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US rock legend Bruce Springsteen (66), lovingly known as ‘The Boss’ has a new memoir ‘Born To Run’ due for release in October 2016 and in it he acknowledges the many personal issues that have hit him during his long music career.
One aspect he has been very open about in recent interviews (including Vanity Fair) is that of depression.
Depression can be something that many of us will at some point in our lives develop. Springsteen very openly talks about how he has been in therapy for over 30 years and that his relationship with his father was a key factor in his condition being diagnosed.
That diagnosis was of clinical depression and the fact that his father never told him he ‘loved him’ could be a large part of that.
His father Doug had a long history mental illness and alcoholism. Bruce in interviews and his book has said he was concerned those elements of his parent’s life could rear their head in his own.
When his father had a stroke it was still not a way for the man to fix things with his son.
Springsteen has been noted as saying that during his early sixties he felt under great pressure and ‘crushed’ by this depression.
His biggest fear was that ‘I may get sick enough to get to the stage where I become a lot more like my father than I thought I could’. The singer/songwriter has previously talked about having suicidal thoughts.
His touring schedule and live performances are as he says ‘the trustiest form of self-medication’.
Bruce Springsteen is an old school rocker who has been able to maintain his creditability and remain as vital to the genre as he ever was.
His honesty about his depression and his ability to still produce good honest music should be an even bigger reason to buy this new memoir of a man who has had his finger on the pulse of rock for decades and will keep doing so until he decides to call it a day.
This candid and vivid account of depression will also offer many of us hope and confidence if this condition ever comes into our lives.
If a man who has sold multi-millions of albums across the globes, sold out arenas, topped countless charts and so much more can be honest about this, here’s hoping it can help us all.
