Bruce Springsteen has been presented with the Presidential Medal Of Freedom at a ceremony at the White House.
Outgoing US President Barack Obama bestowed America’s highest civilian honour to The Boss which is “presented to individuals who have made especially meritorious contributions to the security or national interests of the United States, to world peace, or to cultural or other significant public or private endeavours.”
Obama said of Springsteen: “I am the President, he is The Boss. And pushing 70, he is still laying down four-hour live sets. If you have not been at them, he is working! Fire-breathing rock‘n’roll. So I thought twice about giving him a medal named for freedom, because we hope he remains, in his words, a ‘prisoner of rock‘n’roll’ for years to come.”
A range of names from the world of music, TV, film and sports were also honoured at the ceremony, including Tom Hanks, Robert De Niro, Diana Ross, Michael Jordan and Ellen DeGeneres.
Springsteen launched an audio companion to his autobiography Born To Run recently in the shape of Chapter And Verse.
Born To Run has been a huge success since its release, and has hit the top spot on The New York Times Best Sellers list. It’s also reached the no.1 spot in the UK, Ireland, Australia, Sweden, Austria and Sweden.
