Bruce is a Canadian singer-songwriter and guitarist. His song styles range from folk to jazz-influenced rock and his lyrics cover a broad range of topics that reveal a passion for human rights, environmental issues, politics, and spirituality.

Cockburn has written more than 300 songs on thirty albums over a career spanning 40 years. Twenty Cockburn records have received a Canadian gold or platinum certification as of 2013, and he has sold nearly one million albums in Canada alone.

In 2014, Cockburn released his memoirs, Rumours of Glory: A Memoir. No book-length biography of Cockburn has been written, but numerous critics have offered interpretations of Cockburn's songwriting phases, political views, and relationship with Christianity.