Everyone knows he was born in the USA but it is Bruce Springsteen 's European immigrant roots - and his family's 110-year American dream - that have now been celebrated.
Accompanied by his proud mother and aunts - the women who he said "provided me with place" and "filled my family and all of my work with great meaning" - the rocker from New Jersey received an Ellis Island Family Heritage Award.
The Statue of Liberty-Ellis Island Foundation presents the award to immigrants or their descendants "who have made a major contribution to the American experience."
Also honoured were investment banker Peter G Peterson, Avon chief Andrea Jung and basketball player Dikembe Mutombo.
"You can't really know who you are and where you're going unless you know where you came from," Springsteen said.
His maternal great-grandmother, Raffaela Zerilli, arrived at Ellis Island from Vico Equense, Italy in 1900, bringing with her five children.
They joined her husband in Manhattan's West Village. One of the children, Antonio, grew up and married Adela Sorrentino.
Their youngest daughter Adele, now 85, went on to marry Irish-American Douglas Springsteen. The Springsteens raised their three children in New Jersey.
When Bruce was 16, his mother borrowed money to buy a guitar, an event he later chronicled in song in The Wish. He taught himself to play it and went on to sell more than 120 million albums worldwide
Springsteen , who played at President Barack Obama's inauguration, said his mother "held our family together under just great, great, great difficulty. Thank you, Mom. I love you very much".
Accompanied by his proud mother and aunts - the women who he said "provided me with place" and "filled my family and all of my work with great meaning" - the rocker from New Jersey received an Ellis Island Family Heritage Award.
The Statue of Liberty-Ellis Island Foundation presents the award to immigrants or their descendants "who have made a major contribution to the American experience."
Also honoured were investment banker Peter G Peterson, Avon chief Andrea Jung and basketball player Dikembe Mutombo.
"You can't really know who you are and where you're going unless you know where you came from," Springsteen said.
His maternal great-grandmother, Raffaela Zerilli, arrived at Ellis Island from Vico Equense, Italy in 1900, bringing with her five children.
They joined her husband in Manhattan's West Village. One of the children, Antonio, grew up and married Adela Sorrentino.
Their youngest daughter Adele, now 85, went on to marry Irish-American Douglas Springsteen. The Springsteens raised their three children in New Jersey.
When Bruce was 16, his mother borrowed money to buy a guitar, an event he later chronicled in song in The Wish. He taught himself to play it and went on to sell more than 120 million albums worldwide
Springsteen , who played at President Barack Obama's inauguration, said his mother "held our family together under just great, great, great difficulty. Thank you, Mom. I love you very much".
