[troutman]

Minister of Music - BRUCE SPRINGSTEEN:

The Boss. The superstar that relates to the common man. His legendary marathon live shows set the standard for rock and roll concerts, without lasers or explosions. The E Street Band is a dynamic and charismatic force. His passionate music is full of drama - celebrations of working men and women, tales of wasted youth and unfulfilled dreams. After 9/11, he was able to put into music and words what we were feeling.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bruce_Springsteen

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 infused with pop hooks, poetic lyrics, and Americana sentiments centered on his native New Jersey.[2]

Springsteen's recordings have included commercially accessible rock albums and somber folk-oriented works. He is known for putting on electrifying live performances that routinely last more than three hours, and sometimes (especially in the earliest concerts of his career) more than four or five.

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. The latter album made him one of the world's most recognized musicians.

He has earned numerous awards for his work, including 20 Grammy Awards, two Golden Globes and an Academy Award, and continues to have a strong global fan base. He has sold more than 65 million albums in the United States and 120 million worldwide.[3] He was a 2009 recipient of the Kennedy Center Honors and in the same year Forbes ranked him 6th in The Celebrity 100.[4]

In 2004, Rolling Stone magazine considered Springsteen the 23rd Greatest Artist Of All Time and the 36th Greatest Singer Of All Time. It also ranked Born to Run and Thunder Road in its 500 Greatest Songs Of All Time list, in 21st and 86th, respectively.

Rolling Stone magazine also ranked 8 out of 16 Springsteen's studio albums in their 500 Greatest Albums Of All Time list, making him the 4th artist with more albums in the list, only behind The Beatles (with 11), Bob Dylan and Rolling Stones (both with 10).