By Wonderwall.com Editors
10:30am PDT, Sep 25, 2022
_
During his mind-blowing 49-year career, Bruce Springsteen has sold more than 150 million albums, won 20 Grammy Awards (along with an Oscar and a Tony), put out 20 studio albums, and is still rocking out just as hard on stage as he did as an upstart young singer from Asbury Park, New Jersey. Join Wonderwall.com as we celebrate Bruce's 73rd birthday on Sept. 23, 2022, with a stroll down memory lane and pictures of The Boss from his glory days.
Keep reading for the best photos from the singer's life and career…
RELATED: What rock stars looked like when they were young
_
Bruce Springsteen was born in Long Branch, New Jersey, on Sept. 23, 1949, to mom Adele, a legal secretary, and father Douglas, a bus driver. An unremarkable student who was drawn to music from an early age, Bruce watched The Beatles' now-iconic appearance on "The Ed Sullivan Show" in 1964 and was inspired to buy his first guitar for $18.95. The Jersey boy (seen here in an undated portrait taken circa 1970) began playing local venues with a band called the Rogues and formed a new group — which eventually became known as the E Street Band — to put out his first album, "Greetings from Asbury Park, N.J.," in 1973.
RELATED: What country music stars looked like when they were young
_
Bruce Springsteen entered the national consciousness in 1975 with "Born to Run." To promote the release of his album of the same name, he and the E Street Band toured the Northeast including at the famed New York City club The Bottom Line, where Bruce is pictured during a performance on Aug. 15, 1975.
RELATED: See what your favorite '90s rockers look like today
_
Bruce Springsteen has always been known for going all-in on performances — like this one captured in an undated '70s photo with his longtime drummer and friend, Max Weinberg. The percussionist was playing in pit bands for theatrical productions in 1974 when he answered an ad for a drummer capable of playing R&B and jazz. He'd never seen the E Street Band and was unfamiliar with most of their material, but his talents and ability to take cues from Bruce won him the job.
_
In the year after his breakout album "Born to Run" launched him to global stardom in 1975, Bruce Springsteen toured extensively with the E Street Band. The group included his longtime friend and lead guitarist Steve "Little Steven" Van Zandt, seen here behind The Boss in October 1976 after a gig at New York City's famed Palladium club.
_
"Performing is like sprinting while screaming," Bruce Springsteen (in an undated concert photo) once said of his famous high-octane style and marathon shows. "You may be tired, you maybe want to go to sleep. But that walk from the dressing room to the stage, it's never failed me. Something turns on between those two points."
_
Bruce Springsteen, posing with E Street Band saxophonist and founding member Clarence Clemons in an undated portrait, was ultra-close with the musician he called "The Big Man" until his death on June 18, 2011, of complications from a stroke.
_
Bruce Springsteen's biggest commercial success was the 1984 album "Born in the U.S.A.," which sold 15 million copies in America, 30 million worldwide and became one of the bestselling albums of all time with seven singles hitting the Billboard Top 10. The video for "Dancing in the Dark" — filmed in Minneapolis on June 27, 1984 — featured a young Courteney Cox getting pulled onto the stage to dance with Bruce.
_
Bruce Springsteen met singer-songwriter Patti Scialfa in the early '80s at the Stone Pony in New Jersey. In 1984, he asked her to join the E Street Band for the upcoming "Born in the U.S.A. Tour," and she accepted. Patti and Bruce (seen here performing at one of the tour's Los Angeles concerts in October 1984) grew close both on stage and off, but then Bruce met actress Julianne Phillips and married her on May 13, 1985. Keep reading to learn how the singer's love life evolved and came back around to his strong connection with Patti…
_
Bruce Springsteen was introduced to model-actress Julianne Phillips backstage at one of his concerts in Los Angeles in October 1984. The pair married seven months later in her native Lake Oswego, Oregon. In his 2016 autobiography, "Born to Run," the singer describes meeting Julianne, who was 11 years his junior: "She was 24, tall, blond, educated, talented, a beautiful and charming young woman." Differences in background and age, plus Bruce's constant traveling, took a toll — and the couple (pictured at the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame Awards in January 1988) quietly separated in the spring of 1988. The "Sisters" actress filed for divorce in August the same year, citing irreconcilable differences.
_
Look at that chemistry! After his split from wife Julianne Phillips was made public, Bruce Springsteen began romancing his longtime friend and E Street Band member Patti Scialfa (pictured at a performance in Berlin in July 1988).
_
Bruce Springsteen joined forces with artists (from left) Youssou N'dour, Peter Gabriel, Tracy Chapman and Sting to launch Human Rights Now!, a concert tour in support of Amnesty International, at London's Wembley Stadium in September 1988.
_
Bruce Springsteen delivered an emotional eulogy at Clarence Clemons' Florida funeral after his death in June 2011. "I'll miss my friend, his sax, the force of nature his sound was, his glory, his foolishness, his accomplishments, his face, his hands, his humor, his skin, his noise, his confusion, his power, his peace," Bruce (seen here performing in Milan with Clarence in 1985) said of the longtime pal and collaborator, adding: "Clarence doesn't leave the E Street Band when he dies. He leaves when we die."
_
Legends unite! Bruce Springsteen, Patti Scialfa, Paul McCartney and Linda McCartney shared a moment at the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame Induction Ceremony in New York City in January 1994. Bruce has collaborated many times over the years with Paul; keep reading for more photos of the two icons…
_
Bruce Springsteen added an Academy Award to his mantel in March 1994 for his song "Streets of Philadelphia," which appeared on the soundtrack to the Oscar-winning film "Philadelphia." He's seen here hanging with wife Patti Scialfa, the movie's star Tom Hanks (who also picked up an Oscar that evening, for best actor) and his wife Rita Wilson.
_
The times they are a-changin', but Bruce Springsteen and fellow legend Bob Dylan sounded as strong as ever while duetting on the Dylan classic "Forever Young" at the opening of the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame Museum in Cleveland in September 1995.
_
Megastar musician and… proud dad! Bruce Springsteen snapped photos of his young daughter Jessica Springsteen at a horse show in New Jersey in 2001. She started lessons at age 5 and stuck with the sport, going on to become an Olympic equestrian.
_
The Boss, The Cute Beatle and The Piano Man! Bruce Springsteen was in good company at the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame Induction Ceremony in New York City in March 1999 with Paul McCartney and Billy Joel.
_
Bruce Springsteen married E Street Band member Patti Scialfa in June 1991, a year after the birth of their first child, son Evan Springsteen (center). Then came daughter Jessica Springsteen and son Sam Springsteen. Bruce and Patti raised the children on the East Coast, where they often could often be seen out and about — like backstage at the Broadway hit "Spring Awakening" in August 2008.
_
Bruce Springsteen, who has long been politically active and supported Democratic Party causes, performed at the "We Are One" Obama Inaugural Celebration at the Lincoln Memorial in Washington, D.C., in January 2009.
_
Bruce Springsteen cracked a smile alongside Robert De Niro — both men wearing their new Kennedy Center Honors awards — as they chatted with President Barack Obama at a White House reception in December 2009.
_
"If I can wish for anything for my children, it's that they can pursue their dreams and know that if things don't work out, it's OK," Bruce — pictured with wife Patti Scialfa supporting daughter Jessica Springsteen at the Royal Windsor Horse Show in Berkshire, England, in May 2011 — told the U.K.'s Express the same year. "Patti and I will always be there for them."
_
Bruce Springsteen and Steve "Little Steven" Van Zandt's rocky history, detailed in Steven's 2021 memoir, "Unrequited Infatuations," included the guitarist quitting the E Street Band several times. "It was career suicide," he told the New York Post of the time he quit the band to embark on a solo career in 1984, just before "Born in the U.S.A." was released. Steven patched things up with Bruce and ultimately returned to the band in 1999 — just before he took on the role of Silvio Dante on "The Sopranos." Of Bruce's seemingly endless energy, Steven (pictured with The Boss at a New York City charity concert in October 2012) has said: "He's a living example of what happens when you never do drugs your whole life."
_
Bruce Springsteen's political activism and musical prowess made him a favorite of amateur sax player Bill Clinton (seen here with the singer at a campaign event for President Barack Obama in Parma, Ohio, in October 2012).
_
Jersey boys Bruce Springsteen and Jon Bon Jovi joined forces to perform at a benefit concert in New York City two months after Hurricane Sandy battered the East Coast in October 2012. The concert, called "12-12-12 Concert for Sandy Relief," raised more than $30 million.
_
In Bruce Springsteen's 2016 autobiography, "Born to Run," the singer chronicled his tough childhood, including his father's battle with mental illness, and the relentless drive to become a musician that took hold of him as a teen. Bruce — seen here greeting a fan at a promotional event at the Barnes & Noble in his native Freehold, New Jersey, in September 2016 — also opened up in the book about entering therapy to tackle his personal demons, his failed marriage to Julianne Moore and the redemptive love and family life he found with wife Patti Scialfa.
_
President Barack Obama presented Bruce Springsteen with the Presidential Medal of Freedom in November 2016. Two months later, Bruce and wife Patti Scialfa performed a special 15-song acoustic set for the POTUS and first lady Michelle Obama in the White House's East Room two days before the outgoing president delivered his farewell address to the nation.
_
Bruce Springsteen brought his music — and life — to the stage in the fall of 2017 with "Springsteen on Broadway." Originally scheduled for an eight-week run, the show was extended three times and won a Special Tony Award in 2018. It featured a solo Bruce playing guitar and piano, singing, reading excerpts from his 2016 autobiography "Born to Run" and performing other reminiscences. His final performance was on Dec. 15, 2018, the day before a recording of the show dropped on Netflix.
_
Bruce Springsteen and Patti Scialfa's daughter, Jessica Springsteen (pictured at a screening of her dad's concert documentary "Western Stars" in October 2019), has come a long way since she started taking horseback riding lessons at age 5. The occasional model is also one of the top U.S. jumping athletes. She regularly competes all over the world and helped the U.S. Olympic jumping team win the silver medal in Tokyo in 2021 after the games were delayed a year due to the COVID-19 pandemic.
_
Still looking good and rocking out! Bruce Springsteen's fitness regimen includes lifting weights and running several times a week — healthy habits he's maintained for more than 40 years — along with a mostly vegetarian diet. Bruce (seen here performing with John Mellencamp at the Rainforest Fund's 30th Anniversary Benefit Concert in December 2019) also credits therapy for keeping him balanced. "I'm 30 years in analysis," he told The New Yorker in 2012. "It remains incredibly medicinal and centering."
_
A few good fellas! Bruce Springsteen was flanked by honorees Martin Scorsese and Robert De Niro at the National Board of Review Annual Awards Gala in New York City in January 2020.
_
All grown up! Bruce Springsteen and Patti Scialfa walked the red carpet at the Tony Awards in June 2018 with their brood (from left): Evan Springsteen, a musician and songwriter; Sam Springsteen, a New Jersey firefighter; and Jessica Springsteen, an equestrian. In July 2022, Bruce became a first-time grandpa when Sam and his partner welcomed daughter Lily Harper Springsteen.
_
In June 2021, Bruce Springsteen kicked off a limited 31-show run of his Tony-winning 2017 hit "Springsteen on Broadway." He's seen here taking a bow with wife Patti Scialfa in front of a vaccinated audience on reopening night, marking the first full-capacity Broadway performance since the COVID-19 pandemic shuttered New York City's stages in March 2020.
_
Bruce Springsteen thrilled the crowd when his old pal Paul McCartney headlined the U.K.'s Glastonbury Festival on June 25, 2022, and brought out a surprise guest "from the East Coast of America." The pair rocked out to "Glory Days" and The Beatles' "I Wanna Be Your Man."
