In “Rosalita,” Bruce Springsteen memorably wrote: “‘Cause a record company, Rosie, just gave me a big advance.” And now the same is apparently true for a book publisher. According to The New York Post, The Boss has received a whopping $10 million advance for his memoirs.
Keith Richards, John Fogerty, Billy Idol, Mick Fleetwood and many others have released their own. Now, at long last, Springsteen will be joining them. Bruce Springsteen’s forthcoming autobiography, entitled Born To Run – named after the 1975 album of the same name – is set to be released September 27th on Simon & Schuster in hardcover, e-book and audio editions.
Born To Run has reportedly been in the works for seven years now, although Springsteen put it off for a while in the interim as fellow classic rock stars like Pete Townshend and Neil Young released their own autobiographies. A post on his official website reveals some of the subject matter of the book – “his relentless drive to become a musician, his early days as a bar band king in Asbury Park and the rise of the E Street Band.” The book will cover everything from Springsteen’s days growing up in Freehold, New Jersey to more nitty-gritty details about the struggles that inspired classic songs like “Born to Run.”
“Writing about yourself is a funny business,” Springsteen notes. “But in a project like this, the writer has made one promise, to show the reader his mind. In these pages, I’ve tried to do this.” Details about how to pre-order Born To Run still have yet to be released, but we’ll keep you posted.
Simon and Schuster has a history with Springsteen. In 2014, it published Outlaw Pete, a collaboration with illustrator Frank Caruso.
Springsteen’s extended The River tour continues through July, taking the legend from the U.S. to Dublin and Rome. During each stop on the North American leg, Springsteen and the E Street Band give an in-sequence performance of the 20 songs from 1980’s The River. Prior to this tour, the singer had only performed the album once in its entirety, during a 2009 concert at New York’s Madison Square Garden. Three-hour-plus sets feature favorites like “Rosalita,” “Dancing in the Dark,” “Thunder Road” and “Born to Run.” So far on tour, Springsteen has paid tribute to two late, great musicians – David Bowie, with a rousing performance of “Rebel Rebel,” and Glenn Frey, with a solo version of the Eagles song “Take It Easy.”
Best Classic Bands‘ contributor Jim Sullivan has received the tour’s Boston date, which you can read here.
