Steven Van Zandt is 64 years old today. Van Zandt is a musician, songwriter, arranger, record producer, actor and radio disc jockey, who frequently goes by the stage names Little Steven or Miami Steve. He is a member of Bruce Springsteens E Street Band, in which he plays guitar and mandolin, and has acted in television dramas The Sopranos (1999–2007), in which he played the character Silvio Dante, and Lilyhammer (2012–present), in which he plays the character Frank The Fixer Tagliano. Van Zandt also had his own solo band called Little Steven and The Disciples of Soul in the 1980s. Van Zandt was born as Steven Lento in Winthrop, Massachusetts, of South Italian descent (his grandfather was from Calabria and his grandmothers parents were Neapolitans). His mother, Mary Lento, remarried when he was young and Steven took the last name of his stepfather, William Van Zandt. The family moved from Massachusetts to Middletown Township, New Jersey when he was seven. Van Zandt grew up in the Jersey Shore music scene, and was an early friend and pre-E Street bandmate of Bruce Springsteen. In the early seventies, he was a journeyman guitarist (working as a sideman for The Dovells) as well as a founding member of Southside Johnny and the Asbury Jukes and several of Bruce Springsteens early bands. In 1975, during the recording sessions for Born to Run, Springsteen — at a loss (according to author Dave Marsh in the Springsteen biography Born To Run) for ideas on how to arrange the horn part for Tenth Avenue Freeze-Out — called on Van Zandt and his encyclopedic knowledge of soul music for help with the arrangement. In the Wings for Wheels documentary, Springsteen revealed that Van Zandt was partially responsible for the signature guitar line in Born to Run; Arguably Steves greatest contribution to my music. Van Zandt then joined the E Street Band in the midst of their Born to Run tours. In those early years, Van Zandt supplied a great deal of the lead guitar work for the band in concert, as can be seen on the 1975 concert DVD within Born to Run 30th Anniversary Edition (later released as the CD Hammersmith Odeon London 75). Van Zandt cites the Dave Clark Five as an early influence. Along with Paul Shaffer of the David Letterman Show he organized a benefit for Mike Smith (the Dave Clark Fives lead singer), who had suffered a paralyzing fall at his home in Spain. Van Zandt subsequently became a songwriter and producer for fellow Jersey shore act Southside Johnny and the Asbury Jukes in the mid- to late-1970s, penning their signature song I Dont Wanna 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. Van Zandt then went on to share production credits on the classic Springsteen albums Darkness on the Edge of Town, The River and Born in the U.S.A.. In 1989, Jackson Browne covered the 1983 Van Zandt composition I Am A Patriot for Brownes World in Motion album. The song has also been covered by other artists including Eddie Vedder of Pearl Jam. In 1993, Van Zandt wrote and produced All Alone on Christmas for the soundtrack of the Chris Columbus film Home Alone, which yielded singer Darlene Love her first hit since A Fine, Fine Boy from 1963, thirty-one years earlier. Van Zandt officially left the E Street Band in 1984, though he would rejoin it in 1999 (Springsteens song Bobby Jean is said to be inspired by the split, and Bruce asked him to perform his mandolin solo in the Glory Days video anyway). Since 1984 he has been involved in numerous solo musical projects and collaborations, ranging from soul music to hard rock to world music. In particular, he released four albums in the 1980s and one in 1999, sometimes fronting an on-and-off group known as Little Steven and the Disciples of Soul. Van Zandt returned to the E Street Band when it was reformed (briefly in 1995, and on an ongoing basis since 1999) and remains with it. By now, his guitar playing had mostly been reduced to a background rhythm role, due to Nils Lofgrens position in the band and his capability as a lead guitarist. In addition, Springsteen had begun taking many more of the solos during Van Zandts absence. In 1999, Van Zandt took one of the core roles in The Sopranos, playing level-headed but deadly mob consigliere and strip club owner Silvio Dante. Van Zandt had no acting experience, and the unusual casting choice was made by series creator David Chase. As a guest on the Opie and Anthony Show, Van Zandt related the story of his casting on The Sopranos. Van Zandt was picked to induct The Rascals into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame in 1997. The original members of The Rascals had been feuding for a number of years and Van Zandt was concerned that the induction and subsequent band performance would result in a very public fiasco on live television. Wanting to defuse any confrontation, Van Zandt donned a Little Lord Fauntleroy-type costume for the event and delivered a humorous induction instead of the more traditional speech delivered for other inductees. The Rascals had worn this type of outfit when they debuted on the national scene in 1965. Chase, a fan of Van Zandts music, saw this performance on VH1s broadcast of the event and thought that Van Zandt was very funny and contacted him a few days later. It was then that Chase discovered that Van Zandt had no acting experience. Van Zandt was reluctant to audition for Chase but eventually relented. His first audition was for the role of the shows main character, Tony Soprano however Van Zandt wanted the role to go to a real actor. The character of Silvio Dante was actually based on a character created for a short story written by Van Zandt. Van Zandt gained acclaim for his performance as Silvio, but has contended that he has no interest in acting beyond The Sopranos. However, in 2011, he starred in, co-wrote and acted as executive producer on an English and Norwegian language series entitled Lilyhammer, a Netflix Internet movie site original program. On the show, Van Zandt portrays a Soprano-like role of an ex-mafioso who flees to Norway to escape a colleague against whom he testified. The show premiered on 2012 with a record audience of 998,000 viewers (one fifth of Norways population) and is green-lit for a second season. Van Zandt performs as “Little Steven” on the Letterman show.
Posted on: Sat, 22 Nov 2014 09:26:27 +0000
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