammy Award winners Category:Rock and Roll Hall of Fame inductees‎ Category:Anglo-Scots Category:Scottish tenors Category:People from Highgate Category:Commanders of the Order of the British Empire Category:Mercury Records artists Category:British expatriates in the United States Category:World Music Awards winners

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.

Category:1949 births Category:Living people Category:American baritones Category:American folk singers Category:American male singer-songwriters Category:American people of Dutch descent Category:American people of Irish descent Category:American people of Italian descent Category:American rock guitarists Category:American rock singers Category:Best Song Academy Award winning songwriters Category:BRIT Award winners Category:Columbia Records artists Category:Grammy Award winners Category:American musicians of Italian descent Category:Jersey Shore musicians Category:Kennedy Center honorees Category:New Jersey Democrats Category:People from Monmouth County, New Jersey Category:Rock and Roll Hall of Fame inductees Category:Songwriters Hall of Fame inductees Category:Sony/ATV Music Publishing artists Category:The E Street Band members

Name	Wilson Phillips
Background	group_or_band
Origin	Los Angeles, California, U.S.
Genre	PopAdult contemporary
Years active	1989–19932004–present
Labels	SBK Records
Url	http://www.wilsonphillipsmusic.com/
Current members	Chynna Phillips Carnie Wilson Wendy Wilson

Wilson Phillips is an American vocal group consisting of Carnie Wilson, Wendy Wilson and Chynna Phillips.

Their 1990 self-titled debut album sold over 10 million copies worldwide, and scored three number one singles on the Billboard Hot 100 making the trio, at the time, the best-selling female group of all time. In 1990, the group won the Billboard Music Award for Hot 100 Single of the Year for Hold On, and in addition was nominated for four Grammy Awards and two American Music Awards.

Early life

The Wilson sisters and Phillips grew up together in Southern California in the 1970s and 1980s. The three shared a love of music and songwriting, and developed their own style of vocal harmonies. In 1989, the trio signed with SBK Records.

The group is also known for being the offspring of prominent musicians; the Wilsons are the daughters of Brian Wilson of The Beach Boys, while Phillips' parents are John Phillips and Michelle Phillips of The Mamas & the Papas.

Chart success

Wilson Phillips released their debut album, Wilson Phillips, in 1990. Their debut single, "Hold On", hit #1 on the U.S. Billboard Hot 100 chart on June 9, 1990, bumping Madonna's "Vogue" off the top spot. The single was also #1 on the US Billboard Adult Contemporary and became a worldwide hit, peaking at #2 in Australia, #6 in the UK, #7 in Ireland, #10 in Sweden, and at #15 in the Netherlands, Germany, and Switzerland. The single also won Wilson Phillips the Billboard Music Award for Hot 100 Single of the Year for 1990.

The second and fourth singles from the album also became number-one singles on the Billboard Hot 100: "Release Me" (2 weeks) and "You're in Love" (1 week). The singles "Impulsive" and "The Dream Is Still Alive'", peaked at #4 and #12, respectively, on the Hot 100.

In 1992, Wilson Phillips also made rock history as Billboard declared their debut album the best selling album of all time by an all female group, peaking at #2 on the Billboard 200 album chart, and selling over 5 million copies in the US and over 10 million copies worldwide, which also made Wilson Phillips, at the time, the best selling female group of all time, breaking the previous record set by The Supremes.

In June 1992, Wilson Phillips released their second album, Shadows and Light. The album was deeply personal and adopted a more serious tone, with tracks exploring issues such as child abuse ("Where Are You") and their estrangement from their fathers ("Flesh and Blood", "All the Way From New York"). The first single, "You Won't See Me Cry,'" peaked at #20 in the US and #18 in the UK, the first time they had a higher-ranking single in the UK than in the US. The album peaked at #4 on the Billboard 200 and was certified platinum.

Shortly after the release of Shadows and Light, Chynna Phillips announced plans for a solo career, and the group decided to disband.

1993-2003

During the next decade, the group went their separate ways. In 1993, Wendy and Carnie Wilson released the Christmas holiday themed album, Hey Santa!, a collection of classic holiday themes with an original song (the title track). In 1995, Chynna Phillips released a solo album, Naked and Sacred. The same year, Carnie went on to host her own short-lived syndicated television talk show entitled, Carnie!. In 1997, Carnie and Wendy, along with their father, Brian Wilson released The Wilsons and the single, "Monday Without You".

A Greatest Hits album was released in 2000, although the group did not officially reunite for the release. On March 29, 2001, they reunited to perform the Beach Boys' song "You're So Good to Me" at a tribute show to Brian Wilson held at New York's Radio City Music Hall. Chynna Phillips dedicated the performance to her own father John Phillips who had died a few days earlier.

Reunion

Wilson Phillips reunited in 2004 to release California, an album of cover songs. A single, "Go Your Own Way," a song originally recorded by Fleetwood Mac, peaked at #13 on the Billboard Adult Contemporary chart. The album debuted at #35 on the charts with 31,000 copies sold.

In New Zealand, the album was a surprise hit, reaching the top 100 and amassing gold sales after "Go Your Own Way" topped the country's adult contemporary radio chart for several weeks.

Chynna Phillips, Carnie and Wendy Wilson have stated they are reuniting in 2010 and planning a Christmas album to be released come October.

Chynna Phillips says:

"I'm thrilled that the Wilson Phillips family is coming back together again. We've known each other for more than 20 years. We're like family. I'm excited about working with the Wilson sisters again."

Carnie Wilson stated:

"Christmas is a special time for all of us, especially because we now all have kids. That's why this is a perfect album for us."

2004-present

In November 2008, Wilson Phillips reunited on stage for two shows in California. The shows were not publicized heavily, but were very well received by the audiences. Songs from a new album to be released in 2010 were performed. These 90-minute shows were the longest the group have ever performed, and featured tracks from throughout their career, as well as some covers of Beach Boys and ABBA classics.

The trio performed at the 79th General Meeting of the National Board of Boiler and Pressure Vessel Inspectors in San Antonio, TX on May 5, 2010.National Board "Bulletin" - Summer 2010 - pp. 10-14

On August 21, 2010, Wilson Phillips announced a new Christmas album Christmas in Harmony, that was released on October 12, 2010. The album yielded a single, "I Wish It Could Be Christmas Everyday," a cover of the popular seasonal tune that first was a hit in 1973 for English glam-rock band Wizzard.

Discography

Artist	Wilson Phillips
Studio	4
Compilation	3
Singles	12
Option	3
Option name	No. 1 Singles (Overall)
Option color	orange
References	No

Studio albums

{|class="wikitable" style="text-align:center;" |- ! rowspan="2"| Year ! rowspan="2"| Album details ! colspan="9"| Peak chart positions ! rowspan="2"| Certifications(sales threshold) |- style="font-size:smaller;" ! width="35"| US ! width="35"| UK ! width="35"| NZ ! width="35"| AUS ! width="35"| SWE ! width="35"| AUT ! width="35"| SWI ! width="35"| NOR ! width="35"| CAN |- | 1990 | align="left"| Wilson Phillips

Released: May 8, 1990

Label: SBK

| 2 | 7 | 10 | 7 | 27 | 19 | 16 | 16 | 1 | align="left"| US: 5× Multi-Platinum CAN: 7× Platinum |- | 1992 | align="left"| Shadows and Light

Released: June 2, 1992

Label: SBK

| 4 | 6 | 19 | 30 | 20 | 34 | 3 | 18 | 8 | align="left"| US: Platinum ! rowspan="2"| Certifications(sales threshold) ! rowspan="2"| Album |- style="font-size:smaller;" ! width="35"| US ! width="35"| US AC ! width="35"| UK ! width="35"| AUS ! width="35"| SWI ! width="35"| CAN ! width="35"| CAN AC |- | rowspan="3"| 1990 | align="left"| "Hold On" | 1 | 1 | 6 | 2 | 15 | 3 | 1 | align="left"| US: Gold | align="left" rowspan="5"| Wilson Phillips |- | align="left"| "Release Me" | 1 | 1 | 36 | 57 | — | 1 | 1 | align="left"|

US: Gold

|- | align="left"| "Impulsive" | 4 | 2 | 42 | — | 30 | 1 | 1 | |- | rowspan="3"| 1991 | align="left"| "You're in Love" | 1 | 1 | 29 | — | — | 3 | 1 | |- | align="left"| "The Dream Is Still Alive" | 12 | 4 | — | — | — | 11 | 4 | |- | align="left"| "Daniel" | — | 7 | — | — | — | 26 | 7 | | align="left"| |- | rowspan="3"| 1992 | align="left"| "You Won't See Me Cry" | 20 | 4 | 18 | 31 | 11 | 1 | 3 | | align="left" rowspan="3"| Shadows and Light |- | align="left"| "Give It Up" | 30 | 12 | 36 | — | — | 16 | 11 | |- | align="left"| "Flesh and Blood" | 115 | 17 | — | — | — | 33 | 12 | |- | rowspan="3"| 2004 | align="left"| "Go Your Own Way" | — | 13 | — | — | — | — | — | | align="left" rowspan="3"| California |- | align="left"| "Already Gone" | — | — | — | — | — | — | — | |- | align="left"| "Get Together" | — | — | — | — | — | — | — | |- | colspan="15" style="font-size: 8pt"| "—" denotes releases that did not chart |- |}

Other charted songs

Awards and nominations

References

External links

The Wilsons Official Site

Category:2010s music groups Category:2000s music groups Category:1990s music groups Category:1980s music groups Category:Musical trios Category:American vocal groups Category:American girl groups Category:Musical groups from Los Angeles, California Category:Musical groups established in 1989

Name	Tim Hardin
Background	solo_singer
Birth name	Timothy James Hardin
Born	December 23, 1941 Eugene, Oregon, United States
Died	December 29, 1980 Los Angeles, California, United States
Instrument	Vocals, guitar, piano
Genre	Folk
Occupation	Singer, songwriter
Years active	1965–1980
Label	Verve, Columbia

Timothy James "Tim" Hardin (December 23, 1941 – December 29, 1980) was an American folk musician and composer. He wrote the Top 40 hits "If I Were a Carpenter", covered by, among others, Joan Baez, Bobby Darin, Johnny Cash, Ramblin' Jack Elliot, and Robert Plant, and "Reason to Believe", covered by many, including Rod Stewart, as well as his own recording career.

Early life and career

Hardin was born in Eugene, Oregon and attended South Eugene High School. He dropped out of high school at age 18 to join the Marine Corps. He spent part of 1959 in Vietnam as a military advisor. Hardin is said to have discovered heroin in Vietnam.

After his discharge he moved to New York City in 1961, where he briefly attended the American Academy of Dramatic Arts.

After moving to Boston in 1963 he was discovered by the record producer Erik Jacobsen (later the producer for The Lovin' Spoonful), who arranged a meeting with Columbia Records. In 1964 he moved back to Greenwich Village to record for his contract with Columbia. The resulting recordings were not released and Columbia terminated Hardin's recording contract.

After moving to Los Angeles, California in 1965, he met actress Susan Morss (known professionally as Susan Yardley), and moved back to New York with her. He signed to the Verve Forecast label, and produced his first authorized album, Tim Hardin 1 in 1966 which contained "Reason To Believe" and the ballad "Misty Roses" which did receive Top 40 radio play.

Tim Hardin 2 was released in 1967 and contained "If I Were a Carpenter".

An album entitled This is Tim Hardin, featuring covers of "House of the Rising Sun", Fred Neil's "Blues on the Ceilin'" and Willie Dixon's "Hoochie Coochie Man", among others, appeared in 1967, on the Atco label. The liner notes indicate the songs were recorded in 1963–1964, well prior to the release of Tim Hardin 1 by Verve Records. Tim Hardin 3 Live in Concert, released in 1968, was a collection of live recordings along with re-makes of previous songs; it was followed by Tim Hardin 4, another collection of blues-influenced tracks believed to date from the same period as This is Tim Hardin.

In 1969, Hardin again signed with Columbia and had one of his few commercial successes, as a non-LP single of Bobby Darin's "Simple Song of Freedom" reached the US Top 50. Hardin did not tour in support of this single and a heroin addiction and stage fright made his live performances erratic.

Also in 1969 he appeared at the Woodstock Festival where he sang his "If I Were a Carpenter" song solo, as well as a full set of his music while backed by a band that included drummer Muruga Booker.

He recorded three albums for Columbia—; Bird on a Wire; and Painted Head.

In 1973, Hardin appeared on stage with Harry Chapin as part of Chapin's concert in Potsdam, New York. They jammed on a blues riff that survives in a bootleg recording. Some of the topics covered in the seven minute jam include drug use, travel and death. In Chapin's introduction, he makes reference to Hardin's participation as a session musician on his first two albums.

Later work and death

During the following years Hardin moved between England and the U.S. His heroin addiction had taken control of his life by the time his last album, Nine, was released on GM Records in the UK in 1973 (the album did not see a US release until it appeared on Antilles Records in 1976).

He sold his writers' rights in the late 1970s.

Tim Hardin died of a heroin overdose in 1980, and his remains are buried in the Twin Oaks Cemetery in Turner, Oregon.

Discography

1966: Tim Hardin 1 (Verve Forecast FT/FTS 3004)

1967: Tim Hardin 2 (Verve Forecast FT/FTS 3022)

1967: This is Tim Hardin (demos recorded 1963/64) (ATCO 33-210)

1968: Tim Hardin 3 Live in Concert (Verve Forecast FTS 3049)

1969: Tim Hardin 4 (Verve Forecast FTS 3064)

1969: The Best of Tim Hardin (Verve Forecast FTS3078)

1969: (Columbia CS 9787)

1971: Bird on a Wire (Columbia CK-30551)

1972: Painted Head (Columbia CK-31764)

1973: Nine (Antilles AN-7023)

1981: Unforgiven (San Francisco Sound SFS 10810)

1981: The Tim Hardin Memorial Album (Polygram PD-1-6333)

1981: The Shock of Grace (CBS Columbia PC37164)

1981: The Homecoming Concert (Line LICD 9.00040)

1990: Reason to Believe (The Best Of) (Polydor 833954)

1994: (Polydor 521583)

1996: (Legacy /Sony 64858)

2000: Person to Person: The Essential, Classic Hardin 1963–1980 (Raven)

2002: 20th Century Masters - The Millennium Collection: The Best of Tim Hardin (Polydor)

2002: Black Sheep Boy: An Introduction to Tim Hardin (Universal International)

2007: Through the Years 1964–1966 (Lilith)

Covers of Hardin songs

"Black Sheep Boy" - Okkervil River on their concept album Black Sheep Boy, Scott Walker on his album Scott 2, Paul Weller on Volume Nine, the ninth issue of Volume magazine.

"Don't Make Promises" - Helen Reddy on her album I Don't Know How to Love Him, Three Dog Night on their eponymous first album, Bobby Darin, The Kingston Trio, Gary Puckett, Rick Nelson Scottish singer Tam White, a 1969 single on Deram Records, Chris Smither on Drive You Home Again.

"Eulogy to Lenny Bruce" - Nico, on her debut solo album, Chelsea Girl, Damon and Naomi on their album Damon and Naomi with Ghost.

"How Can We Hang On To A Dream?" - Echo & the Bunnymen, on their Avalanche EP; The Nice, on their self-titled third album, In the Netherlands former Motions singer Rudy Bennett had a Top 10 hit with "How Can We Hang On to a Dream?" in early 1967 and used in the film Zoeken naar Eileen, Emerson, Lake & Palmer's 4-disc retrospective The Return of the Manticore.

"If I Were A Carpenter" - Wes Carr, Stan Webb's Chicken Shack, Bobby Darin, Johnny Cash and June Carter, The Four Tops, Leon Russell, Rod Stewart, Doc Watson, Joan Baez (as "If You Were a Carpenter"), The Nice, Small Faces, Robert Plant, Leonard Nimoy, John Holt, Bob Seger, Leslie West, and Ramblin' Jack Elliot.

"It'll Never Happen Again" - The Dream Academy, David Sylvian.

"The Lady Came from Baltimore" - Joan Baez, Bobby Darin (single), Scott Walker on his album Scott. Jesse Malin (album-Mercury Retrograde) Lloyd Cole (album: Folksinger Series: The Whelan), John Stewart (musician) on his "Neon Beach" live album, and Bob Dylan (performed live but never released on record)

"Misty Roses" - Colin Blunstone, Ron Davies, Sonny and Cher, Jess Roden, The Youngbloods, Bobby Darin.

"Reason to Believe" - Paul Weller, Billy Bragg, The Youngbloods, Brainbox, Rod Stewart, Cher, Ron Sexsmith, Wilson Phillips, Gary Lewis & the Playboys, The Carpenters, Marianne Faithfull, Bobby Darin, Glen Campbell, The Kingston Trio, Weddings Parties Anything, Mason Williams, and by the Israeli singer Arik Einstein.

"Red Balloon" - Rick Nelson, Small Faces, Kula Shaker.

"Shiloh Town" - Mark Lanegan on his fourth solo album I'll Take Care of You.

"Never Too Far" - Wally Tax, member of The Outsiders on his solo album The Entertainer.

"You Got a Reputation" [aka "Reputation"] - The Byrds (recorded during the Sweetheart of the Rodeo sessions and eventually released some 22 years later on The Byrds box set in 1990) and Gram Parsons (on ).

References

External links

Category:1941 births Category:1980 deaths Category:American composers Category:American expatriates in the United Kingdom Category:American folk singers Category:American singer-songwriters Category:People from Eugene, Oregon Category:Deaths by heroin overdose in California

Lisa Miller is an Australian singer/songwriter known for her clear, bitter-sweet voice and poignant semi-biographical songs.

Biography

Miller grew up in the Melbourne suburb of Chadstone, the daughter of social realist painter Peter Miller. Her elder brother Lewis Miller, is also a painter, and won the 1998 Archibald Prize.

She started writing songs at fourteen and has memories of being in a folk music duo with a friend: "I played flute, she played guitar and sang, and we wore matching paisley dresses that went to the floor, and played at coffee houses where people drank hot chocolates with marshmallows."

Her first serious musical outing was as vocalist of the rock group The Hepeleptics in the 1980s, while working as a secondary school teacher. She then became vocalist and rhythm guitarist for The Whole Shebang. In 1989 she took an extended trip to the U.S. to see friends and hear as much music as possible in legendary locations (Memphis, Nashville, Austin, New Orleans, San Francisco). She returned to Melbourne and formed her own roots rock band, The Trailblazers (later known as Truckasaurus) with Mark Ferrie (ex-Models and Sacred Cowboys). They favoured original material by Miller or Ferrie. She also sang in the trio The Everlovin' O'Sheas. Of these early ventures only The Whole Shebang and Truckasaurus issued any recordings.

In 1995 Miller released two EPs on the In'Law label as a solo artist: Do That For You and All Worked Out. Her debut album, Quiet Girl with a Credit Card, followed in 1996 on the W.Minc label. It was also issued in the U.K. on Demon Records, to date her only release outside of Australia. It was three years until her second album, As Far as a Life Goes, which also appeared on the W.Minc label but released by the now defunct Festival Mushroom Records. She was nominated that year for the Best Female Artist ARIA Award - a notable achievement for an artist with no commercial radio airplay.

After sorting out troubles with her record companies, Miller released an album of cover versions in 2002 for the fledgling Melbourne label Raoul Records (run by her husband Ben Lempriere). The album, Car Tape, found Miller in a country-soul vein and was a critical success. As on earlier recordings, Miller's choice of cover songs leant heavily towards cult U.S. male singer/songwriters such as Doug Sahm and Townes Van Zandt. Miller's profile - while still small outside Melbourne's inner-city suburbs - began to grow. A new backing band contained seasoned session musicians, she received multiple ARIA nominations, and Car Tape went on to be one of the best-selling Australian independent releases of 2002.

In 2003 she released her fourth album, Version Originale, a CD of original compositions, that was also warmly received by critics.

With her band (featuring guitarist and producer Shane O'Mara), Miller has been a sporadic live performer in and around Melbourne, with forays up the east coast of Australia, including the Byron Bay Blues Festival. She has played with Billy Bragg and toured Australia with Neil Young and Nick Cave. She has also appeared on recordings by Australian musicians David McComb, Tim Rogers, Tex Perkins, Andy Baylor, Barb Waters, Doug Mansfield, Amanda Brown (of The Go-Betweens) and David Chesworth. At one time she was managed by the late Mick Geyer (close associate of Nick Cave), but is now self-managed.

In 2004 Miller released the EP, Pushover, which features five songs recorded live on the 2003 Neil Young tour. She was again nominated in the Best Female Artist category at the 2004 ARIA Awards, at which - once again - she was beaten by Kasey Chambers.

Miller collaborated with composer Amanda Brown on a number of songs for the award winning film Look Both Ways but only one song (entitled "Eleven") made the final selection.

In 2005 she recorded a version of the Split Enz song "I Hope I Never" for She Will Have Her Way, a tribute album of female Australian and New Zealand artists performing the works of Tim and Neil Finn. This album was nominated for an 2006 ARIA award under "Best Adult Contemporary Artist".

Her fifth album Morning in the Bowl of Night was released in March 2007, many of the songs focussing around the death of Miller's mother. In early 2008 Morning in the Bowl of Night was shortlisted for the prestigious Australian Music Prize.

Personnel

As of 2006 Miller's band consists of:

Lisa Miller - vocals, rhythm guitar

Shane O'Mara - lead guitar

Peter Jones - drums

Bill McDonald - electric bass

Discography

Albums

Quiet Girl with a Credit Card - 1996

As Far as a Life Goes - 1999

Car Tape - 2002

Version Originale - 2003

Morning in the Bowl of Night - 2007

Car Tape 2 - 2010

EPs and Singles

"Truckasaurus", EP - 1993 (performing as Truckasaurus)

"Do That for You", EP - 1995

"All Worked Out", EP - 1995

"Hang My Head", single - 1996

"Wipe the Floor", single - 1999

"Pushover EP" - 2004

"If You Need Me", single - 2007 (sold through RACV shops as a tie-in to TV commercial)

Compilations

The Preston Story, Vol. 1 - as The Whole Shebang: "Funnel of Love", "Another Sunday Morning" - recorded 1987, released 1995

Recovery: Hits From The Back Door - "Hang Your Head" (live) - 1997

To Hal and Bacharach - "The Look of Love" - 1998 (duet with Tex Perkins) RRRewind In The Chapel - "Are You The One That I’ve Been Waiting For" (live), "It’s A Long Way To The Top" (live) - 1998 Highlights from Studio 22 - "Trade" (live) - 2002

You Can't Hide Your Love Forever – A Tribute To Gene Clark - "Why Not Your Baby" (live) - 2002

The DIG Australian Blues Project - "Red Cross Store Blues" (live) - 2005

She Will Have Her Way - "I Hope I Never" - 2005

Film Soundtracks

Mullet - Various Artists - 2000

Dirty Deeds - Various Artists - 2002

Look Both Ways - Various Artists - 2005

Awards and nominations

1999 Nominated for ARIA Award: Best Female Artist (As Far as a Life Goes)

2002 Nominated for ARIA Awards: Best Female Artist (Car Tape); Best Independent Release (Car Tape); Best Adult Contemporary Album (Car Tape); Best Original Soundtrack Album (Dirty Deeds)

2004 Nominated for ARIA Awards: Best Female Artist (Version Originale); Best Adult Contemporary Album (Version Originale)

2006 Nominated for ARIA Award: Best Adult Contemporary Album (Various Artists: She Will Have Her Way)

2007 Nominated for ARIA Award: Best Adult Contemporary Album (Morning in the Bowl of Night)

2008 Shortlisted for the Australian Music Prize (Morning in the Bowl of Night)

2010 Nominated for ARIA Award: Best Adult Contemporary Album (Car Tape 2)

External links

Lisa Miller Official Website

Lisa Miller Official Myspace page

Lisa Miller discography at the Australian Rock Database by Magnus Holmgren.

References

Category:Australian female singers Category:Australian songwriters Category:Living people Category:Australian musicians Category:Year of birth missing (living people)

Name	Johnny Cash
Background	solo_singer
Birth name	J. R. Cash
Born	February 26, 1932
Origin	Kingsland, Arkansas, U.S.
Died	September 12, 2003Nashville, Tennessee, U.S.
Instrument	Vocals, guitar
Genre	Country, Rock and Roll , Folk , Rockabilly , Gospel , Blues
Occupation	Singer-songwriter, musician, actor
Voice type	Bass-baritone
Years active	1955–2003
Label	Sun, Columbia, Mercury, American, House of Cash, Legacy Recordings
Associated acts	The Tennessee Three, The Highwaymen, June Carter Cash, The Statler Brothers, The Carter Family, The Oak Ridge Boys, Area Code 615
Url
Notable instruments	Martin Acoustic Guitars

John R. "Johnny" Cash (February 26, 1932 – September 12, 2003), born J. R. Cash, was an American singer-songwriter, actor, Although he is primarily remembered as a country music artist, his songs and sound spanned many other genres including rockabilly and rock and roll—especially early in his career—as well as blues, folk, and gospel. Late in his career, Cash covered songs by several rock artists, among them the industrial rock band Nine Inch Nails and the synthpop band Depeche Mode.

Johnny Cash was known for his deep, distinctive bass-baritone voice; for the "boom-chicka-boom" freight train sound of his Tennessee Three backing band; for his rebelliousness, coupled with an increasingly somber and humble demeanor; for providing free concerts inside prison walls; and for his dark performance clothing, which earned him the nickname "The Man in Black". He traditionally started his concerts by saying, "Hello, I'm Johnny Cash." and usually following it up with his standard "Folsom Prison Blues."

Much of Cash's music, especially that of his later career, echoed themes of sorrow, moral tribulation and redemption. His signature songs include "I Walk the Line", "Folsom Prison Blues", "Ring of Fire", "Get Rhythm" and "Man in Black". He also recorded humorous numbers, such as "One Piece at a Time" and "A Boy Named Sue"; a duet with his future wife, June Carter, called "Jackson"; as well as railroad songs including "Hey, Porter" and "Rock Island Line".

Cash, a devout but troubled Christian, has been characterized as a "lens through which to view American contradictions and challenges." A Biblical scholar, he penned a Christian novel entitled Man in White, and he made a spoken word recording of the entire New King James Version of the New Testament. Even so, Cash declared that he was "the biggest sinner of them all", and viewed himself overall as a complicated and contradictory man. Accordingly, Cash is said to have "contained multitudes", and has been deemed "the philosopher-prince of American country music".

Personal life

Heritage

Cash learned, upon researching his ancestry, that he was of Scottish royal descent. After the opportunity of meeting with former Falkland, Fife laird, Major Michael Crichton-Stuart, he traced the Cash family tree to 11th-century Fife, Scotland. Scotland's Cash Loch bears the name of his family. the third of seven children to Ray Cash (13 May 1897, Kingsland, Arkansas – 23 December 1985, Hendersonville, Tennessee) and Carrie Cloveree Rivers (13 March 1904, Rison, Arkansas – 11 March 1991, Hendersonville, Tennessee). Cash was given the name "J.R." because his parents could not agree on a name, only on initials. When he enlisted in the United States Air Force, the military would not accept initials as his name, so he adopted John R. Cash as his legal name. In 1955, when signing with Sun Records, he took Johnny Cash as his stage name.

The Cash children were, in order: Margaret Louise, Jack, J. R., Joanne, Reba, Roy and Tommy. His younger brother, Tommy Cash, also became a successful country artist.

In March 1935, when Cash was three years old, the family settled in Dyess, Arkansas. J.R. was working in cotton fields beginning at age five, singing along with his family simultaneously while working. The family farm was flooded on at least two occasions, which later inspired him to write the song "Five Feet High and Rising". His family's economic and personal struggles during the Great Depression inspired many of his songs, especially those about other people facing similar difficulties.

Cash was very close to his older brother, Jack. In May 1944, Jack was pulled into a whirling head saw in the mill where he worked, and almost cut in two. He suffered for over a week before he died on May 20, 1944, at age 15.

Cash enlisted in the United States Air Force. After basic training at Lackland Air Force Base and technical training at Brooks Air Force Base, both in San Antonio, Texas, Cash was assigned to a U.S. Air Force Security Service unit, assigned as a code intercept operator for Soviet Army transmissions at Landsberg, Germany "where he created his first band named The Landsberg Barbarians." After he was honorably discharged as a sergeant on July 3, 1954, he returned to Texas.

Cash became close friends with a man named John Rollins. Rollins, who grew up in Georgia, had a similar childhood as Cash, having grown up on cotton fields. Rollins later became a successful business man selling umbrellas. Cash later became the godfather of his son Michael.

Marriages

On July 18, 1951, while in Air Force training, Cash met 17-year-old Vivian Liberto at a roller skating rink in her native San Antonio. They dated for three weeks, until Cash was deployed to Germany for a three year tour. During that time, the couple exchanged hundreds of pages of love letters. On August 7, 1954, one month after his discharge, they were married at St. Anne's Catholic church in San Antonio. The ceremony was performed by her uncle, Father Vincent Liberto. They had four daughters: Rosanne, Kathy, Cindy and Tara. Cash's drug and alcohol abuse, constant touring, and affairs with other women, and his close relationship with future wife June Carter, led Liberto to file for divorce in 1966.

In 1968, 13 years after they first met backstage at the Grand Ole Opry, Cash proposed to June Carter, an established country singer, during a live performance in London, Ontario, marrying on March 1, 1968 in Franklin, Kentucky. They had one child together, John Carter Cash (born March 3, 1970). They continued to work together and tour for 35 years, until June Carter died in 2003. Cash died just four months later. Carter co-wrote one of Cash's biggest hits, "Ring of Fire," with singer Merle Kilgore. She and Cash won two Grammy awards for their duets.

Vivian Liberto claims a different version of the origins of "Ring of Fire" in I Walked the Line: My Life with Johnny, stating that Cash gave Carter the credit for monetary reasons.

Career

Early career

In 1954, Cash and Vivian moved to Memphis, Tennessee, where he sold appliances while studying to be a radio announcer. At night he played with guitarist Luther Perkins and bassist Marshall Grant. Perkins and Grant were known as the Tennessee Two. Cash worked up the courage to visit the Sun Records studio, hoping to get a recording contract. After auditioning for Sam Phillips, singing mostly gospel songs, Phillips told him that gospel was unmarketable. It was once rumored that Phillips told Cash to "go home and sin, then come back with a song I can sell," though Cash refuted that Phillips made any such comment in a 2002 interview. Cash eventually won over the producer with new songs delivered in his early frenetic style. His first recordings at Sun, "Hey Porter" and "Cry! Cry! Cry!", were released in 1955 and met with reasonable success on the country hit parade.

On December 4, 1956, Elvis Presley dropped in on studio owner Sam Phillips to pay a social visit while Carl Perkins was in the studio cutting new tracks, with Jerry Lee Lewis backing him on piano. Cash was also in the studio and the four started an impromptu jam session. Phillips left the tapes running and the recordings, almost half of which were gospel songs, survived and have since been released under the title Million Dollar Quartet.

Cash's next record, "Folsom Prison Blues", made the country Top 5, and "I Walk the Line" became No. 1 on the country charts and entered the pop charts Top 20. "Home of the Blues" followed, recorded in July 1957. That same year Cash became the first Sun artist to release a long-playing album. Although he was Sun's most consistently best-selling and prolific artist at that time, Cash felt constrained by his contract with the small label. Presley had already left Sun, and Phillips was focusing most of his attention and promotion on Lewis. The following year Cash left the label to sign a lucrative offer with Columbia Records, where his single "Don't Take Your Guns to Town" became one of his biggest hits.

In the early 1960s, Cash toured with the Carter Family, which by this time regularly included Mother Maybelle's daughters, Anita, June and Helen. June, whom Cash would eventually marry, later recalled admiring him from afar during these tours. In the 1960s he appeared on Pete Seeger's short lived Rainbow Quest.

He also acted in a 1961 film entitled Five Minutes to Live, later re-released as Door-to-door Maniac. He also wrote and sang the opening theme.

Outlaw image

As his career was taking off in the late 1950s, Cash started drinking heavily and became addicted to amphetamines and barbiturates. For a brief time, he shared an apartment in Nashville with Waylon Jennings, who was heavily addicted to amphetamines. Cash used the uppers to stay awake during tours. Friends joked about his "nervousness" and erratic behavior, many ignoring the warning signs of his worsening drug addiction. In a behind-the-scenes look at The Johnny Cash Show, Cash claims to have "tried every drug there was to try."

Although in many ways spiraling out of control, Cash's frenetic creativity was still delivering hits. His rendition of "Ring of Fire" was a crossover hit, reaching No. 1 on the country charts and entering the Top 20 on the pop charts. The song was written by June Carter and Merle Kilgore. The song was originally performed by Carter's sister, but the signature mariachi-style horn arrangement was provided by Cash, who said that it had come to him in a dream.

In June 1965, his truck caught fire due to an overheated wheel bearing, triggering a forest fire that burned several hundred acres in Los Padres National Forest in California. When the judge asked Cash why he did it, Cash said, "I didn't do it, my truck did, and it's dead, so you can't question it." He said he was the only person ever sued by the government for starting a forest fire.

Cash curtailed his use of drugs for several years in 1968, after a spiritual in the Nickajack Cave, when he attempted to commit suicide while under the heavy influence of drugs. He descended deeper into the cave, trying to lose himself and "just die", when he passed out on the floor. He reported to be exhausted and feeling at the end of his rope when he felt God's presence in his heart and managed to struggle out of the cave (despite the exhaustion) by following a faint light and slight breeze. To him, it was his own rebirth. June, Maybelle, and Ezra Carter moved into Cash's mansion for a month to help him conquer his addiction. Cash proposed onstage to June at a concert at the London Gardens in London, Ontario, Canada on February 22, 1968; the couple married a week later (on March 1) in Franklin, Kentucky. June had agreed to marry Cash after he had 'cleaned up'. He rediscovered his Christian faith, taking an "altar call" in Evangel Temple, a small church in the Nashville area, pastored by Rev. Jimmy Rodgers Snow, son of country music legend Hank Snow.

According to longtime friend Marshall Grant, Cash's 1968 rebirth experience did not result in his completely stopping use of amphetamines. However, in 1970, Cash ended all drug use for a period of seven years. Grant claims that the birth of Cash's son, John Carter Cash, inspired Cash to end his dependence. Cash began using amphetamines again in 1977. By 1983, he was once again addicted, and entered the Betty Ford Clinic in Rancho Mirage, CA for rehabilitation. Cash managed to stay off drugs for several years, but by 1989, he was dependent again and entered Nashville's Cumberland Heights Alcohol and Drug Treatment Center. In 1992, he entered the Loma Linda Behavioural Medicine Centre in Loma Linda, CA for his final rehabilitation (several months later, his son followed him into this facility for treatment).

Folsom Prison Blues

Cash felt great compassion for prisoners. He began performing concerts at various prisons starting in the late 1950s. His first ever prison concert was held on January 1, 1958 at San Quentin State Prison. These performances led to a pair of highly successful live albums, Johnny Cash at Folsom Prison (1968) and Johnny Cash at San Quentin (1969).

The Folsom Prison record was introduced by a rendition of his classic "Folsom Prison Blues", while the San Quentin record included the crossover hit single "A Boy Named Sue", a Shel Silverstein-penned novelty song that reached No. 1 on the country charts and No. 2 on the U.S. Top Ten pop charts. The AM versions of the latter contained a couple of profanities which were edited out. The modern CD versions are unedited and uncensored and thus also longer than the original vinyl albums, though they still retain the audience reaction overdubs of the originals.

In addition to his performances at U.S. prisons, Cash also performed at the Österåker Prison in Sweden in 1972. The live album På Österåker ("At Österåker") was released in 1973. Between the songs, Cash can be heard speaking Swedish, which was greatly appreciated by the inmates.

"The Man in Black"

at his July 1972 meeting with United States President Richard Nixon.]] From 1969 to 1971, Cash starred in his own television show, The Johnny Cash Show, on the ABC network. The Statler Brothers opened up for him in every episode; the Carter Family and rockabilly legend Carl Perkins were also part of the regular show entourage. However, Cash also enjoyed booking more contemporary performers as guests; such notables included Neil Young, Louis Armstrong, Kenny Rogers and The First Edition (who appeared a record four times on his show), James Taylor, Ray Charles, Eric Clapton (then leading Derek and the Dominos), and Bob Dylan.

Cash had met with Dylan in the mid 1960s and became closer friends when they were neighbors in the late 1960s in Woodstock, New York. Cash was enthusiastic about reintroducing the reclusive Dylan to his audience. Cash sang a duet with Dylan on Dylan's country album Nashville Skyline and also wrote the album's Grammy-winning liner notes.

Another artist who received a major career boost from The Johnny Cash Show was songwriter Kris Kristofferson, who was beginning to make a name for himself as a singer/songwriter. During a live performance of Kristofferson's "Sunday Mornin' Comin' Down", Cash refused to change the lyrics to suit network executives, singing the song with its references to marijuana intact: "On a Sunday morning sidewalk / I'm wishin', Lord, that I was stoned."

By the early 1970s, he had crystallized his public image as "The Man in Black". He regularly performed dressed all in black, wearing a long black knee-length coat. This outfit stood in contrast to the costumes worn by most of the major country acts in his day: rhinestone suit and cowboy boots. In 1971, Cash wrote the song "Man in Black", to help explain his dress code: "We're doing mighty fine I do suppose / In our streak of lightning cars and fancy clothes / But just so we're reminded of the ones who are held back / Up front there ought to be a man in black."

, Northern Germany, in September 1972]] He wore black on behalf of the poor and hungry, on behalf of "the prisoner who has long paid for his crime", and on behalf of those who have been betrayed by age or drugs.

In the mid 1970s, Cash's popularity and number of hit songs began to decline, but his autobiography (the first of two), titled Man in Black, was published in 1975 and sold 1.3 million copies. A second, Cash: The Autobiography, appeared in 1997. His friendship with Billy Graham led to the production of a film about the life of Jesus, The Gospel Road, which Cash co-wrote and narrated.

He also continued to appear on television, hosting an annual Christmas special on CBS throughout the 1970s. Later television appearances included a role in an episode of Columbo (Swan Song). He also appeared with his wife on an episode of Little House on the Prairie entitled "The Collection" and gave a performance as John Brown in the 1985 American Civil War television mini-series North and South.

He was friendly with every President of the United States starting with Richard Nixon. He was closest with Jimmy Carter, with whom he became a very close friend.

Highwaymen

, Johnny Cash, Waylon Jennings, Willie Nelson, who formed the country music supergroup, The Highwaymen]] In 1980, Cash became the Country Music Hall of Fame's youngest living inductee at age forty-eight, but during the 1980s his records failed to make a major impact on the country charts, although he continued to tour successfully. In the mid 1980s, he recorded and toured with Waylon Jennings, Willie Nelson, and Kris Kristofferson as The Highwaymen, making two hit albums.

During this period, Cash appeared in a number of television films. In 1981, he starred in The Pride of Jesse Hallam, winning fine reviews for a film that called attention to adult illiteracy. In the same year, Cash appeared as a "very special guest star" in an episode of the Muppet Show. In 1983, he appeared as a heroic sheriff in Murder in Coweta County, based on a real-life Georgia murder case, which co-starred Andy Griffith as his nemesis. Cash had tried for years to make the film, for which he won acclaim.

Cash relapsed into addiction after being administered painkillers for a serious abdominal injury in 1983 caused by an unusual incident in which he was kicked and wounded by an ostrich he kept on his farm.

At a hospital visit in 1988, this time to watch over Waylon Jennings (who was recovering from a heart attack), Jennings suggested that Cash have himself checked into the hospital for his own heart condition. Doctors recommended preventive heart surgery, and Cash underwent double bypass surgery in the same hospital. Both recovered, although Cash refused to use any prescription painkillers, fearing a relapse into dependency. Cash later claimed that during his operation, he had what is called a "near death experience". He said he had visions of Heaven that were so beautiful that he was angry when he woke up alive.

Cash's recording career and his general relationship with the Nashville establishment were at an all-time low in the 1980s. He realized that his record label of nearly 30 years, Columbia, was growing indifferent to him and was not properly marketing him (he was "invisible" during that time, as he said in his autobiography). Cash recorded an intentionally awful song to protest, a self-parody. "Chicken in Black" was about Cash's brain being transplanted into a chicken. Ironically, the song turned out to be a larger commercial success than any of his other recent material. Nevertheless, he was hoping to kill the relationship with the label before they did, and it was not long after "Chicken in Black" that Columbia and Cash parted ways.

In 1986, Cash returned to Sun Studios in Memphis to team up with Roy Orbison, Jerry Lee Lewis, and Carl Perkins to create the album Class of '55. Also in 1986, Cash published his only novel, Man in White, a book about Saul and his conversion to become the Apostle Paul. He also recorded Johnny Cash Reads The Complete New Testament in 1990.

American Recordings

After Columbia Records dropped Cash from his recording contract, he had a short and unsuccessful stint with Mercury Records from 1987 to 1991 (see Johnny Cash discography).

His career was rejuvenated in the 1990s, leading to popularity with an audience not traditionally interested in country music. In 1991, he sang a version of "Man in Black" for the Christian punk band One Bad Pig's album I Scream Sunday. In 1993, he sang "The Wanderer" on U2's album Zooropa. Although no longer sought after by major labels, he was offered a contract with producer Rick Rubin's American Recordings label, better known for rap and hard rock.

Under Rubin's supervision, he recorded American Recordings (1994) in his living room, accompanied only by his Martin dreadnought guitar – one of many Cash played throughout his career. The album featured covers of contemporary artists selected by Rubin and had much critical and commercial success, winning a Grammy for Best Contemporary Folk Album. Cash wrote that his reception at the 1994 Glastonbury Festival was one of the highlights of his career. This was the beginning of a decade of music industry accolades and commercial success. Cash teamed up with Brooks & Dunn to contribute "Folsom Prison Blues" to the AIDS benefit album Red Hot + Country produced by the Red Hot Organization. On the same album, he performed the Bob Dylan favorite "Forever Young".

Cash and his wife appeared on a number of episodes of the television series Dr. Quinn, Medicine Woman starring Jane Seymour. The actress thought so highly of Cash that she later named one of her twin sons after him. He lent his voice for a cameo role in The Simpsons episode "El Viaje Misterioso de Nuestro Jomer (The Mysterious Voyage of Homer)," as the "Space Coyote" that guides Homer Simpson on a spiritual quest. In 1996, Cash enlisted the accompaniment of Tom Petty and the Heartbreakers and released Unchained, which won the Best Country Album Grammy. Believing he did not explain enough of himself in his 1975 autobiography Man in Black, he wrote Cash: The Autobiography in 1997.

Last years and death

In 1997, Cash was diagnosed with the neurodegenerative disease Shy-Drager syndrome, a form of Parkinson's disease. The diagnosis was later altered to autonomic neuropathy associated with diabetes. This illness forced Cash to curtail his touring. He was hospitalized in 1998 with severe pneumonia, which damaged his lungs. The albums (2000) and (2002) contained Cash's response to his illness in the form of songs of a slightly more somber tone than the first two American albums. The video that was released for "Hurt", a cover of the song by Nine Inch Nails, fits Cash's view of his past and feelings of regret. The video for the song, from American IV, is now generally recognized as "his epitaph," and received particular critical and popular acclaim. June Carter Cash died on May 15, 2003, at the age of 73. June had told Cash to keep working, so he continued to record and even performed a couple of surprise shows at the Carter Family Fold outside Bristol, Virginia. At the July 5, 2003 concert (his last public performance), before singing "Ring of Fire", Cash read a statement about his late wife that he had written shortly before taking the stage:

Cash died of complications from diabetes fewer than four months after his wife, at 2:00 a.m. CT on September 12, 2003, while hospitalized at Baptist Hospital in Nashville. He was buried next to his wife in Hendersonville Memory Gardens near his home in Hendersonville, Tennessee.

His stepdaughter, Rosie (Nix) Adams and another passenger were found dead on a bus in Montgomery County, Tennessee, on October 24, 2003. It was speculated that the deaths may have been caused by carbon monoxide from the lanterns in the bus. Adams was 45 when she died. She was buried in the Hendersonville Memory Gardens, near her mother and stepfather.

On May 24, 2005, Vivian Liberto, Cash's first wife and the mother of Rosanne Cash and three other daughters, died from surgery to remove lung cancer at the age of 71. It was her daughter Rosanne's 50th birthday.

In June 2005, his lakeside home on Caudill Drive in Hendersonville was put up for sale by his estate. In January 2006, the house was sold to Bee Gees vocalist Barry Gibb and wife Linda and titled in their Florida limited liability company for $2.3 million. The listing agent was Cash's younger brother, Tommy Cash. The home was destroyed by fire on April 10, 2007.

One of Cash's final collaborations with producer Rick Rubin, entitled , was released posthumously on July 4, 2006. The album debuted in the #1 position on the Billboard Top 200 album chart for the week ending July 22, 2006.

On February 26, 2010, what would have been Cash's 78th birthday, the Cash Family, Rick Rubin, and Lost Highway Records released his second posthumous record, entitled .

Legacy

From his early days as a pioneer of rockabilly and rock and roll in the 1950s, to his decades as an international representative of country music, to his resurgence to fame in the 1990s as a living legend and an alternative country icon, Cash influenced countless artists and left a large body of work. Upon his death, Cash was revered by the greatest popular musicians of his time. His rebellious image and often anti-authoritarian stance influenced punk rock.

Among Cash's children, his daughter Rosanne Cash (by first wife Vivian Liberto) and his son John Carter Cash (by June Carter Cash) are notable country-music musicians in their own right.

Cash nurtured and defended artists on the fringes of what was acceptable in country music even while serving as the country music establishment's most visible symbol. At an all-star TNT concert in 1999, a diverse group of artists paid him tribute, including Bob Dylan, Chris Isaak, Wyclef Jean, Norah Jones, Kris Kristofferson, Willie Nelson, Dom DeLuise and U2. Cash himself appeared at the end and performed for the first time in more than a year. Two tribute albums were released shortly before his death; contains works from established artists, while contains works from many lesser-known artists.

In total, he wrote over 1,000 songs and released dozens of albums. A box set titled Unearthed was issued posthumously. It included four CDs of unreleased material recorded with Rubin as well as a Best of Cash on American retrospective CD.

In recognition of his lifelong support of SOS Children's Villages, his family invited friends and fans to donate to that charity in his memory. He had a personal link with the SOS village in Diessen, at the Ammersee Lake in Southern Germany, near where he was stationed as a GI, and also with the SOS village in Barrett Town, by Montego Bay, near his holiday home in Jamaica. The Johnny Cash Memorial Fund was founded.

In 1999, Cash received the Grammy Lifetime Achievement Award. In 2004, Rolling Stone Magazine ranked Cash #31 on their list of the 100 Greatest Artists of All Time.

In a tribute to Cash after his death, country music singer Gary Allan included the song "Nickajack Cave (Johnny Cash's Redemption)" on his 2005 album entitled Tough All Over. The song chronicles Cash hitting rock bottom and subsequently resurrecting his life and career.

The main street in Hendersonville, Tennessee, Highway 31E, is known as "Johnny Cash Parkway".

The Johnny Cash Museum is located in Hendersonville, Tennessee.

On November 2–4, 2007, the Johnny Cash Flower Pickin' Festival was held in Starkville, Mississippi. Starkville, where Cash was arrested over 40 years earlier and held overnight at the city jail on May 11, 1965, inspired Cash to write the song "Starkville City Jail". The festival, where he was offered a symbolic posthumous pardon, honored Cash's life and music, and was expected to become an annual event.

JC Unit One, Johnny Cash's private tour bus from 1980 until 2003, was put on exhibit at the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame + Museum in 2007. The Cleveland, Ohio museum offers public tours of the bus on a seasonal basis (it is stored during the winter months and not exhibited during those times).

Portrayals

In 1998, country singer Mark Collie portrayed Cash for the first time in a short film, I Still Miss Someone.

Walk the Line, an Academy Award-winning biopic about Cash's life starring Joaquin Phoenix as Johnny and Reese Witherspoon as June (for which she won the 2005 Best Actress Oscar), was released in the United States on November 18, 2005 to considerable commercial success and critical acclaim. Both Phoenix and Witherspoon have won various other awards for their roles, including the Golden Globe for Best Actor in a Musical or Comedy and Best Actress in a Musical or Comedy, respectively. They both performed their own vocals in the film, and Phoenix learned to play guitar for his role as Cash. Phoenix received the Grammy Award for his contributions to the soundtrack. John Carter Cash, the first child of Johnny and June, served as an executive producer on the film.

Ring of Fire, a jukebox musical of the Cash oeuvre, debuted on Broadway on March 12, 2006 at the Ethel Barrymore Theatre, but closed due to harsh reviews and disappointing sales on April 30, 2006.

Million Dollar Quartet, a musical portraying the early Sun recording sessions involving Cash, Elvis Presley, Jerry Lee Lewis, and Carl Perkins, debuted on Broadway on April 11, 2010. Actor Lance Guest portrayed Cash. The musical was nominated for three awards at the 2010 Tony Awards, and won one.

Discography

: See Johnny Cash discography, and Johnny Cash Sun Records discography.

Awards and honors

: For detailed lists of music awards, see List of Johnny Cash awards.

Cash received multiple Country Music Association Awards, Grammys, and other awards, in categories ranging from vocal and spoken performances to album notes and videos.

In a career that spanned almost five decades, Cash was the personification of country music to many people around the world. Cash was a musician who was not tied to a single genre. He recorded songs that could be considered rock and roll, blues, rockabilly, folk, and gospel, and exerted an influence on each of those genres. Moreover, he had the unique distinction among country artists of having "crossed over" late in his career to become popular with an unexpected audience, young indie and alternative rock fans. His diversity was evidenced by his presence in three major music halls of fame: the Nashville Songwriters Hall of Fame (1977), the Country Music Hall of Fame (1980), and the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame (1992). Only thirteen performers are in both of the last two, and only Hank Williams Sr., Jimmie Rodgers, Bob Wills, and Bill Monroe share the honor with Cash of being in all three. However, only Cash was inducted into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame in the regular manner, unlike the other country members, who were inducted as "early influences." His pioneering contribution to the genre has also been recognized by the Rockabilly Hall of Fame. He received the Kennedy Center Honors in 1996. Cash stated that his induction into the Country Music Hall of Fame, in 1980, was his greatest professional achievement. In 2001, he was awarded the National Medal of Arts. He was nominated for an MTV Video Music Award for best cinematography for "Hurt" and was supposed to appear, but died during the night.

In 2007, Cash was inducted into the Hit Parade Hall of Fame.

Sources

Notes

References

D'Ambrosio, Antonino (2009). A Heartbeat and A Guitar: Johnny Cash and the Making of Bitter Tears. With Original Art by Shepard Fairey and Photos by Jim Marshall. Perseus Books/Nation Books ISBN 9781568584072

Millier, Bill. (retrieved September 7, 2004). Johnny Cash Awards. JohnnyCash.com.

Streissguth, Michael. Johnny Cash at Folsom Prison: The Making of a Masterpiece, Da Capo Press (2004). ISBN 0-306-81338-6.

Urbanski, Dave. The Man Comes Around: The Spiritual Journey of Johnny Cash. New York: Relevant Books. ISBN 0-9729276-7-0.

Turner, Steve. The Man Called Cash: The Life, Love, and Faith of an American Legend. Nashville, W Publishing Group, 2004. (The Authorized Biography).

Published works

Cash, Johnny. Man in Black: His Own Story in His Own Words. Grand Rapids: Zondervan, 1975. ISBN 99924-31-58-X.

Cash, Johnny, with Patrick Carr. . New York: Harper Collins, 1997. ISBN 0-06-101357-9.

Cash, Johnny, with June Carter Cash. Love liner notes. New York: Sony, 2000.

Cash, Johnny, The Man in White, 1986.

External links

Johnny Cash Official Label Website

Johnny Cash Radio Webcast

Official Johnny Cash Lost Highway Artist Page

Johnny Cash at the Country Music Hall of Fame

Johnny Cash at the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame

Johnny Cash at the Rockabilly Hall of Fame

Johnny Cash at the Hit Parade Hall of Fame

Larry King's November 26, 2002 interview With Johnny Cash on CNN

Johnny Cash: Best Photos – slideshow by Life magazine

Category:1932 births Category:2003 deaths Category:Actors from Arkansas Category:American autobiographers Category:American composers Category:American country guitarists Category:American country singers Category:American country songwriters Category:American folk guitarists Category:American folk singers Category:American male singers Category:American baritones Category:American performers of Christian music Category:American Protestants Category:Burials in Tennessee Category:Charly Records artists Category:Columbia Records artists Category:Country Music Hall of Fame inductees Category:Deaths from diabetes Category:Grammy Award winners Category:Grammy Lifetime Achievement Award winners Category:Grand Ole Opry members Category:Kennedy Center honorees Category:Musicians from Arkansas Category:People from Cleveland County, Arkansas Category:People from Sumner County, Tennessee Category:People with Parkinson's disease Category:Rockabilly Hall of Fame inductees Category:Rock and Roll Hall of Fame inductees Category:American musicians of Scottish descent Category:The Highwaymen (country supergroup) members Category:Sun Records artists Category:United States Air Force airmen Category:United States National Medal of Arts recipients Category:People self-identifying as substance abusers

Name	Billy Bragg
Background	solo_singer
Birth name	Stephen William Bragg
Born	December 20, 1957Barking, England, UK
Instrument	Vocals, guitar
Genre	Folk punkFolk rockAlternative rock
Years active	1977–present
Associated acts	The BlokesWilco
Url	www.billybragg.co.uk

Stephen William Bragg (born 20 December 1957), known as Billy Bragg, is an English alternative rock musician and left wing activist who blends elements of folk music, punk rock and protest songs, and his lyrics mostly deal with political or romantic themes. His music career has lasted more than 30 years, and he has collaborated with Natalie Merchant, Johnny Marr, Hank Wangford, Florence and the Machine, Kate Nash, Leon Rosselson, members of R.E.M., Michelle Shocked, Less Than Jake, Kitty Daisy & Lewis, Kirsty MacColl, and Wilco.

Early life

Bragg was born in 1957 in Barking, England, the son of Dennis Frederick Austin Bragg, an assistant sales manager to a Barking cap and hat maker, and his wife, Marie Victoria D'Urso. Bragg was educated at Barking Abbey Secondary School in Barking in Essex.

Career

in 2008.]] In 1977, Bragg formed the punk rock/pub rock band Riff Raff, and toured London's pubs and clubs. The band released a series of singles, which did not receive wide exposure. He also worked in Guy Norris Records in Barking, Essex. Bragg became disillusioned with his music career, and in May 1981 joined the British Army as a trooper destined for the Queen's Royal Irish Hussars of the Royal Armoured Corps. After three months, he bought his way out of the army for £175 and returned home, having completed basic training but not joined his regiment.

Bragg began performing frequent concerts and busking around London, playing solo with an electric guitar. His roadie at the time was Andy Kershaw, who became a BBC DJ (Bragg and Kershaw later, in 1989, appeared in an episode of the BBC TV programme, "Great Journeys", in which they travelled the Silver Road from Potosí, Bolivia, to the Pacific coast at Arica, Chile) .

Bragg's demo tape initially got no response from the record industry, but by pretending to be a television repair man, he got into the office of Charisma Records' A&R; man Peter Jenner. Jenner liked the tape, but the company was near bankruptcy and had no budget to sign new artists. Bragg got an offer to record more demos for a music publisher, so Jenner agreed to release them as a record. Life's a Riot with Spy Vs. Spy was released in July, 1983 by Charisma's new imprint, Utility. Hearing DJ John Peel mention on-air that he was hungry, Bragg rushed to the BBC with a mushroom biryani, so Peel played a song from Life's a Riot with Spy Vs. Spy although at the wrong speed (since the 12" LP was, unconventionally, cut to play at 45rpm). This was the second Bragg album to be named after a book by Colin MacInnes. In 2008, during the NME Awards ceremony, Bragg sang a duet with British solo act Kate Nash. They mixed up their two greatest hits, Nash playing "Foundations", and Bragg redoing his "A New England". Bragg also collaborated with the poet and playwright, Patrick Jones, who supported Bragg's Tour.

In 2008, Bragg played a small role in Stuart Bamforth's film "A13: Road Movie". Bragg is featured alongside union reps, vicars, burger van chefs and Members of Parliament

Bragg curated the Leftfield stage at Glastonbury Festival 2010

Politics

Bragg has been involved with grassroots, broadly leftist, political movements, In the same year, Bragg was heavily criticised by Nicky Wire of the Manic Street Preachers for appearing to intervene in the Crappergate argument (in which Manic Street Preachers requested their own toilet at Glastonbury 1999).

During the 2001 UK general election, Bragg attempted to combat voter apathy by promoting tactical voting in an attempt to unseat Conservative Party candidates in Dorset, particularly in South Dorset and West Dorset. In the 2001 election, the Labour Party won South Dorset with their smallest majority, and the Conservative majority in West Dorset was reduced.

Bragg has developed an interest in English national identity, apparent in his 2002 album England, Half-English and his 2006 book The Progressive Patriot. The book expressed his view that English socialists can reclaim patriotism from the right wing. Bragg has been involved in a series of debates with some socialists who disagree, notably the Socialist Workers Party. Bragg also supports Scottish independence.

Bragg has been an outspoken opponent of fascism, racism, bigotry, sexism and homophobia, and is a supporter of a multi-racial Britain. As a result, Bragg has come under attack by far right groups such as the British National Party. In a 2004 article in The Guardian, Bragg was quoted as saying:

The British National Party would probably make it into a parliament elected by proportional representation, too. It would shine a torch into the dirty little corner where the BNP defecate on our democracy, and that would be much more powerful than duffing them up in the street — which I'm also in favour of.

Also in 2004, Bragg collaborated with American ska punk band Less Than Jake to record a song for the Rock Against Bush compilation album.

Bragg supported the pro-Iraq war candidate Oona King against the anti-war George Galloway in the 2005 general election in the constituency of Bethnal Green and Bow, due to a belief that splitting the left-wing vote would allow the Conservative Party to win the seat. Galloway went on to overturn King's 10,000-strong majority to become his party's only MP.

In March 2006, journalist Garry Bushell (a former Trotskyist who ran as a candidate for the English Democrats in 2005) accused Bragg of "pontificating on a South London council estate when we all know he lives in a lovely big house in West Dorset".

In January 2010 Bragg announced that he had decided to withhold his income tax as a protest against the prospective decision by Royal Bank of Scotland to pay bonuses in the region of £1.5 billion to staff working in its investment banking business. The protest was sparked by the appearance of Stephen Hester, the RBS Chief Executive, before the Treasury Select Committee on 12 January 2010. To publicise his protest Bragg set up a Facebook group, which attracted 30,000 members, made numerous appearances on radio and television news programmes and appeared in public at Speakers' Corner in London's Hyde Park. Amongst other things, Bragg said,“Millions are already facing stark choices: are they willing to work longer hours for less money, or would they rather be unemployed? I don’t see why the bankers at RBS shouldn’t be asked the same.”

On the eve of the 2010 General Election, Bragg announced that he would be voting for the Liberal Democrats because "they've got the best manifesto".He also backed the Lib Dems for tactical voting reasons. Despite sounding 'interested'about the Conservative-Liberal Democrat coalition, despite wanting a Lib-Lab coalition, he then went back to the Labour Party saying 'the Lib Dems had failed democracy'.

However, regarding his music and politics, Bragg said in an interview: "My theory is this; I'm not a political songwriter. I'm an honest songwriter. I try and write honestly about what I see around me now." In another interview, Bragg said: "I don't mind being labeled a political songwriter. The thing that troubles me is being dismissed as a political songwriter." In an interview with Bullz-Eye, Bragg said:

I would then say that I am Mr. Love and Justice, and to check out the love songs. That’s how I capture people. People do say to me, “I love your songs, but I just can’t stand your politics.” And I say, “Well, Republicans are always welcome. Come on over!” I would hate to stand at the door, saying to people, “Do you agree with these positions? If not, you can’t come in.”

Bragg is a board director and key spokesman for the Featured Artists Coalition, a body representing the rights of recording artists.

In January 2011, news broke that the residents of Bragg's Dorset hometown, Burton Bradstock, had received anonymous letters viciously attacking Bragg and his politics, urging the villagers to oppose him and his life in the settlement. Bragg claimed a supporter of the BNP was behind them.

Discography

Life's a Riot with Spy Vs Spy (1983)

Brewing Up with Billy Bragg (1984)

Talking with the Taxman about Poetry (1986)

Back to Basics (1987)

Workers Playtime (1988)

The Internationale (1990)

Don't Try This at Home (1991)

William Bloke (1996)

Bloke on Bloke (1997)

Mermaid Avenue (1998) (with Wilco)

Mermaid Avenue Vol. II (2000) (with Wilco)

England, Half-English (2002) (with the Blokes)

Mr. Love & Justice (2008)

Further reading

Billy Bragg, The Progressive Patriot: A Search for Belonging (London: Bantam Press, 2006) ISBN 978-0-593-05343-0

Billy Bragg, How we all lost when Thatcher won: (guardian.co.uk, 5 March 2009)

See also

Red Wedge

Charter88

George Gimarc

References

External links

Braggtopia

Billy Bragg collection at the Internet Archive's live music archive

Category:1957 births Category:Alternative rock musicians Category:Anti-corporate activists Category:Anti-fascists Category:British socialists Category:English activists Category:English buskers Category:English-language singers Category:English male singers Category:English political writers Category:English singer-songwriters Category:English tax resisters Category:Living people Category:People associated with Oxford Brookes University Category:People from Barking Category:Folk punk musicians Category:English people of Italian descent