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He’s been a confidant to two iconic bosses — Bruce Springsteen and Tony Soprano. But Stevie Van Zandt, guitarist for the E Street Band and actor on The Sopranos, has also made a name for himself as leader of his own band, Little Steven and the Disciples of Soul; as host of the syndicated radio show Little Steven’s Underground Garage; and for his involvement in two SiriusXM channels. Such a varied career may seem worthy of writing a memoir, and Van Zandt, 70, has done that, too, with the newly published Unrequited Infatuations.
We caught up with this Renaissance man to talk about life, rock and more.
You first started working on your book about 15 years ago, but couldn’t finish it. What changed this time?
I just couldn’t really find any kind of ending to it. My life was such chaos to begin with, which is one of the reasons why I wanted to write the book. Hopefully, it would explain my life to me. But I just couldn’t find any kind of real closure at that point. The last three years — ’17, ’18 and ’19 — before the quarantine were the most productive years of my entire life. I put out all my remastered albums from the ’80s, plus two new albums, plus two live packages. So I really reconnected with my life’s work.