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Today we wish happy birthday to Bruce Springsteen. Bruce, who was born on this day in 1949 in Freehold, New Jersey, is 61. As most know, Springsteen started his career playing in various bar bands in the ’60s and ’70s in Jersey, but was eventually “discovered” by manager Mike Appel, who arranged an audition with John Hammond at Columbia Records. The rest, as they say, is history. Springsteen formed the E Street Band from former members of Steel Mill (one of those bar bands) and after a couple albums finally scored a hit with Born to Run and its title track. Springsteen and the E Street Band earned a reputation for lengthy transcendent live performances, while continuing to release platinum-selling and critically heralded albums. In 1999, Springsteen was inducted into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame. More recently, Columbia announced that it will be releasing The Promise: The Darkness on the Edge of Town Story on November 16th. The six-disc package (three CDs and three DVDs) will include a remastered version of The Darkness on the Edge of Town, two CDs of 21 unreleased songs, two DVDs of live performances and a copy of The Promise: The Making of Darkness on the Edge of Town, a documentary on the making of the album being shown on HBO in October.
There are some things about the Boss that are not as widely known. For instance, many of his songs have been bigger hits for other artists. Here’s a list:
Manfred Mann’s Earth Band, “Blinded by the Light” #1, 1977
Patti Smith, “Because the Night”: #13, 1978
The Pointer Sisters, “Fire”: #2, 1978
Gary U.S. Bonds, “This Little Girl”: #11, 1981
Gary U.S. Bonds, “Out of Work”: #21, 1982
Joan Jett & the Blackhearts, “Light of Day”: #33, 1987
Natalie Cole, “Pink Cadillac”: #5, 1988
Here are the Boss’ stats with his own records:
Platinum albums: 18
Top 10 singles: 12
Grammys: 20
Academy Awards: 1

Fuente: LimeWire Music Blog