| Steven Van Zandt | |
|---|---|
| Background information | |
| Birth name | Steven Lento |
| Also known as | Little Steven and Miami Steve |
| Born | November 22, 1950 |
| Origin | Boston, Massachusetts, United States |
| Genres | Rock, heartland rock |
| Occupations | Singer-songwriter, musician, producer, actor, disc jockey |
| Instruments | Vocals, guitar, harmonica, piano, mandolin |
| Years active | 1975–present |
| Labels | Columbia, Epic, BMG |
| Associated acts | Bruce Springsteen, E Street Band, Steel Mill, Southside Johnny & The Asbury Jukes, The Miami Horns, Bon Jovi, Artists United Against Apartheid |
| Website | www.undergroundgarage.com |
| Notable instruments | |
| Fender Stratocaster Vox Mark III Rickenbacker 660/12 Guild X-79 |
|
Steven Van Zandt (born November 22, 1950) is an American musician, songwriter, arranger, record producer, actor, and radio disc jockey, who frequently goes by the stage names Little Steven or Miami Steve. He is best known as a member of Bruce Springsteen's E Street Band, in which he plays guitar and mandolin, and as an actor in the television drama The Sopranos (1999–2007), in which he played the character Silvio Dante. Van Zandt also had his own solo band called "Little Steven and The Disciples of Soul" in the 1980s.
Contents |
Van Zandt[1] was born as Steven Lento in Winthrop, Massachusetts, of Italian descent. 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.[2]
Actor/playwright/producer Billy Van Zandt is Van Zandt's half brother.[3]
Van Zandt grew up in the Jersey Shore music scene, and was an early friend and pre-E Street bandmate of 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 Springsteen's 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 Steve's 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 Five's 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 Don't 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 Browne's World in Motion album. The song has also been covered by other artists including Eddie Vedder of Pearl Jam.
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 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.
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. Van Zandt also 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.
Van Zandt officially left the E Street Band in 1984 (Springsteen's 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) and has been involved in numerous solo musical projects and collaborations since then, 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 has written that these albums are each elements in a five-part concept cycle. The first of them, 1982's Men Without Women, earned the most critical praise (Jay Cocks of TIME magazine dubbed it one of the ten best albums of the year), while its follow-up, 1984's Voice of America, did the best on the U.S. albums chart, although none of them were much of a commercial success. With Voice of America, his music became explicitly political, with the central theme being opposition to Ronald Reagan-era American foreign policy.
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 top recording artists, including Springsteen, U2, Bob Dylan, Pete Townshend, and Run DMC, collaborated on a song called "Sun City" in which they pledged they would never perform at the resort. The effort was modestly successful. In 1987, he released the album Freedom - No Compromise, which continued the political messaging in an even more strident fashion. Some U.S. appearances in that year as opening act for U2's arena-and-stadium Joshua Tree Tour continued in the same vein – Oliver North was labeled a "criminal motherfucker" – but were not well-received by audiences, who found the sound overbearing and the performances lacking musicality. Both the record and his concerts were more popular in Europe, however. Little Steven's fourth album, 1989's Revolution, attracted little attention. His next album, entitled Born Again Savage was released in 1999. Since then, Van Zandt has recorded another album, Nobody Loves and Leaves Alive with his garage band the Lost Boys. Although the album remains unreleased, three tracks from it were contributed to the Sopranos television show including; 'Nobody Love and Leaves Alive', 'Affection', and 'Come for Me'.
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 Lofgren's position in the band and his capability as a lead guitarist. In addition, Springsteen had begun taking many more of the solos during Van Zandt's absence. Notwithstanding this, among E Street Band members he often had the second-most amount of "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" (when featured a Van Zandt outro vocal solo) "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 during the choruses, while swapping lines with him during the (non)fade, and in live versions he does the same. During the E Street Band's performance at the Super Bowl in 2009, Van Zandt was the most prominently featured member of the band, playing a guitar solo on the final number of the set, "Glory Days" (although the solo could not be heard in the mix), as well as sharing lead vocals and exchanging humorous banter with Springsteen.
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 saw this performance on VH1's broadcast of the event and thought that Van Zandt was very funny and contacted him a few days later. Then Chase discovered that Van Zandt had no acting experience. Van Zandt was reluctant to audition for Chase but eventually relented.
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 he testified against. He also found time to record the narration to a Hives biography on their concert DVD Tussles in Brussels. His role resumed in importance in later seasons, with sixth season plot developments especially giving him prime focus. His real-life wife Maureen Van Zandt is an actress who made occasional appearances on The Sopranos playing Silvio's wife Gabriella Dante.
Van Zandt maintains a certain look, always wearing gypsy clothes and a bandana on stage, while donning a noticeable pompadour toupee on The Sopranos. Both are to cover permanent loss of hair from a car accident in which he hit a windshield with his head.[4][5]
In 2010, Van Zandt appeared as himself in the Norwegian soap opera Hotel Cæsar, broadcast on Norway's biggest commercial channel TV2 Norway.[6] He also appeared on Scandinavia's largest talkshow Skavlan, and talked about his starring role in a Norwegian-American TV series where he plays a mafia boss who, as a part of a witness-protection program, is hiding in the Norwegian town of Lillehammer.[7] The series is called Lilyhammer, as that's how the New York gangster pronounces it, and is a joint venture between Norwegian public broadcaster NRK and US internet on-demand provider Netflix. The first episode was broadcast by NRK1 on 25 January 2012[8] with a record audience of one million viewers, which means one fifth of Norway's population,[9][10] with all eight episodes available on the Netflix server for streaming in North America on 6 February 2012.[11] Lilyhammer is Netflix's first venture into an original series. Van Zandt also co-wrote and produced the first season.
Since 2002, Van Zandt has hosted Little Steven's Underground Garage, a weekly syndicated radio show that celebrates garage rock and similar rock sub-genres 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 Finland, Radio Helsinki started beaming Underground Garage in August 2008 and in Spain is beamed through Rock & Gol since 2007 and later on Rock Rock Radio.
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" from the The Sopranos, actor and director Tim Robbins, and singer Debbie Harry of the group "Blondie."
Steven is also the program director for two radio channels for the Sirius Satellite Radio network. The channels are heard continuously on satellite radio in the USA and worldwide on Sirius Internet Radio. One channel is named Underground Garage, which 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 of Van Zandt's radio channels presented on Sirius is named the Outlaw Country channel. It presents the edgier side of country music – both roots and contemporary. On-air hosts for this channel include pop-culture satirist Mojo Nixon.
Van Zandt is not to be confused with similarly named radio personality Steve Van Zandt,[12] who was co-host of the "Steve and Jackie in the Morning" show formerly airing on WROW in Albany, New York.[13]
In December 2006, Little Steven launched his own record label, Wicked Cool Records.[14] The first set of records released by Wicked Cool were new albums from Underground Garage favorites the Charms, the Chesterfield Kings and the Cocktail Slippers; and ‘Fuzz For The Holidays,’ by Davie Allan and the Arrows and ‘CBGB Forever,’ a tribute to the famous, now-defunct venue. The label continues to release new albums from the next generation of garage rockers including the Cocktail Slippers as well as volumes of ‘Little Steven's Underground Garage presents The Coolest Songs in the World,’ a compilation of selected songs from the Underground Garage radio show's popular feature, the Coolest Song in the World This Week. In 2007 the label signed The Launderettes.[15] 2008 marked the release of the labels first Halloween and Christmas themed compilations.
Lost Cathedral is a subsidiary label of Wicked Cool Records and home to the band Crown of Thorns.[16]
In 2007, Van Zandt launched his Rock And Roll Forever Foundation. The first incentive of the foundation is Rock And Roll High School, a chronological anthology tracing the history of Rock and Roll from its roots to present day, highlighting the cultural impact and significance of each era of the genre as it relates to the events and changes that took place in the history of the country and of the world. The program, endorsed by MENC: The National Association For Music Education and Scholastic, is being written and hopes to launch in the fall of 2010.[17]
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. Steve is now the director of a music selection committee for the video game Rock Band; he is in charge of selecting new music for the game.
Van Zandt is married to actress Maureen Van Zandt (formerly Maureen Santoro) who portrayed his wife Gabriella Dante in the TV series The Sopranos. They married in New York City on December 31, 1982.[18] Bruce Springsteen was the best man at the ceremony, which was presided over by Reverend Richard Penniman (Little Richard). Singer Percy Sledge sang his classic "When a Man Loves a Woman" at the reception.[19]
| Wikimedia Commons has media related to: Steve Van Zandt |
|
||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
|
||||||||
|
||||||||
The guitarist started out as Bruce Springsteen's right-hand man in the E Street Band, but Tony Soprano needed a wingman too.
Steven's opening speech (integral text here below) to this song is timeless. Being a patriot is about fighting for freedom, truth and justice and not towing the political line. This is why Eddie Vedder and Jackson Browne covered this song... This is the original Little Steven version (with that chilling and - unfortunately - still highly actual opening speech by Steven van Zandt himself...), the Jackson Browne rendition (live @ the Glastonbury Festival, 2010) can also be found on this channel. One more thing...: I dedicate this upload to "klondike6semperfi", for bringing me "up to speed"... :-))) Litlle Steven's Speech: Some wild things..., goin' on these days... We got somethin' goin' on in America that's eh, they call it... New Patriotism, you know... But eh... it don't look like no New Patriotism to me, it looks like Blind Nationalism, you know... And that ain't right, that ain't what Patriotism is all about... It ain't about accepting... everything you hear on television and everything your government tells you, that ain't being a Good Patriot... Bein' a good patriot means you question EVERY motherfucker everywhere, everytime!! Make sure your country stays your country. And I don't mean you stop bein' a member of the world-community, either... And assure you about Parties, you know, loyalty to the Party instead of loyalty to the Truth... But if we don't like things..., it's up to us, to change things, you know... Politics ain't nothin' to be scared of, you know, it's ...
Bruce Springsteen and the E Street Band perform a song off of the 1982 album Nebraska at Hyde park in London England during the 2009 hard rock calling. Stevie has a guitar solo, very unusual for the band. 100 views 6/11/2011 300 views 6/16/2011 500 views 6/19/2011 2000 views 6/29/2011
In the show "Tribute to Nelson Mandela" (London, 1988), Rock Stars demonstrated de power of their voices against the terrorism of the apartheid in South Africa. Some months after Nelson Mandela was free and president of this country. Here the vibrant speech of Steve Van Zandt (Little Steven), and the song Sun City.
See this entire interview at video.pbs.org The musician and 'Lilyhammer' actor-producer relates the loss of Clarence "The Big Man" Clemons to that of Whitney Houston and discusses how musicians should carry on the memories of icons. For more information on Steven Van Zandt, visit www.pbs.org
Steven Van Zandt Lilyhammer PBS Tavis Smiley
Young Hollywood is at THE official Grammys Gifting Lounge, and we catch up with E Street Band guitarist/star of Netflix original series "Lilyhammer"/radio host Steven Van Zandt as he peruses the goodies! He chats with us about all his various projects going on at the moment before he has...
Steven Van Zandt Paul mccartney The Beatles E Street Band
When Steven Van Zandt visited Fuse, he discussed how the loss of Clarence Clemons and Danny Federici will affect Bruce Springsteen & the E Street Band's live shows. He also talked about the contemporary themes in the new album Wrecking Ball, and listed which songs he most wants to perform on the upcoming tour. Listen to the new Bruce Springsteen & the E Street Band song "We Take Care of Our Own" here www.youtube.com And make sure you're following Fuse YouTube: www.youtube.com Twitter: twitter.com Facebook: www.facebook.com
Steven Van Zandt Clarence Clemons tour Bruce Springsteen
Steven Van Zandt dropped by Fuse to discuss his new Netflix original series Lilyhammer. He described how the show's creators pitched him the idea and compared this series to his previous one, The Sopranos. Watch the trailer for Lilyhammer here www.youtube.com And make sure you're following Fuse YouTube: www.youtube.com Twitter: twitter.com Facebook: www.facebook.com
Steven Van Zandt Netflix Lilyhammer original series
Legendary E Street Band member Steven Van Zandt talks about his music, work on television, politics and The Boss. For more George visit: www.strombo.com
Steven Van Zandt George Stroumboulopoulos CBC E Street Band
Steven Van Zandt on CBS Sunday Morning
E Street Band member & "The Sopranos" star Steven Van Zandt talks about bringing a little East Coast muscle to Norway in the new show "Lilyhammer." Van Zandt also discusses performing at the GRAMMY Awards with Bruce Springsteen & The E Street Band. Watch full episodes of your favorite show at www.cbs.com
cbsepisode julie chen osbourne
In Netflix's new series, "Lilyhammer," Steven Van Zandt is back in the world of organized crime as a former mobster hiding away in Lillehammer, Norway. Kevin Pereira finds out how the project got off the ground and landed on the Internet. For more from Movies and TV, go here: www.g4tv.com
Legendary E Street member Steven Van Zandt runs down his idols and defines "garage band." For more George visit: www.strombo.com
Steven Van Zandt Little Steven Underground Garage The Beatles
subscribe to shaneomtl5 follow me on twitter twitter.com follow me on facebaook www.facebook.com thanks for viewing
dorkshelf.com We recently had the chance to interview Steve Van Zandt, who's most famous for being the lead guitar of Bruce Springsteen's E-Street Band, as well as his role as Silvio Dante on The Sopranos. He's got a new series called Lilyhammer, it's the first original programming on Netflix and he was in Toronto to promote the series. We discussed the series, what it's like working with a mostly Norwegian cast and crew, and the show's memorable title sequence.
Steven Van Zandt (born November 22, 1950) is an American musician, songwriter, arranger, record producer, actor, and radio disc jockey, who frequently goes by the ...
Actor: The Sopranos (1999) · Home Alone 2: Lost in New York (1992) · Love Actually (2003) · Christmas with the Kranks (2004). Born: Steven Lento November 22 , 1950 ...
Little Steven's Underground Garage playing the coolest rock and roll records ever made. You will hear The Beatles, The Ramones, the Rolling Stones, Bo Diddley, The ...
Steven Van Zandt is a member of Bruce Springsteen's E Street Band and as Silvio on The Sopranos. Find more about his career on Biography.com.
More than one million viewers tune in to watch the fish-out-of-water mafia comedy, which Netflix will stream stateside. COLOGNE, Germany - Steven Van Zandt’s follow ...
High quality Steven Van Zandt pictures featuring Victoria's Secret, XOXO, and lingerie pictures, Steven Van Zandt's biography, interviews, her contact information and ...
I was obsessed with politics in the '80s. I've recovered and I'm feeling much better now thank you. By the time I realized, as interesting as it was, I'd ...
Steven Van zandt (LITTLE STEVEN)'s profile on Myspace, the leading social entertainment destination powered by the passion of our fans.
Steven Van Zandt is a musician, songwriter, arranger, record producer, actor, human rights activist, and international radio DJ. He is a founding member of Bruce ...
MSN Music presents complete Steven Van Zandt information including Albums, Music Videos, Photo Galleries, News, TV Appearances, Biography, Discography, Lyrics, Awards ...
News: • Steven Van Zandt Psyched About His New Show's Success In Norway • Steven Van Zandt's New TV Show Is A Big Hit In Norway • Most Memorable Grammy ...
Get the latest Steven Van Zandt News, Bio, Photos, Credits and More for Steven Van Zandt on TVGuide.com
Artistopia Music is the best source for information on Steven van Zandt biography, including access to music videos, music albums and cds, dvds, online shopping ...
Prolific musician-songwriter-producer turned actor Steven Van Zandt, best known as the high-energy bandana-clad guitarist with Bruce Springsteen's E Street Band, had ...
Find Steven Van Zandt from a vast selection of Autographs-Original. Shop eBay!