Steven Van Zandt

• 1. Introduction

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  Steven Van Zandt answers to several names. Born Steven Lento, he is also known as Little Steven and as Miami Steve, and each name marks a different stretch of his working life. In Bruce Springsteen's E Street Band he plays guitar and mandolin. In 2014 he was inducted into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame as a member of that group. Yet the band is only one thread in a career that runs through songwriting, record production, television, radio and political protest. This documentary follows the questions that career raises. What did a teenager from New Jersey bring to Springsteen's circle? Why would he ever step away from the band? And how did a musician with no acting experience land a lead role in a television drama?

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• 2. Jersey Shore Beginnings

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  Steven Lento was born on the 22nd of November 1950 in Winthrop, Massachusetts, and raised in Watertown. His mother remarried in 1957, and he took the surname of his stepfather, William Brewster Van Zandt. The actor Billy Van Zandt is his half-brother, and the actress Adrienne Barbeau is his former sister-in-law. He also has a half-sister, Kathi, who is a writer. His Italian ancestry runs through Calabria, where one grandfather was born, and Naples, home of one grandmother's parents. When he was seven, the family moved to Middletown Township, New Jersey.

  Two television broadcasts in 1964 set the direction of his life. He watched the Beatles on The Ed Sullivan Show and the Rolling Stones on Hollywood Palace. Years later he called the Beatles "The Big Bang of Rock n' Roll". At thirteen his favorite Beatle was George Harrison, and he eventually became friends with Paul McCartney and Ringo Starr. He also names the Dave Clark Five, Ravi Shankar and the culture of India among his early influences.

  Around August 1964 he formed his first band, the Whirlwinds, which did not last long. The Mates followed in 1965, and in May 1966 he joined a group called the Shadows.

  School was harder going than music. Middletown High School expelled him for refusing to cut his long hair, and he returned in 1968, mostly to please his mother. As a teenager he also went headfirst through a windshield in a car accident, which left several scars. He began wearing hats to hide them, and later the large bandanas that became his trademark look.

  One night the Shadows were playing the Hullabaloo club in Middletown. Van Zandt was performing "Happy Together" when a young Bruce Springsteen, in the audience, heard him.

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• 3. The E Street Band

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  Steel Mill and the Bruce Springsteen Band both had Van Zandt in the lineup before the E Street Band existed. In the early 1970s he left music for two years and worked in road construction. He returned to show business in 1973 on tour with The Dovells. That tour ended in Miami on the 31st of December 1974, at Dick Clark's Good Old Rock 'n' Roll Show in the Deauville Star Theater. Back in New Jersey he kept wearing Hawaiian shirts because he disliked winter, and the habit earned him the nickname Miami Steve.

  His way into Springsteen's band ran through a horn part. On The Howard Stern Show he confirmed that he arranged the horns on "Tenth Avenue Freeze-Out" in 1975, when Springsteen was at a loss. A spot in the E Street Band followed soon after. In the documentary Wings for Wheels, Springsteen said Van Zandt was partly responsible for the signature guitar line in "Born to Run". He called it "Arguably Steve's greatest contribution to my music." Van Zandt officially joined on the 20th of July 1975, at the first show of the Born to Run Tour.

  In those early years he handled much of the band's lead guitar in concert. A 1975 concert film packaged with the Born to Run 30th Anniversary Edition shows this. It was later released as the CD Hammersmith Odeon London '75.

  He left in early 1984, shortly before the Born in the U.S.A. Tour began, to pursue his solo career. He still appeared as a special guest at several concerts in 1984 and 1985, and he is in the music video for "Glory Days". The band reformed briefly in 1995, and he has been back on an ongoing basis since 1999.

  The returning Van Zandt found a different job waiting. Nils Lofgren was a capable lead guitarist, and Springsteen was taking far more solos as his music grew more guitar-centered. Van Zandt's playing slipped mostly into a rhythm role. He told Howard Stern he was fine as second in command, having already run things with his solo music and on Lilyhammer.

  On stage, only Clarence Clemons usually drew more of the audience's attention. Van Zandt mugged and posed for the crowd, and sometimes sang rough, nasal backing vocals into a microphone he shared with Springsteen. He is prominent on "Glory Days", "Two Hearts", "Land of Hope and Dreams", "Badlands", "Ramrod" and "Murder Incorporated". In live versions of "Long Walk Home" he took an outro vocal solo, and in "Prove It All Night" he trades lines with Springsteen.

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• 4. Behind the Console

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  In 1974 Van Zandt began writing and producing for another Jersey Shore act, Southside Johnny and the Asbury Jukes. He co-founded the group, along with a horn section called The Miami Horns, named after his own nickname. He helped shape its rhythm and blues style, wrote the bulk of its music and produced its first three albums. His song "I Don't Want to Go Home" became their signature, and he co-wrote others with Springsteen. He also produced their most acclaimed record, Hearts of Stone. These contributions made him a key figure in the Jersey Shore sound.

  He produced two Gary U.S. Bonds albums as well. Then he shared production credits on two classic Springsteen records, The River and Born in the U.S.A. The first Springsteen song he co-produced was "Hungry Heart". His 1983 composition "I Am A Patriot" was later covered by Jackson Browne on the 1989 album World in Motion. He also worked without credit on the Iron City Houserockers' record Have A Good Time (But Get Out Alive).

  Not every project worked out. His production of Lone Justice's second album, Shelter, ended the career of the Los Angeles cowpunk band.

  In 1989 he wrote "While You Were Looking at Me" for Michael Monroe's album Not Fakin' It. He also co-wrote the video hits "Dead, Jail or Rock'n Roll" and "Smoke Screen" for that record. In 1991 he produced a successful album called Spirit of Love for the Nigerian reggae star Majek Fashek. The following year he produced the debut album from Arc Angels, a band based in Austin, Texas.

  The year 1992 also brought "All Alone on Christmas", which he wrote and produced for the soundtrack of Home Alone 2: Lost in New York. It gave singer Darlene Love her first hit since "A Fine, Fine Boy" in 1963, thirty-one years earlier.

  In 1994 he produced the self-titled debut of the punk band Demolition 23, which featured former Hanoi Rocks members Michael Monroe and Sami Yaffa. He co-wrote six of its songs. In 1995 he helped Meat Loaf with "Amnesty Is Granted" on the album Welcome to the Neighborhood. In 2004 he gave Nancy Sinatra the song "Baby Please Don't Go" for her self-titled album.

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• 5. Little Steven Alone

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  In the summer of 1981, EMI-America approached Van Zandt with a record deal. His work with the E Street Band, Southside Johnny and Gary U.S. Bonds had made him a name. He began fronting an on-and-off group, Little Steven and the Disciples of Soul, while Springsteen was working on Nebraska. Dino Danelli played drums, Jean Beauvoir played bass, and the Miami Horns rounded out the lineup. The group made its live debut at the Peppermint Lounge on the 18th of July 1982.

  His debut album, Men Without Women, came out in October 1982 and earned the strongest reviews of his solo career. Jay Cocks of TIME magazine named it among the ten best albums of the year. Van Zandt later described his first five albums as parts of a political concept cycle. Its subjects are the individual, the family, the state, the economy and religion. The music ranges from soul to hard rock to world music.

  The River Tour of 1980-81 changed how he saw the world. Playing abroad, he began to understand how other countries perceived Americans, and politics took over his songwriting. His second album, Voice of America, was explicitly political and did best on the U.S. albums chart. One of its leading singles, "Solidarity", is a general statement of common ground between nations. Still, none of his albums sold well.

  In 1987 he released Freedom - No Compromise and opened some U.S. dates on U2's Joshua Tree Tour. Those American audiences received him badly, but the record and the concerts were popular in Europe. His 1989 album Revolution attracted little attention.

  Contract trouble delayed the next one. Born Again Savage was recorded in 1994 but not released until 1999. In 1995 he wrote, produced and sang "The Time of Your Life" for the film Nine Months, and he toured with Bon Jovi on the first European leg of their These Days Tour.

  In 2016 he revived the Disciples of Soul for the first time since 1990. They played a European show at the O2 Indigo Lounge in London on the 29th of October. Richie Sambora was among the guitarists. Van Zandt insisted he was not leaving the E Street Band and was touring only because that band was off the road.

  The revival produced Soulfire, released on the 19th of May 2017. That month he also gave a commencement speech and received an honorary degree from Rutgers University. The live album Soulfire Live! followed in 2018. A special guest at one London show was Paul McCartney, who joined him on "I Saw Her Standing There". For the 2018 film The Christmas Chronicles, the Disciples recorded Elvis Presley's "Santa Claus Is Back in Town" with actor Kurt Russell on lead vocals.

  Summer of Sorcery arrived on the 3rd of May 2019, his first album of new original material in twenty years. He wrote, arranged and produced it at his Renegade Studios in New York City. A tour began that May but was cancelled in September because of illness. In December the box set Rock N Roll Rebel: The Early Work appeared, limited to 1,000 copies.

  One album is still missing. In 1989 he recorded Nobody Loves and Leaves Alive with his garage band, The Lost Boys. Several of its tracks were heard on The Sopranos and Lilyhammer, but the album remains unreleased. He calls it his favorite recording and wants to wait until it can be "properly promoted".

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• 6. Artists Against Apartheid

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  Sun City was a resort in South Africa that catered to wealthy white tourists and upheld the country's racist apartheid policies. Many famous entertainers chose to perform there anyway. In 1985, Van Zandt and the record producer Arthur Baker founded Artists United Against Apartheid in response. The group recorded a song called "Sun City", in which the performers pledged never to play the resort.

  The response was large. Dozens of recording artists took part, including Springsteen, U2, Bob Dylan, Peter Gabriel, Lou Reed, Miles Davis, Joey Ramone, Tom Petty, Afrika Bambaataa, Ringo Starr and Run DMC. The project was meant to be a single song. Other musicians kept contributing pieces of their own, and it grew into a full-length album.

  It was one of the first collaborations among major recording stars to back a political cause rather than a social one. The record was only modestly successful, but it raised over $1 million for anti-apartheid efforts. Its main aim was to draw attention to the policy and to support a cultural boycott of South Africa. It played a part in the wide international effort that eventually saw the South African government end apartheid.

  Van Zandt also produced an award-winning documentary, The Making of Sun City. He oversaw a book about the project and a teaching guide to go with it.

  The cause stayed with him. In 1988 he performed at the Nelson Mandela 70th Birthday Tribute concert at Wembley Stadium. In 1989 he joined the charity single "Spirit of the Forest", dedicated to saving rain forests. In later years he worked to raise awareness about U.S. military interference in the governments of Central America.

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• 7. Silvio Dante and Beyond

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  At the 1997 Rock and Roll Hall of Fame ceremony, Van Zandt inducted the Rascals, and David Chase was watching. Chase, the creator of The Sopranos, liked his humor and his presence and invited him to audition. Van Zandt had never acted professionally. He went in for the role of Tony Soprano. HBO felt that part should go to an experienced actor, so Chase wrote a new one for him.

  That character was Silvio Dante, a level-headed but deadly mob consigliere who also owns a strip club. Van Zandt began playing him in 1999. His real-life wife, Maureen Santoro, was cast as Silvio's wife, Gabriella. The couple had married in New York City on the 31st of December 1982. Springsteen was best man, Little Richard presided, and Percy Sledge sang "When a Man Loves a Woman". Van Zandt later said: "Casting me was a ballsy move. David handed me a gift by making me an actor. It changed my career."

  Other screen work followed. For the concert DVD Tussles in Brussels in 2004, he recorded the narration of a short biography of the band The Hives. In 2010 he appeared as himself in the Norwegian soap opera Hotel Cæsar, on the channel TV2 Norway.

  In 2011 he starred in, co-wrote and executive produced Lilyhammer, in English and Norwegian. It was the first original Netflix series, and it was made with the Norwegian broadcaster NRK. The title echoes Lillehammer, the city that hosted the 1994 Winter Olympics. Van Zandt plays an ex-mafioso who enters witness protection and flees to Norway after testifying against a colleague.

  The premiere on NRK on the 25th of January 2012 drew 998,000 viewers, about one fifth of Norway's population. The show ran three seasons before cancellation in 2015. From the second season on he performed all of its music. He recorded Frank Sinatra's "My Kind of Town" with new lyrics about Lillehammer, performed it on The Tonight Show Starring Jimmy Fallon on the 9th of December 2014, and released Lilyhammer: The Score a week later.

  In The Irishman, produced by Martin Scorsese, he plays the singer Jerry Vale, lip-syncing Vale's recording of "Al Di La".

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• 8. Radio, Labels, Classrooms

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  The 500th broadcast of Little Steven's Underground Garage took place on the 20th of October 2011 before a sold-out crowd at the Hard Rock Cafe in Times Square. Guests included Green Day, Steve Buscemi, Vincent Pastore, Tim Robbins and Debbie Harry. Van Zandt has hosted the weekly syndicated show since 2002. It celebrates garage rock and related styles from the 1950s to the present. By December 2006 more than 200 U.S. radio stations carried it, and it also reached listeners in Spain and Finland.

  He is program director for two channels on the Sirius Satellite Radio network. One, Underground Garage, shares the show's musical mandate, with hosts such as Andrew Loog Oldham, Joan Jett and Kim Fowley. The other, Outlaw Country, plays the edgier side of country music, roots and contemporary.

  In December 2004 he launched his own label, Wicked Cool Records. Its first release, on the 14th of December 2004, was Fuzz for the Holidays by Davie Allan and the Arrows. The label also issues volumes of The Coolest Songs in the World, drawn from his radio show's weekly feature of that name.

  In 2007 he started a non-profit, the Rock and Soul Forever Foundation, and its project TeachRock. TeachRock builds a national K-12 curriculum with lesson plans in social studies, music, language arts and media studies. He is also an honorary board member of Little Kids Rock, which gave him its "Big Man of the Year" award in 2013.

  His taste has reached other corners of popular culture. In September 2006 he assembled an all-star band to back Hank Williams Jr. for the Monday Night Football season premiere on ESPN. Little Richard, Joe Perry and Questlove were in the lineup. Since 2007 he has directed the committee that selects new music for the video game Rock Band.

  His memoir, Unrequited Infatuations, was published by Hachette Books on the 28th of September 2021. On the 26th of April 2024 the street where his family lived was renamed Van Zandt Way.

  In June 2025 he missed some shows on the Springsteen and E Street Band 2023-2025 Tour with what he assumed was food poisoning. It proved to be appendicitis, and he needed emergency surgery in San Sebastián, which went well.

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