* The full story of the last true rock star - 'The Boss', Bruce Springsteen.
In 1975 a pop loving beach boy made his last-gasp shot at stardom - an album called BORN TO RUN! The rest, as they say, is history.
At a time when other ageing rock stars have yielded to burn-out or self-parody, Bruce Springsteen has held his place as a cultural icon. His earth-shattering albums like BORN IN THE USA (which spent 136 weeks in the British charts) still enjoy raucous airplay. Meanwhile, Springsteen has carved out a second career as a social critic, balladeer and purveyor of soundtracks. His work, which has been covered by artists from Frank Sinatra to Sonic Youth, sells a total of 15 million albums annually. His concerts are instant sell-outs the world over. Springsteen's distinctive tearaway anthems and foghorn voice are among pop's most enduring sounds. From cult figure to pin-up (aka 'The Boss') to mega-selling guru, Springsteen is the last true rock star. Christopher Sandford's is the first full-length biography in ten years.
Sandford provides a convincingly complex portrait. - MOJO
Not just rigorously researched and readable, the narrative is as powered and polished as one of The Boss - 40-take songs, the author's passion for detail equally intense, no stone left unturned as we witness the exhausting climb of a driven perfectionist.
UNCUT - 'In an industry known for ephemeral enthusiasms, Bruce Springsteen has remained interesting by successfully reinventing himself half a dozen times. At
This is a long-overdue biography of one of rock's most fascinating figures and Christopher Sandford has a deft turn of phrase--Springsteen's bodyguards ''made Elvis's look like the Algonquin set''--but it is not up to the mark of Sandford's earlier works on - Bruce is one of rock's good guys. In concert he is electrifying; in conversation, illuminating; on record, exhilarating. There is an integrity to his