Grammy and MusiCares Names 2013 Recipient

The annual week long Grammy Awards gala is still months away, but the Recording Academy has named Bruce “The Boss” Springsteen as the 2013 MusiCares Person of the Year. Each yea the Recording Academy awards a philanthropic musician with the title of Person of the Year for their contributions to music and charitable endeavours.

Springsteen will be honoured at a gala celebration on Grammy weekend that includes a dinner, an auction, and a tribute concert with award winning artists performing Springsteen’s music on February 8, 2013. Speaking on the 20 time Grammy Award winning artist; Recording Academy President Neil Portnow said, “Springsteen is a truly gifted and Renaissance artist of our time, a national treasure, and an exemplary humanitarian. His career is a testament to the power of creative excellence, and his contributions as a philanthropist speak to the tenacity of the human spirit. We are privileged and honoured to pay tribute to Bruce this year as our MusiCares Person of the Year.”

The MusiCares Foundation offers Financial, medical and educational help for musicians in time of need. Two-thousand-thriteen will mark 23 years of the MusiCares gala.

In 2013 Springsteen will celebrate 40 years in the music business. His debut album – “Greetings from Asbury Park, NJ” – was released in 1973 and by 1975 he was gracing not just the covers of albums; but magazine covers as well.

Along with his 20 Grammy Awards Springsteen has released 17 studio albums, won an Academy Award for the “Streets of Philadelphia”, earned a Kennedy Center Honours, is a member of the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame, inducted into the Songwriters Hall of Fame, a member of the New Jersey Hall of Fame, a Polar Prize winner, a Brit Award winner, and has been the featured performer during halftime at the Super Bowl. Springsteen’s album “Bruce Springsteen and the E Street Band Live: 1975-1985” has been certified 13 times platinum by the RIAA – Recording Industry Association of America” and has earned a Diamond Award for selling over 10 million copies in the US. Columbia Records all time best selling record was the Springsteen song “Born in the USA” and sold 15 million copies.

Bruce Frederick Joseph Springsteen was born on September 23, 1949 in Long Branch, New Jersey the middle of three children. A young Bruce became interested in music after seeing Elvis on “The Ed Sullivan Show”. While still a teen Springsteen became the lead singer for his first band – The Castiles.

Springsteen played along the Jersey shore for years before the man they call “The Boss” came to prominence in the seventies with his debut album “Greetings from Asbury Park, N.J.”; offering an “alternative” to disco, metal, and arena rock music. After performing 12 original songs playing piano and guitar, Springsteen was signed to Columbia; where he has remained since 1972.

In 1975 “Born to Run” was released as a single; and “The Boss” has been running hits up the charts ever since.

In the four plus decades since Springsteen first emerged on the music charts, he has had his music appear in over 100 movies and television shows around the world including “St. Elsewhere”, “Risky Business”, “Mask”, “Wise Guys”, “Freedomffest: Nelson Mandela’s 70th Birthday”, “Philadelphia”, “Dead Man Walking”, “Jerry Maguire”, “Cop Land”, “The Wedding Singer”, “Big Daddy”, “Spin City”, “The Perfect Storm”, “Jersey Girl”, “The Sopranos”, “Cold Case”, “CSI: NY”, “One Tree Hill”, “How I Met Your Mother”, “Glasonbury 2009”, “Dancing on Ice”, “Dancing with the Stars”, and “Glee”.