How did the greats become the greats? And what did it cost them to get there? Legend is the award-winning music biography series from BBC Radio 4 exploring the lives of pioneering artists who shaped modern music.

In Legend: The Bruce Springsteen Story, we discover how a scrawny, long-haired introvert from New Jersey became the iconic, muscular – and oft-misunderstood – rock star of the 1980s, and ultimately the eloquent elder statesmen he is now. What does his story reveal about America today?

Across the series, Laura Barton takes a front-row seat at five key gigs which illuminate a different side of The Boss. She travels to Asbury Park in 1971 to hear how teenage Bruce began to learn his magic trick at The Upstage Club. She hears about his nerve-wracking London Hammersmith gig in 1975, the electrifying final night of the Born in the U.S.A tour in 1985, and his emotional homecoming show at St Rose of Lima school gym in 1996. Lastly, Laura heads to Milan to witness the final concert of his 2025 Land of Hope and Dreams tour.

Featuring Bruce in his own words across the decades, alongside voices from the E Street Band, devoted fans, biographers, and critics.

Listen first on BBC Sounds.

A BBC Audio Production for BBC Radio 4

Musician and songwriter Joe Stilgoe and Oscar-winning composer and arranger Anne Dudley join Jeffrey Boakye and Anna Phoebe to add the final five tracks of the series, taking us from calypso to K-pop via Beethoven and Brubeck.

Add to Playlist returns on 14 November.

Producer: Jerome Weatherald

The five tracks in this week's playlist:

Calypso Queen by Calypso Rose

Other music in this episode:

Disco Inferno by The Trammps

Welsh harpist Catrin Finch and musician and composer Rhodri Marsden join Jeffrey Boakye and Anna Phoebe as they add five more tracks, with unexpected and surprising connections. The eclectic music choices range from an Americana classic knocked off in just 30 mins to the winner of this year's Ivor Novello Award for Best Album, via a reworking of a Bach organ sonata for piano.

Producer: Jerome Weatherald

The five tracks in this week's playlist:

Louie Louie by The Kingsmen

Other music in this episode:

P.I.M.P. by Bacao Rhythm & Steel Band

Trombonist, arranger and big band leader Callum Au, and composer, pianist and singer Natalie Duncan, are today's studio guests as they look for unexpected links that connect five disparate tracks. With Anna Phoebe and Jeffrey Boakye, they head from an early Adele classic to a reinterpretation of a Roberta Flack hit via a 15-minute reworking by Duke Ellington of one of his most celebrated works.

Producer: Jerome Weatherald

The five tracks in this week's playlist:

Chasing Pavements by Adele

Krupastrophe by Callum Au & Louis Dowdeswell

Saxophonist and Radio 3 broadcaster Jess Gillam and pianist Keelan Carew are Jeffrey Boakye and Anna Phoebe's studio guests as they add the next five tracks, taking us from an east London housing estate to Heaven, via a certain celebrated Norwegian hall of a Mountain King.

Producer: Jerome Weatherald

The five tracks in this week's playlist:

Ill Manors by Plan B

Other music in this episode:

Ain't Nobody Here But Us Chickens by Louis Jordan & His Tympany Five

With three weeks remaining of this year's BBC Proms, Jeffrey Boakye and Anna Phoebe present a Proms-themed edition. Studio guests are the celebrated trumpeter Alison Balsom, who'll be performing in this year’s Last Night of the Proms, and bassoonist, Radio 3 and Proms presenter Linton Stephens. Expect music from the Proms and beyond as we head from a live, scaled-back Springsteen anthem to the Outer Hebrides, via Mendelssohn, Shostakovich and Andrew Lloyd Webber.

The five tracks in this week's playlist:

Born in the USA (live) by Bruce Springsteen

Other music in this episode:

A Night on the Bare Mountain by Modest Mussorgsky

You can listen to every Prom and unmissable moments from across the season on BBC Sounds. Just search ‘Proms’.

Jeffrey Boakye and Anna Phoebe return with a new series, in the company of two studio guests - Spanish-American singer-songwriter and composer Victoria Canal, and baritone and composer Roderick Williams. Kicking things off with that Rickrolling earworm, the first five tracks include a celebrated Bizet composition and some playful Lovecats with a very distinctive bassline.

Producer: Jerome Weatherald

The five tracks in this week's playlist:

Never Gonna Give You Up by Rick Astley

Other music in this episode:

Finale of the William Tell Overture by Gioachino Rossini, arr Hans Zimmer

Wolf Hall composer Debbie Wiseman and conductor Ben Gernon join Jeffrey Boakye and Anna Phoebe as they add the final five tracks to the playlist for the current series. From the UK's first Eurovision winner to a heavy metal classic via Europe's second-longest river, the team wrap up the series before returning in August.

Producer: Jerome Weatherald

The five tracks in this week's playlist:

Puppet on a String by Sandie Shaw

Other music in this episode:

Somebody That I Used to Know by Gotye

Star organist Anna Lapwood and singer/songwriter Andrew Roachford join Jeffrey Boakye and Anna Phoebe to add tracks 496-500 in this 100th edition of the show! What better way to celebrate than a double dose of organ, and a trip to Mumbai, Hawaii and Cape Verde?

Producer: Jerome Weatherald

The five tracks in this week's playlist:

Thunder and Blazes (Entry of the Gladiators) by Julius Fučík

Other music in this episode:

Top Hat, White Tie & Tails by Fred Astaire

Jazz pianist Ashley Henry and bassoonist Amy Harman join Jeffrey Boakye and Anna Phoebe to add five more tracks to the playlist, taking us from a Bowie dance classic to Marvin Gaye via an unexpected rare, live, performance by a jazz icon in a school in California, surprisingly recorded by the caretaker in 1968.

Producer: Jerome Weatherald

The five tracks in this week's playlist:

Modern Love by David Bowie

Other music in this episode:

Take it Higher by Ashley Henry