Winning

"Remember, nobody wins unless everybody wins."
Bruce Springsteen

Bruce Frederick Joseph Springsteen (born September 23, 1949) is an influential American singer, songwriter, and guitarist. He has frequently recorded and toured with the E Street Band. Springsteen is most widely known for his brand of heartland rock infused with pop hooks, poetic lyrics, and Americana sentiments centered around his native New Jersey. His eloquence in expressing ordinary, everyday problems has earned him numerous awards, including fifteen Grammy Awards and an Oscar, along with an international fan base. His most famous albums, Born to Run and Born in the U.S.A., epitomize his penchant for finding grandeur in the struggles of daily life. He has sold over 60 million albums in the U.S. alone.

Springsteen's lyrics often concern men and women struggling to make ends meet. He has gradually become identified with progressive politics. Springsteen 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, 2001 attacks on which his album The Rising reflects.

Springsteen's recordings have tended to alternate between commercially accessible rock albums and somber folk-oriented works. Much of Springsteen's iconic status stems from his concerts and marathon shows in which he and the E Street Band revolve amongst intense ballads, rousing anthems, and party rock and roll songs, with Springsteen telling long whimsical or deeply emotional stories in between.

Springsteen has long had the nickname "The Boss," a term which he was initially reported to dislike but now seems to have come to terms with, as he sometimes jokingly refers to himself as such on stage. The nickname originated when a young Springsteen, playing club gigs with a band in the 1960s, took on the task of collecting the band's nightly pay and distributing it amongst his bandmates.

Springsteen's music has long been intertwined with film. The song (Just Around the Corner to the) Light of Day was written for the early Michael J. Fox/Joan Jett vehicle Light of Day. His work has been used in films (winning him an Oscar for his song "Streets of Philadelphia"); and 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. He was nominated for a second Oscar for "Dead Man Walkin'" from the movie Dead Man Walking. And "Lift Me Up" ran over the credits for the John Sayles film Limbo.