1949-present
Bruce Springsteen News: Singer Postpones Remainder of 2023 Tour
“The Boss” is taking a break. Music icon Bruce Springsteen has postponed the rest of his tour with the E Street Band until 2024 while he continues to recover from peptic ulcer disease. “Thanks to all of my friends and fans for your good wishes, encouragement, and support,” Springsteen said in a statement. “I’m on the mend and can’t wait to see you all next year.”
The “Glory Days” singer, who recently turned 74, had previously postponed eight shows during September. The new postponements—affecting stops in Phoenix, San Diego, Los Angeles, San Francisco, and throughout Canada—bring the total to 22, according to the Associated Press. Makeup dates are expected to be announced soon. This tour is Springsteen’s first with the E Street Band since 2017.
Peptic ulcer disease causes ulcers to form in the stomach and small intestine that can cause heartburn, nausea, and stomach pain. Although it can lead to bleeding and other emergency situations, a gastroenterology doctor told AP people who receive treatment “recover completely.”
Who Is Bruce Springsteen?
Bruce Springsteen began his career by playing the bar circuit in New Jersey while assembling his famous E Street Band. His breakout 1975 record, Born to Run, united arena rock with human-size tales of working-class America. With dozens of awards under his belt, including 20 Grammys, and more than 65 million albums sold in the United States alone, Springsteen is one of the most successful musicians of all time. Also known for his left-leaning political causes, the artist was honored with the Presidential Medal of Freedom from Barack Obama in 2016.
Quick Facts
FULL NAME: Bruce Springsteen
BORN: September 23, 1949
BIRTHPLACE: Long Branch, New Jersey
SPOUSES: Julianne Phillips (1985-1989) and Patti Scialfa (1991-present)
CHILDREN: Evan James, Jessica Rae, and Samuel Ryan
ASTROLOGICAL SIGN: Libra
Early Life
Born on September 23, 1949, in Long Branch, New Jersey, Bruce Springsteen was raised in a working-class household in Freehold Borough. His father, Doug Springsteen, had trouble holding down a steady job and worked at different times as a bus driver, millworker, and prison guard. Adele, Bruce’s mother, brought in steadier income as a secretary in a local insurance office.
Springsteen and his father had a difficult relationship. “When I was growing up, there were two things that were unpopular in my house,” the singer later recalled. “One was me, and the other was my guitar.”
Years later, however, Springsteen suggested that his fraught relationship with his father had been important for his art. “I’ve gotta thank him,” Springsteen said upon his induction to the Rock & Roll Hall of Fame in 1999, “because what would I conceivably have written about without him? I mean, you can imagine that if everything had gone great between us? We would have had disaster. I would have written just happy songs—and I tried it in the early ’90s, and it didn’t work… Anyway, I put on his work clothes, and I went to work. It was the way that I honored him. My parents’ experience forged my own. They shaped my politics, and they alerted me to what is at stake when you’re born in the U.S.A.”
Springsteen first fell in love with rock ’n’ roll when he saw Elvis Presley perform on The Ed Sullivan Show. “[Elvis] was as big as the whole country itself,” Springsteen later remembered, “as big as the whole dream. He just embodied the essence of it, and he was in mortal combat with the thing. Nothing will ever take the place of that guy.” Springsteen’s mother took out a loan to buy him a $60 Kent guitar for his 16th birthday, and he hasn’t stopped playing the instrument since then.
An outsider and recluse in school, Springsteen frequently got in trouble at his Catholic elementary school. “In the third grade, a nun stuffed me in a garbage can under her desk because she said that’s where I belonged,” he said. “I also had the distinction of being the only altar boy knocked down by a priest during mass.” Several years later, he skipped his own high school graduation because he felt too uncomfortable to attend.
In 1967, an 18-year-old Springsteen was drafted for military service in the Vietnam War. But, as he later told Rolling Stone magazine, the only thought in his head as he traveled to his induction was “I ain’t goin’.” Springsteen failed his physical, largely due to his deliberately “crazy” behavior and a concussion previously suffered in a motorcycle accident. Springsteen’s 4-F classification—unfit for military service—freed him from having to go to Vietnam and allowed him to pursue music full-time.
“The Boss” and the E Street Band
By the late 1960s, Springsteen was spending most of his time in Asbury Park on the New Jersey Shore, playing in several different bands while he forged his unique sound and introduced audiences to the gravelly baritone voice that later became famous. It was there that he first met the musicians who formed his E Street Band. Around this time, Springsteen also acquired his nickname, “The Boss,” because he had a habit of collecting money earned during shows and then distributing it evenly among his bandmates.
In April 2014, the E-Street Band was inducted into the Rock & Roll Hall of Fame.
Albums and Songs
Springsteen’s music is often associated with the “heartland rock” genre, which according to the University of Idaho explores themes of isolation in the working-class population. Artists with similar music include John Mellencamp, Tom Petty, and Bob Seger.
A testament to his lasting popularity, Springsteen became the first artist to have a top-five album in six different decades with the 2020 release of Letter to You.
According to the Recording Industry Association of America, Springsteen has had 15 platinum-certified and two diamond-certified albums throughout his career. Statistically, the biggest is 1984’s Born in the U.S.A., which was sold more than 17 million copies and includes popular songs like “Cover Me,” “Glory Days,” “Dancing in the Dark,” and the titular track. Other top-selling albums include Born to Run (1975), The River (1980), and the compilation Bruce Springsteen & the E Street Band Live 1975-85 (released in 1986).
All together, Springsteen has 12 songs that reached the Billboard top 10, including “Hungry Heart,” “I’m on Fire,” “Tunnel of Love,” and “My Hometown.” Surprisingly, however, none of them ever ascended to the No. 1 spot. The closest was “Dancing in the Dark,” which peaked at No. 2 in 1984.
Springsteen on Broadway
In 2017, Springsteen made his Broadway debut in Springsteen on Broadway. Held at the Walter Kerr Theatre, the solo effort featured the artist performing some of his hits and sharing stories of his influences and formative years. After receiving a special Tony Award in June 2018, presented by Billy Joel, Springsteen closed out his show at the end of the year.
The following summer, Springsteen’s music was the focal point of the movie Blinded by the Light, about a British teenager of Pakistani descent who draws inspiration from the working-class yearnings of The Boss. According to director Gurinder Chadha, Springsteen expressed his appreciation of the film after a screening, saying, “Thank you for looking after me so beautifully.”
Net Worth
According to Celebrity Net Worth, Springsteen’s total net worth is valued around $650 million as of September 2023.
His net worth was boosted greatly in December 2021, when Springsteen sold his music catalog to Sony for an estimated $550 million—including separate deals for his recorded work and his songwriting rights. Sony owns the Columbia record label under which the singer worked throughout his career. “During the last 50 years, the men and women of Sony Music have treated me with the greatest respect as an artist and as a person. I’m thrilled that my legacy will continue to be cared for by the company and people I know and trust,” the singer said at the time in a statement.
Marriages and Children
After the whirlwind of commercial success that followed Born in the U.S.A., Springsteen met and married actor Julianne Phillips in 1985. The marriage quickly began to fall apart, however, and Springsteen began an affair with E Street Band backup singer Patti Scialfa, who shared his working-class New Jersey background. Phillips filed for divorce in 1989.
Springsteen moved in with Scialfa, and they had two children—a son named Evan and a daughter named Jessica—together before officially marrying in 1991. Their third child and younger son, Samuel, was born in 1994.
Jessica is a professional equestrian who began riding horses on the family’s farm in Colts Neck Township, New Jersey. She competed for Team USA at the 2020 Olympics—postponed to the following year because of the COVID-19 pandemic—and won a silver medal in the team jumping competition.
Samuel—a firefighter for Jersey City, New Jersey—and his partner welcomed a daughter, Lily Harper Springsteen, in 2022, making Bruce and Patti grandparents for the first time.
Politics
Springsteen’s liberal politics became more pronounced as he became a strong backer of 2008 Democratic presidential candidate Barack Obama. When Obama won the election, “The Rising” was the first song played at the victory party, and Springsteen went on to open the show at Obama’s inaugural celebration.
Honoring Springsteen at the Kennedy Center in 2009, Obama said, “I may be the President, but he is The Boss.” Springsteen campaigned for Obama’s reelection in 2012, and the president later named the music icon a recipient of the Presidential Medal of Freedom in 2016. Springsteen was also tapped as one of the performers during a prime-time virtual celebration for Joe Biden’s presidential inauguration in 2021.
Fact Check: We strive for accuracy and fairness. If you see something that doesn’t look right, contact us!
The Biography.com staff is a team of people-obsessed and news-hungry editors with decades of collective experience. We have worked as daily newspaper reporters, major national magazine editors, and as editors-in-chief of regional media publications. Among our ranks are book authors and award-winning journalists. Our staff also works with freelance writers, researchers, and other contributors to produce the smart, compelling profiles and articles you see on our site. To meet the team, visit our About Us page: https://www.biography.com/about/a43602329/about-us
Tyler Piccotti first joined the Biography.com staff as an Associate News Editor in February 2023, and before that worked almost eight years as a newspaper reporter and copy editor. He is a graduate of Syracuse University. When he's not writing and researching his next story, you can find him at the nearest amusement park, catching the latest movie, or cheering on his favorite sports teams.
