Bruce Springsteen is an American singer-songwriter who has recorded almost 400 songs over a career lasting six decades. He began his career in the 1960s with local New Jersey bands the Castiles, Earth, and Steel Mill before embarking on a solo career and signing to Columbia Records in 1972. Since 1973, he has released songs across studio albums, live albums, extended plays, compilation albums, and box sets. His primary backing band is the E Street Band, who have played with him from his debut album to their break-up in the late-1980s, and more sporadically since their reformation in the late 1990s.