Artist:Little Steven
Song:No More Party's
Album:Greatest Hits
Steven Van Zandt is best known as long time guitarist for his old buddy Bruce Springsteen and for playing Silvio Dante in the HBO series The Sopranos. He recorded as Little Steven in the 80s and had modest success as an album artist. He hasn't recorded as much in recent years as he still tours with Springsteen. He was born Steven Lento Nov. 22, 1950 in Winthrop, MA and he grew up in Watertown, MA. His grandparents were Italian immigrants. When his mother remarried in 1957, he took his stepfather's name Van Zandt. Actor Billy Van Zandt is his half brother. The family moved to Middletown Township, NJ. He got interested in music after watching The Beatles on The Ed Sullivan Show. He has always acknowledged the British Invasion as his biggest influence. While in high school, he was in a car crash and his head went through the windshield. That's when he started wearing his trademark bandana. He became friends with Springsteen on the New Jersey music scene but he was not in the early version of the E Street Band. Instead he formed Southside Johnny and the Asbury Jukes and recorded several albums for Epic. By that time, he had joined the Springsteen band and led the Asbury Jukes when they weren't touring. Van Zandt wrote and produced all of the Asbury Jukes music. He was in the Springsteen band periodically while attempting to establish his career with the Asbury Jukes. He's been a regular member of the E Street Band since 1999. When the 1974 Southside Johnny debut album I Don't Want to Go Home and the title song got positive reviews, It looked like Van Zandt might be successful. But when subsequent albums didn't do well, Epic dropped him. Splitting his time between the band and Springsteen didn't help. After Van Zandt produced the successful 1981 Gary U.S. Bonds album Dedication, EMI America signed him as Little Steven. He called his band The Disciples of Soul. He recorded three albums for EMI. No More Party's is from the 1987 album Freedom-No Compromise. Van Zandt wrote and produced. That was his final album for EMI. They released this comp in 1989 and it's available as a budget CD. The 1989 album Revolution was released on RCA. He hasn't recorded much in recent years though he did reform the Disciples of Soul and released a couple of albums on his own label. Meanwhile, he continued to perform with Springsteen. He is also known for playing Silvio Dante on the HBO series The Sopranos from 1999-2007. He has hosted his own radio show since 2002 and he's a program director for Sirius XM. Van Zandt has been in Springsteen's shadow for his entire career. So it was always going to be tough for a solo career to be successful. Here's the video for No More Party's by Little Steven.
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