Bruce Springsteen Chooses New Jersey Hometown Over Los Angeles, New York

Bruce Springsteen had seen it all at the height of his career in the ‘70s and ‘80s, but despite achieving every rockstar’s dream, he never strayed from his New Jersey roots.
“It’s certainly not Los Angeles,” he said. “I feel safe here. This is where my people are, where the folks I wrote about are. I was never a worldly young man.”
Decades ago, Springsteen and singer-songwriter Patti Scialfa moved from New Jersey to Los Angeles, where they married and began raising their three children: Evan, Jessica, and Sam. However, living in a metropolis away from family wasn’t the right fit for the rocker.
“I was not comfortable in Los Angeles for the time I lived there. I was not comfortable in New York. I don’t think you can find photographs of me falling out of nightclubs in either of them,” he shared. “And when Patti and I had children, we were not comfortable about them growing up in Los Angeles.”
“I grew up on a block that had six houses with my relatives in them, so we came back here,” he said of his New Jersey hometown. “The kids had aunts and uncles nearby and it was a good payoff for not being where the industry is: normal life.”
He added: “You know, it’s funny. You grow up in a place that you weren’t so sure about for a variety of reasons. Then, whether for nostalgia or the feeling that you’re on solid ground, you find yourself returning. Now I love my home town.”
Growing up, Springsteen’s children were kept at a moderate distance from their father’s career, allowing them to live independent lives as adults.
“A lot of times, we just didn’t expose them to it. They came to concerts a few times before going back to their rooms to play video games, and didn’t know much about it beyond what they may have read,” he said. “When they were older they wanted to bring their friends to the show, but apart from that they chose their own lives, developed their own work, found their own partners and families, all at a nice distance from the strangeness of my job.”
Although Springsteen reached peak stardom with songs such as “Born to Run” and “Dancing in the Dark,” his success did not solve all of his problems.
“You think you’ll be going, ‘Woo! I made it!’ But while I was pleased with the success I had, it didn’t clear 30 years of psychological difficulty. It didn’t come with a broom that allowed me to sweep away my problems. They stayed, as did success. Now I had to figure out how to manage both things,” he said.
“Success is lovely, but it is not something that can take care of your psychological wellbeing,” he added. “That’s your job and your cross to bear. And you have to figure it out so you don’t pass it on to your children and your children’s children.”
Bruce Frederick Joseph Springsteen was born on September 23, 1949, in Long Branch, New Jersey. He told The Sunday Times that he was determined to have a career in music by the age of 14.
“I didn’t always know what I was doing but I knew what I was feeling, and I was feeling better when I discovered music and songwriting. That’s why, from the age of 14, I knew what I wanted to do,” he said.
During his early career, Springsteen performed with bands, including “The Castiles” and “Steel Mill” before forming what would be known as the “E Street Band.” In 1973, he released his debut album “Greetings from Asbury Park, N.J.” followed by “The Wild, the Innocent & the E Street Shuffle” just months later.
In 1984, Springsteen’s career soared with the release of “Born in the U.S.A,” selling over 30 million copies worldwide and becoming one of the best-selling albums in history. In the title track, the singer-songwriter expressed disapproval regarding the treatment of Vietnam veterans. Hit singles from the album include “Dancing in the Dark,” “Cover Me,” and “Glory Days.”