Bruce Springsteen Day Could Soon Be NJ Holiday

BERGEN COUNTY, NJ – A pitch has been made to make “Bruce Springsteen Day” an official holiday in New Jersey.

State Assemblywoman Valerie Vainieri Huttle, D-Bergen, introduced a proposal Monday to designate Sept. 23 – the Boss’s birthday – as day in honor of the Garden State rocker.

In order to become official, it would need to be passed by the state Assembly and Senate, and then signed by Gov. Phil Murphy.

Vainieri Huttle told NJ Advance Media she thinks “it’s an easy lift” for legislators because Springsteen is regarded as “nothing short of a New Jersey icon,” a “talented musician” and “a hero of the working class.”

“The Governor is respectfully requested to annually issue a proclamation calling upon public officials and citizens of this State to observe ‘Bruce Springsteen Day’ with appropriate activities and programs,” according to her resolution (AJR65).

The assemblywoman told Politco.com she was inspired to draft the proposal after seeing “Springsteen on Broadway.”

According to Politico.com, Vainieri Huttle also said “This Jersey girl could not think of an artist who better exemplifies the beauty of our state, its people and the beauty of humanity than the Boss!”

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Here’s the full text of Vainieri Huttle’s resolution:

This joint resolution designates September 23 of each year as “Bruce Springsteen Day.”

Bruce Springsteen was born in Long Branch, New Jersey on September 23, 1949 and raised in Freehold, New Jersey by his working class family. He watched performances by Elvis Presley in 1956 and the Beatles in 1964 on “The Ed Sullivan Show,” which sparked his interest in rock and roll music.

During the late sixties and early seventies, Bruce Springsteen honed his skills as a songwriter and performer by touring with New Jersey-based bands such as the Castiles and Steel Mill, and met future members of the E Street Band. During this time, Bruce Springsteen’s numerous appearances at venues such as the Stone Pony and the Upstage Club helped establish Asbury Park, New Jersey as a hub for musicians.

In 1972, Bruce Springsteen was signed to Columbia Records and released his first album, “Greetings from Asbury Park.” It was critically-acclaimed and sparked comparisons to Bob Dylan. The nickname “The Boss” was attached to Bruce Springsteen during this time, as he collected the money from performances to pay to band members, and has stuck with him ever since. A career-defining third album, the seminal “Born to Run,” was released in 1975. It retains such a stature that Rolling Stone magazine declared it the 18th greatest album of all time and the title track the 21st greatest song of all time.

Albums released after “Born to Run,” such as “The River” and “Born in the U.S.A.,” solidified Bruce Springsteen, along with the E Street Band, as a phenomenon. These albums led to global sold-out tours and made Bruce Springsteen and the band legends, in part, due to performances in excess of three hours. In the late eighties and into the nineties, Bruce Springsteen released solo albums, won an Academy Award for the song “Streets of Philadelphia” from the film “Philadelphia,” and was inducted into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame.

The attacks of September 11, 2001, inspired Bruce Springsteen to put together the seminal album “The Rising,” which spoke to the grief and loss of New Jersey residents and Americans in general. In total, Bruce Springsteen has gone on to sell 120 million albums worldwide and has won 20 Grammys. Because of his contributions as a musician and citizen of New Jersey, Bruce Springsteen was a member of the inaugural class of inductees into the New Jersey Hall of Fame in 2008. In 2017, Bruce Springsteen broke ground by becoming the first rock and roll musician to have a residency on Broadway, which earned Springsteen a special Tony Award in 2018.

Bruce Springsteen performs at numerous charitable concerts, contributes millions of dollars to philanthropic causes, and encourages his audiences to give back. This includes asking fans to bring canned goods to concerts so the items can be donated to local food banks. Bruce Springsteen and his wife, New Jersey native and E Street Band member Patti Scialfa, still call New Jersey home.

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