As right hand man to Bruce Springsteen, Stevie Van Zandt was guitarist in The E Street Band and played some of The Boss's biggest hits before becoming a strident political voice, later acting in the hugely successful TV show 'The Sopranos'.

Born in Boston but moving to New Jersey when he was seven, his life changed when he saw The Beatles on 'The Ed Sullivan Show'. He grew up idolising George Harrison and the British invasion bands who inspired him to start forming his own groups in the mid-1960s. He first played with Springsteen in the 1970s in the band Steel Mill and cut his teeth in the bars of Asbury Park, before really making his mark as co-founder of Southside Johnny and The Asbury Dukes. Joining The E Street Band in 1975, he came up with the famous riff for Springsteen's 'Born to Run' and co-produced 'Born in the USA', one of the biggest selling albums of all time. He subsequently released the muscular garage rock solo albums 'Men Without Women' and 'Voice of America' under the name Little Steven and the Soul Disciples.

Just as The E Street Band were set for mega-stardom, he became politicised by the racist regime in South Africa and quit the band to lead the Artists United Against Apartheid campaign and released the album 'Sun City' in 1985. His politics and activism were again at the forefront alongside his fusion of experimental dance, rock and funk sounds on 'Freedom - No Compromise' in 1987 and 'Revolution' in 1989. He later took up acting and from 1999-2007 played the iconic role of mobster Silvio Dante in 'The Sopranos'. Along the way Van Zandt also played on albums by Meat Loaf, Jimmy Barnes and Ronnie Spector, hosted his own radio show and was married in New York at a ceremony conducted by Little Richard with Springsteen as best man and Percy Sledge singing 'When a Man Loves a Woman'. He rejoined The E Street Band in 2002 and went on to star in and co-produce the Netflix series 'Lilyhammer', in which an ex-mafia boss is exiled in Norway. He announced his eighth solo album, 'Soulfire', in 2017.

Steven Van Zandt

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