Bruce Springsteen

His song "The Ghost of Tom Joad" was inspired by the John Ford film The Grapes of Wrath (1940).

Says his favorite film as a kid was The Searchers (1956).

One of his most famous songs, "Thunder Road", was inspired by the Robert Mitchum movie of the same name, Thunder Road (1958). Cappy Van Dien has the same birthday as Springsteen and is named after his great-grandfather Robert Mitchum and his father Casper Van Dien - Casper Robert Mitchum Van Dien.

Was occasionally confused with Bob Seger in the 1970s and 1980s. They have similar raspy singing voices, utilize saxophone players in their music, and often write songs about the working-class common man.

While he was composing the song "Fire" in the mid 1970's, in his mind he was imagining it being sung by Elvis Presley. Elvis died a few years later, having never heard the song. It became a huge hit for The Pointer Sisters in 1979.

Springsteen's album "Nebraska" (1982) was famously recorded in his home studio on a Tascam 4-track tape recorder using a pair of Shure SM57 mics.

The title for the film Streets of Fire (1984) came from the song written and recorded by Springsteen on his album "Darkness On The Edge Of Town". Original plans were for the song to be featured on the film's soundtrack, but when Springsteen found out it would be rerecorded by other vocalists, he withdrew permission for the song to be used.

1986: Winner of the British Phonographic Industry Award for International Solo Artist.

Paul Schrader asked Springsteen to write a title song for a movie he had written called "Born in the USA". After Springsteen wrote it, he liked the song so much, he used it for his multi-platinum album of the same name instead. As a replacement, Springsteen wrote another song and that song title became the film's new title, Light of Day (1987). That is why Springsteen thanks Schrader in the liner notes of the album.

He inspired and is referred to in the Prefab Sprout song "Cars and Girls" (from their 1988 album "From Langley Park to Memphis").

Sean Penn wrote and directed his first movie, The Indian Runner (1991), loosely based on Springsteen's song, "Highway Patrolman", from his "Nebraska" album from 1982, which was practically a demo tape made in Springsteen's house.

His Oscar-winning song "Streets of Philadelphia" from Philadelphia (1993) was ranked #68 on The American Film Institute's list of "The 100 Years of The Greatest Songs".

He is a fan of "The Daily Show" (1996) and has even anonymously been in the audience during tapings of the show as well as being a guest himself.

He refused to play "The Angry Game" with Kristian Luuk when he appeared on "Sen kväll med Luuk" (1996), a Swedish talk-show. The game is a staring contest, during which the contestants are not allowed to laugh.

1997: Awarded the Polar Music Prize, the Royal Swedish Academy of Music Award.

Father, Douglas "Dutch" Springsteen, died in 1998. Mother's name is Adele. Has two sisters, Virginia and Pamela Springsteen.

1999: Inducted into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame, where Bono of U2 gave the induction speech. When U2 was inducted in 2005, Springsteen gave their induction speech, returning the favor.

1999: Inducted into the Songwriters Hall of Fame.

Fall of 2004: He participated in the Vote for Change concert tour organized to encourage the defeat of George W. Bush in the U.S. presidential election, an effort that ultimately fell short as Bush was re-elected on November 2, 2004.

2004; Radio station 88.5 WXPN performed the 885 greatest songs ever, though they mostly just did rock (Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart wasn't on the list) and Springsteen won first place with "Thunder Road", "Born to Run" following at #6 and then many other songs scattered throughout.

Elected to the New Jersey Hall of Fame in 2007 for his services to music and entertainment (inaugural election). Official induction ceremonies held in May 2008.

His late cousin, Lenny Sullivan, was the assistant road manager for his band for the last 10 years [October 27, 2009].

One of the five winners of the 2009 Kennedy Center Honors. Other 2009 honorees were Robert De Niro, Dave Brubeck, Mel Brooks, and Grace Bumbry.