A history of depression lies behind Bruce Springsteen’s manic, high-energy concert performances, the singer told The New Yorker in an interview.

The intense rock star, who typically puts on three or four-hour non-stop shows, was quoted saying that at one point he was driven by “pure fear and self-loathing and self-hatred”.

“My issues weren’t as obvious as drugs,” the famously health-conscious and abstemious Mr Springsteen said in the latest issue of The New Yorker. “Mine were different, they were quieter.”

A biographer and friend, Dave Marsh, told The New Yorker that Mr Springsteen felt suicidal in 1982 as fame swept over him.

Troubled by memories of a difficult relationship with his father, Mr Springsteen started seeing a psychotherapist in 1982, the magazine reported.