during the
Working on a Dream Tour in
Valladolid, Spain, in August 2009 Van Zandt grew up in the
Jersey Shore music scene, and was an early friend of
Bruce Springsteen, before the formation of the
E Street Band. The two first met when Springsteen was at the Hullabaloo club in
Middletown, New Jersey, and heard Van Zandt performing "
Happy Together" with the Shadows. They performed together in bands such as
Steel Mill and the Bruce Springsteen Band. During the early 1970s, Van Zandt worked in road construction for two years before returning to show business. In 1973, he toured with
The Dovells. The tour ended in
Miami on December 31, 1974, with
Dick Clark's ''
Good Old Rock 'n' Roll Show'' at the Deauville Star Theater. After returning to New Jersey, Van Zandt continued wearing Hawaiian shirts because he did not particularly like winter, which was how he got the nickname "Miami Steve".
Southside Johnny and the Asbury Jukes He co-founded
Southside Johnny and the Asbury Jukes, in addition to
The Miami Horns, who got their name from Van Zandt's nickname. Van Zandt helped establish the rhythm and blues oriented style of music that the band performed. He also produced Southside Johnny's first three albums. Van Zandt wrote the bulk of the group's music, contributing substantially to its success.
E Street Band Van Zandt then started to switch between writing for Southside Johnny and the Asbury Jukes and touring with the E Street Band. He confirmed in an interview on
The Howard Stern Show that he arranged the horns on "
Tenth Avenue Freeze-Out" in 1975 when Springsteen was at a loss, earning him a spot in the
E Street Band shortly thereafter. In the
Wings For Wheels documentary, Springsteen revealed that Van Zandt was partially responsible for the signature guitar line in "
Born to Run," described as "Arguably Steve's greatest contribution to my music." Ultimately, Van Zandt officially joined the E Street Band on July 20, 1975, during the first show of the
Born to Run Tour. Despite leaving the band, he appeared as a special guest at several concerts in 1984 and 1985, and appeared in the music video for "
Glory Days". Van Zandt later returned to the E Street Band when it was reformed (briefly in 1995, and on an ongoing basis since 1999). By this time, his guitar playing had mostly been reduced to a background rhythm role, due to
Nils Lofgren's position in the band and his capability as a lead guitarist. Among E Street Band members, Van Zandt often had the second-most "face time" in concert after
Clarence Clemons, frequently mugging and posing for the audience and sometimes delivering his unpolished, nasal backing vocals while sharing a microphone with Springsteen. His playing or singing is most prominently featured on the songs "
Glory Days", "Two Hearts", "Long Walk Home", which featured a Van Zandt outro vocal solo during live performances "
Land of Hope and Dreams", "
Badlands", "Ramrod", and "Murder Incorporated", among others like the live versions of "
Rosalita". He often trades vocals with Springsteen in live versions of "Prove It All Night". He features prominently in the video for "Glory Days", sharing the spotlight with Springsteen and Nils Lofgren during the choruses, while swapping lines with them during the (non)fade, and in live versions he does the same.
Songwriter, arranger, producer Van Zandt became a songwriter and producer for fellow Jersey shore act
Southside Johnny and the Asbury Jukes in 1974, penning their
signature song "
I Don't Want to Go Home", co-writing other songs for them with Springsteen, and producing their most-acclaimed record,
Hearts of Stone. As such, Van Zandt became a key contributor to the
Jersey Shore sound. He also produced two
Gary U.S. Bonds albums. The first Springsteen song he co-produced was "
Hungry Heart." Van Zandt has produced a number of other records, including an uncredited effort on the
Iron City Houserockers'
Have A Good Time (But Get Out Alive). Less successful was his work on
Lone Justice's second album
Shelter, which was a career-ending flop for the Los Angeles
cowpunk band. In 1989, Van Zandt wrote "While You Were Looking at Me" for
Michael Monroe's album ''
Not Fakin' It'' and co-wrote video hits "Dead, Jail or Rock'n Roll" and "Smoke Screen". He was an arranger and backing vocalist for a few songs on the album. In 1992, he produced Austin, Texas-based
Arc Angels'
debut album. In 1991 Van Zandt produced a successful album,
Spirit of Love, for Nigerian superstar and reggae icon,
Majek Fashek. In 1992, he wrote and produced "
All Alone on Christmas" for the soundtrack of the
Chris Columbus film
Home Alone 2: Lost in New York, which yielded singer
Darlene Love her first hit since "A Fine, Fine Boy" from 1963, thirty-one years earlier. In 1994, Van Zandt produced the eponymous debut album of the punk rock band
Demolition 23 which featured ex-
Hanoi Rocks members
Michael Monroe and
Sami Yaffa. He co-wrote six songs for the album with Monroe and Jude Wilder. In 1995, Van Zandt aided
Meat Loaf with the song "Amnesty Is Granted" off of his
Welcome to the Neighborhood album. In 2004, he contributed the song "Baby Please Don't Go" to
Nancy Sinatra's
self-titled album.
Solo artist in 1983 During the summer of 1981,
EMI-America approached Van Zandt with a record deal due to his success with the E Street Band, Southside Johnny and the Asbury Jukes, and Gary U.S. Bonds. He began fronting an on-and-off group known as Little Steven and the Disciples of Soul, while Springsteen was working on
Nebraska. The band included
Dino Danelli on drums,
Jean Beauvoir on bass, and the Miami Horns. They made their live debut at the
Peppermint Lounge on July 18, 1982. In October 1982, Van Zandt's debut album,
Men Without Women, was released. This album earned the most critical praise and
Jay Cocks of
TIME magazine dubbed it one of the ten best albums of the year. He released four more solo albums, and has written that these albums are each elements in a five-part political concept cycle: the individual, the family, the state, the economy, and religion. These albums range from
soul music to
hard rock to
world music. Van Zandt's second album,
Voice of America, did the best on the
U.S. albums chart, although none of his albums were much of a commercial success. After touring with the E Street Band during
The River Tour in 1980–81, he started to realize and understand the perceptions of Americans held by people in other countries. He started to become interested in politics and, with
Voice of America, his music became explicitly political. In April 1984, shortly before the release of
Born in the U.S.A. and
Voice of America, Van Zandt left the E Street Band, but rejoined in 1999. Continuing his involvement in issues of the day, in 1985 he created the music-industry activist group
Artists United Against Apartheid as an action against the
Sun City resort in
South Africa. Forty-nine recording artists, including Springsteen,
U2,
Bob Dylan,
Pete Townshend,
Joey Ramone,
Tom Petty,
Afrika Bambaataa, Miles Davis, Ringo Starr, and
Run DMC, collaborated on a song called "
Sun City" in which they pledged to never perform at the resort. The song was modestly successful, and played a part in the broad international effort to bring attention to apartheid, which the South African government later ended. He produced the award-winning documentary
The Making of Sun City and oversaw the production of the book,
Sun City by Artists United Against Apartheid, the Struggle for Freedom in South Africa: The Making of the Record, as well as the teaching guide. In 1987, he released the album
Freedom - No Compromise, which continued the political messaging. Some U.S. appearances in that year as opening act for
U2's arena-and-stadium
Joshua Tree Tour continued in the same vein, but were not well received by some audiences. Both the record and his concerts were popular in Europe. He also performed at the "
Nelson Mandela 70th Birthday Tribute" concert at
Wembley Stadium in 1988. Although the album remains unreleased, several tracks from it were heard on the
Sopranos and
Lilyhammer television shows: including "Nobody Loves and Leaves Alive", "Affection", and "Come for Me". "Affection" appeared on
The Sopranos: Peppers & Eggs (Music From the HBO Original Series). Due to a loss of recording contract, his next album,
Born Again Savage, which was recorded in 1994, was not released until 1999. In 1995, Van Zandt wrote, produced, and sang "The Time of Your Life" for the soundtrack to the film
Nine Months. He also toured with
Bon Jovi during the first European leg of their
These Days Tour. His song "Under The Gun" was covered by
Carla Olson & The Textones on their ''Detroit '85 Live & Unreleased
album which was released in 2008. Another of his songs, "All I Needed Was You", appeared on the 2013 Carla Olson album Have Harmony, Will Travel''. On April 29, 2013, Van Zandt performed a cover of
Frank Sinatra's "
My Kind of Town" at a Springsteen concert in
Oslo, Norway, during the
Wrecking Ball Tour. Although the song was featured in the
Lilyhammer season one episode "My Kind of Town," it was not released as a single until September 23, 2014, when it was "the Coolest Song in the World" on
Underground Garage to help promote the show. It was released under the title "Frank Tagliano Sings! My Kind of Town" and the lyrics were changed to be about Lillehammer, Norway, instead of Chicago. Van Zandt performed the song on
The Tonight Show Starring Jimmy Fallon on December 9, 2014, to help promote the series. He performed all the music for
Lilyhammer from season 2 on and released
Lilyhammer: The Score on December 16, 2014. Van Zandt reformed his band, the Disciples of Soul, for the first time since 1990 to play their only European show of 2016 at
the O2 Indigo Lounge in London for BluesFest on October 29, 2016. The new Disciples included
Richie Sambora and Marc Ribler on guitar,
Eddie Manion on saxophone, Hook Herrara on harmonica, Leo Green on tenor sax, Richard Mecurio on drums, Jack Daley on bass, Andy Burton on B3 organ,
Clifford Carter on piano, Danny Sadownick on percussion, Tommy Walsh and Matt Holland on trumpet, Neil Sidwell on trombone, George Millard on flute, and a women's section called the Divas of Soul (Julie Maguire, Sarah Carpenter and Jess Greenfield) on backing vocals. They played a series of Van Zandt's own solo songs, songs he wrote for Southside Johnny and the Asbury Jukes, a song he co-wrote for
the Breakers, cover songs, and "Goodbye", which he performed with the Lost Boys. His plans included a European tour during the summer of 2017 and a tour of the United States in the fall. Van Zandt insists that he is not leaving the E Street Band and he is only touring because the band is not on the road. Van Zandt announced in November 2016 that he was in the process of remastering and reissuing his albums for a 2017 release, including the unreleased Lost Boys album. Additionally, Van Zandt has stated that he was planning on releasing a new cover album, including a cover of
Etta James' "
The Blues Is My Business", as well as new recordings of songs Van Zandt wrote for others, including Southside Johnny, that he describes as "me covering me." The album is a
soul record, composed of a 15-piece band including 5 horns and 3 singers. Van Zandt revealed that Richie Mercurio plays drums on the album. in 2012 On February 9, 2017, Van Zandt released "Saint Valentine's Day," a cover of the song, "Saint Valentine's Day Massacre," that he originally wrote for the
Cocktail Slippers, as a single. The song was repeatedly played on the
Underground Garage radio show. He debuted his new album at the annual Rock and Roll for Children event at the Fillmore Theater in
Silver Spring, Maryland, on March 18, 2017. Van Zandt debuted a
doo-wop song called "The City Weeps Tonight," that was an outtake from
Men Without Women. At the end of the show, he covered "
Bye Bye Johnny" as a tribute to the late
Chuck Berry. According to
Backstreets, Van Zandt's new album was going to be called
Soulfire, titled after the song he co-wrote for the Breakers. The album was officially released on May 19, 2017. Van Zandt was selected as the commencement speaker and received an honorary degree from
Rutgers University in May 2017. Van Zandt released his first official live album,
Soulfire Live!, recorded with the Disciples of Soul during their 2017 tour of the same name, on April 27, 2018, via
iTunes. A 7 LP vinyl box set, CD, and two-disc Blu-ray video were released on February 15, 2019, via Wicked Cool Records/UMe. Consisting of the best performances from their North American and European concerts, the collection feature Little Steven and his 15-strong band taking you on a musical history lesson as they blast through an arsenal of songs spanning rock, pop, soul, blues, funk, doo-wop, reggae and everything in between. Of note, is a performance of "
I Saw Her Standing There" recorded at The Roundhouse in London with a special appearance by
Paul McCartney. Little Steven and the Disciples of Soul recorded a cover of Elvis Presley's "
Santa Claus Is Back in Town", featuring actor
Kurt Russell on lead vocals, for the 2018 film
The Christmas Chronicles. On March 8, 2019, Van Zandt announced the May 3, 2019, CD, digital and vinyl release of
Summer of Sorcery via Wicked Cool/UME. It was written, arranged, and produced by him at his Renegade Studios in New York City and marks his first new album of original material in 20 years. A tour for the album began in May 2019, but was cancelled in September 2019 due to illness. Van Zandt finally reissued his albums in the 7 LP and 4-CD box set,
Rock N Roll Rebel: The Early Work, released on December 6, 2019. Limited to 1,000 copies, it includes the first United States pressing of 1989's
Revolution, as well as the first vinyl release of
Born Again Savage, originally released in 1999. The box set also includes rare outtakes and live performances. The Lost Boys album, however, remains unreleased. Van Zandt stated that the album contains his favorite songs that he recorded and wants to wait until the album can be "properly promoted."
Actor Until 1997, Van Zandt had no professional acting experience. His main focus had been music, whether it was the multiple bands he participated in, groups he composed pieces for, or music he wrote on his own. Then, he was asked to play a part in
The Sopranos. After, acting became part of Van Zandt's career.
The Sopranos in
The Sopranos In 1999, Van Zandt took one of the lead roles in
The Sopranos, playing level-headed but deadly mob
consigliere and strip club owner
Silvio Dante. The casting choice was made by series creator
David Chase, who invited Van Zandt to audition after seeing him induct
The Rascals at the 1997
Rock and Roll Hall of Fame and being impressed with his humorous appearance and presence. Though Van Zandt had never acted before, he auditioned for the role of
Tony Soprano. HBO felt that the role should go to an experienced actor, however, so Chase wrote a part especially for Van Zandt. Van Zandt later said "Casting me was a ballsy move. David handed me a gift by making me an actor. It changed my career."
Tussles in Brussels Van Zandt recorded the narration for
The Hives biography on their concert DVD
Tussles in Brussels (2004).
Hotel Cæsar In 2010, Van Zandt appeared as himself in the Norwegian soap opera
Hotel Cæsar, broadcast on Norway's biggest commercial channel
TV2 Norway.
Lilyhammer In 2011, he starred in, co-wrote, and was the executive producer for an English and Norwegian language series entitled
Lilyhammer, the first original
Netflix series that was produced in collaboration with Norwegian broadcaster
NRK. On the show, Van Zandt portrays a
Sopranos-like role of an ex-mafioso who enters the
witness protection program and flees to Norway to escape a colleague against whom he testified. and ran for three seasons before being cancelled in 2015.
The Irishman Van Zandt appears in the
Martin Scorsese-produced gangster epic
The Irishman as singer
Jerry Vale, lip-syncing Vale's
Al Di La. Radio host and entrepreneur Radio host Since 2002, Van Zandt has hosted ''
Little Steven's Underground Garage, a weekly syndicated radio show that celebrates garage rock and similar rock subgenres from the 1950s to the present day. As of December 2006, the show is heard on over 200 US radio stations and in some international markets. For example, in Spain it has beamed through Rock & Gol since 2007 and later on Rock FM Radio in Finland; Radio Helsinki started beaming Little Steven's Underground Garage'' in August 2008. On October 20, 2011, the program recorded its 500th show in front of a sold-out crowd at the
Hard Rock Cafe in New York's
Times Square. The guests included the band
Green Day;
Steve Buscemi, star of
The Sopranos and
Boardwalk Empire;
Vincent Pastore, aka "
Big Pussy Bonpensiero" from
The Sopranos; actor and director
Tim Robbins; and singer
Debbie Harry.
Program director Van Zandt is also the program director for two radio channels for the
Sirius Satellite Radio network. The channels continuously broadcast on satellite radio in the US, and worldwide on Sirius Internet Radio. One channel, named
Underground Garage, has the same philosophy and musical mandate as his own radio show. On-air hosts on the channel include original Rolling Stones manager/producer
Andrew Loog Oldham, singer/guitarist
Joan Jett, former record executive
Kid Leo, punk rock singer
Handsome Dick Manitoba and rock entrepreneur
Kim Fowley. The second channel, named the
Outlaw Country, presents the
edgier side of country music, both roots and contemporary. On-air hosts for this channel included the late pop-culture satirist
Mojo Nixon.
Record label In December 2004, Van Zandt launched his own record label,
Wicked Cool Records. The first album released by Wicked Cool was
Fuzz for the Holidays by Davie Allan and the Arrows, released on December 14, 2004. The label's first Halloween and Christmas themed compilations were released in 2008. Lost Cathedral is a subsidiary label of Wicked Cool Records and home to the band Crown of Thorns.
Rock and Soul Forever Foundation , at Lake View Cemetery in
Cleveland Heights, Ohio, in May 2016 In 2007, Van Zandt launched the non-profit Rock and Soul Forever Foundation and its
TeachRock project, which creates K-12 national curriculum. TeachRock includes interdisciplinary, arts-driven materials. The initiative features lesson plans covering topics in social studies, general music, language arts and media studies.
Musical director In September 2006, Van Zandt assembled and directed an all-star band to back
Hank Williams Jr. on a new version of "
All My Rowdy Friends Are Coming Over Tonight" for the season premiere (and formal
ESPN debut) of
Monday Night Football. The all-star lineup included
Little Richard,
Rick Nielsen (
Cheap Trick),
Joe Perry (
Aerosmith),
Questlove (
The Roots),
Charlie Daniels,
Bootsy Collins,
Chris Burney (
Bowling for Soup), and
Bernie Worrell. Since 2007, Van Zandt has been the director of a music selection committee for the video game
Rock Band; he is in charge of selecting new music for the game.
Activist career After leaving the E Street Band in 1984, Van Zandt used his celebrity as a musician to fight issues surrounding
apartheid in South Africa by creating a group called the
Artists United Against Apartheid. This activist group was created in 1985 by Van Zandt and record producer
Arthur Baker. Van Zandt and Baker assembled over 54 different artists to record an album entitled
Sun City in order to raise awareness about the apartheid policy in South Africa. The title referred to a resort in South Africa that catered to wealthy white tourists. The resort upheld racist apartheid policies, yet many famous entertainers chose to perform there. Artists that took part in the making of the album included
Bruce Springsteen,
Peter Gabriel,
Miles Davis,
Bob Dylan,
Bono, and
Lou Reed. The
Sun City project was originally meant to only be one song, but other musicians contributed their own pieces which transformed it into a full-length album.
Sun City was one of the first musical collaborations among major recording stars to support a political cause rather than a social cause. The album raised over $1 million in support of anti-apartheid efforts. The primary goal of the album and foundation was to draw attention to South Africa's racist policy of apartheid and to support a cultural boycott of the country. Van Zandt was a part of the 1989 charity single, "Spirit of the Forest", dedicated to saving rain forests. Later in his career, Van Zandt worked to raise awareness about the U.S. military interference in governments of Central America and other issues.
Author Van Zandt's memoir
Unrequited Infatuations was published September 28, 2021, by
Hachette Books.
Tours with Bruce Springsteen & The E Street Band •
Born to Run tours, 1975–1977 •
Darkness Tour, 1978–1979 •
The River Tour, 1980–1981 •
Reunion Tour, 1999–2000 •
The Rising Tour, 2002–2003 •
Vote for Change Tour, 2004 •
Magic Tour, 2007–2008 •
Working on a Dream Tour, 2009 •
Wrecking Ball Tour, 2012–2013 •
High Hopes Tour, 2014 •
River Tour 2016/Oceania '17, 2016–2017 •
Springsteen and E Street Band 2023 Tour, 2023 ==Personal life==