Steven Van Zandt

Lore & Background

Van Zandt's career is documented through his work with Bruce Springsteen's E Street Band, Southside Johnny and the Asbury Jukes, and his solo project Little Steven and the Disciples of Soul. He co-founded Southside Johnny and the Asbury Jukes and helped establish their rhythm and blues oriented style. He produced Southside Johnny's first three albums and wrote the bulk of the group's music. Van Zandt also produced two Gary U.S. Bonds albums and shared production credits on Springsteen's albums The River and Born in the U.S.A. The first Springsteen song he co-produced was "Hungry Heart."

Reader's Guide

Van Zandt's career timeline from the source: he formed his first band, the Whirlwinds, around August 1964. He officially joined the E Street Band on July 20, 1975, during the first show of the Born to Run Tour. In early 1984, shortly before the start of the Born in the U.S.A. Tour, Van Zandt left the E Street Band to further his solo career. He later returned to the E Street Band when it was reformed (briefly in 1995, and on an ongoing basis since 1999).

Did You Know?

• Van Zandt was born Steven Lento on November 22, 1950, in Winthrop, Massachusetts, and took the last name of his stepfather, William Brewster Van Zandt, after his mother remarried in 1957.
• He was expelled from Middletown High School in New Jersey after refusing to cut his long hair.
• As a teenager, he was involved in a car accident that caused his head to go through the windshield, leaving several scars; he began wearing hats and large bandanas to cover them.
• Van Zandt 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.
• He wrote and produced "All Alone on Christmas" for the soundtrack of the film Home Alone 2: Lost in New York, which yielded singer Darlene Love her first hit since "A Fine, Fine Boy" from 1963.