60 Birthday Facts About Bruce Springsteen

Bruce Springsteen turns 67 today. To mark the occasion, here are a bunch of facts about the legendary artist. Starting with this: the video for 'Glory Days' was filmed in a club called Maxwell's in Hoboken, NJ, part-owned by Frank Sinatra.

U2's Bono inducted Springsteen into the Rock N'Roll Hall Of Fame in 1999, saying of Bruce: "Credibility - you couldn't have more, unless you were dead."

Springsteen has never had a No.1 single in the US, although the Manfred Mann's Earthband cover of Asbury's Park 'Blinded By The Light' hit the top spot in early 1977. The facts in this gallery are all taken from a recent special edition of Uncut magazine devoted to Bruce Springsteen.

The first song that Springsteen learned to play on a guitar was The Beatles' version of 'Twist And Shout'. He has frequently played the song at live shows - it oftens forms part of the encore.

Bruce is a lightweight. When The Hollies covered '4th Of July, Asbury Park (Sandy)' , the band met Springsteen after a show and asked him to take them to a bar serving English beer. Drummer Bobby Elliot calimed Bruce passed out after three pints of Bass bitter.

Photographer Dave Marsh claims fellow students at Ocean County Community College petitioned for Springsteen's expulsion on the grounds of his 'unacceptable weirdness'.

Springsteen bought a 1950 Corvette with his first royalty cheque from 'Born To Run'. It's the first car he ever owned, and now resides in a Rock N'Roll Hall Of Fame exhibition.

In 1975, '4th Of July, Asbury Park (Sandy)' became the first Springsteen single outside the US. Released in Germany only, a printing error saw it entitled 'Sandy (4th July, Asbury Park)'.

Shortly after the release of his first album, Springsteen was drafted in at the 11th hour as part of Chuck Berry's pick-up band at a gig in Maryland. Berry told Bruce "Play for your money, boy!" Springsteen later claimed he was never paid.

Test pressings of 'Born To Run' have a sepia tint and the title printed in a handwritten-style font. A rare Springsteen collectable can change hands for $1000 plus.

Springsteen was uncomfortable with Columbia's decision to market him as the "future of rock" and personally went round the Hammersmith Odeon removing promotional material before the band's first london date on the 'Born To Run' tour.

Springsteen sent a demo of his song 'Fire' to Elvis Presley just weeks before he died. Robert Gordon ultimately recorded the first version, although it was The Pointer Sisters' cover that reached No.2 in the US charts.

Astronauts on a 1999 voyage of space shuttle 'Discovery' were played 'Redezvous' as a wake-up call, before docking with the Hubble telescope. The Boss had a planet named after him that same year.

Following just four European dates for 'Born To Run' in November 1975, Springsteen did not tour 'Darkness On The Edge Of Town' in Europe at all - and did not return to the continent until April 1981.

'Darkness On The Edge Of Town' was NME's album of the year for 1978, ahead of The Jam's 'All Mod Cons', 'This Year's Model' by Elvis Costello, Talking Heads' 'More Songs About Buildings and Food' and 'Africa Stand Alone' by Culture.

In addition to 'The Promised Land' itself, that phrase appears in the lyrics to eight other Springsteen songs including 'Thunder Road' and 'Racing In The Street'.

'The River' was performed in its entirety at New York's Madison Square Garden in November 2009, during the 'Working On A Dream' tour.

'Hungry Heart' was originally written for The Ramones.

'Silver Palomino' was written in tribute to a friend of Bruce's, Fiona Chappel, who died leaving two young sons.

Many of the musicians on the Seeger Sessions album belong to 'The Gotham Playboys', a group who played at two of Springsteen's birthday parties.

'Magic' contains the hidden track 'Terr's Song', a close-mic'd acoustic tribute to Bruce's longtime right-hand man Terry Magovern, who died in his sleep on July 30, 2007.

Barack Obama's election victory speech at Grant park, Chicago, in November 2008 was introduced by Springsteen's 'The Rising' playing over the loudspeakers.

E Street Band organ player Danny Federici died in 2008. By way of tribute, his son Jason contributes accordian to 'Working On A Dream' album track 'The Last Carnival'.

Springsteen played the title track of 'Working On A Dream' - as well as hits including 'Glory Days' and 'Born To Run' - at half-time during the 2009 Super Bowl.

E Street Band drummer Max Weinberg occasionally plays in a Beatles tribute act, 'The Fab Faux', comprising musicians from the house bands of chat show hosts David Letterman and Conan O'Brien.

To the dismay of many sensing an uncharacteristic money-grab, Springsteen issued a single-disc sampler ('18 Tracks') in 1990, which just happened to include three cuts absent from the box's 4-disc, 66-song playlist.

'The Rising' debuted at No.1 on the US chart, and shifted over half a million copies in the US on its first week of sale alone.

Springsteen won both an Oscar and a Golden Globe in 1994 for 'Streets Of Philadelphia.' His title song 'The Wrestler' brought him a second Golden globe in 2009.

A 2006 episode of the US TV crime drama Cold Case used the lyrics of eight Springsteen songs to tell the story of a murder among a group of old high school friends. Series creator Meredith Stiehm initially wanted there to be no other dialogue in the programme.