[7] Van Zandt has cited British Invasion bands such as the Dave Clark Five, as well as Ravi Shankar and the culture of India, as early influences.

[14] Van Zandt grew up in the Jersey Shore music scene, and was an early friend of Bruce Springsteen, before the formation of the E Street Band.

He confirmed in an interview on The Howard Stern Show that he 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 shortly thereafter.

[17][24] In the Wings For Wheels documentary, Springsteen revealed that Van Zandt was partially responsible for the signature guitar line in "Born to Run," described as "Arguably Steve's greatest contribution to my music.

By this time, 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.

[17][29] Among E Street Band members, Van Zandt often had the second-most "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.

[37] 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).

[39] In 1989, Van Zandt wrote "While You Were Looking at Me" for Michael Monroe's album Not Fakin' It and co-wrote video hits "Dead, Jail or Rock'n Roll" and "Smoke Screen".

[46] During the summer of 1981, EMI-America approached Van Zandt with a record deal due to his success with the E Street Band, Southside Johnny and the Asbury Jukes, and Gary U.S. Bonds.

[50] 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 recording artists, including Springsteen, U2, Bob Dylan, Pete Townshend, Joey Ramone, Tom Petty, Afrika Bambaataa, and Run DMC, collaborated on a song called "Sun City" in which they pledged to never perform at the resort.

[51] The song was modestly successful, and played a part in the broad international effort to bring attention to apartheid, which the South African government later ended.

[57] Although the album remains unreleased, several tracks from it were heard on the Sopranos and Lilyhammer television shows: including "Nobody Loves and Leaves Alive", "Affection", and "Come for Me".

[67] On April 29, 2013, Van Zandt performed a cover of Frank Sinatra's "My Kind of Town" at a Springsteen concert in Oslo, Norway, during the Wrecking Ball Tour.

[74] Van Zandt reformed his band, the Disciples of Soul, for the first time since 1990[75] to play their only European show of 2016 at the O2 Indigo Lounge in London for BluesFest on October 29, 2016.

[76] The new Disciples included Richie Sambora and Marc Ribler on guitar, Eddie Manion on saxophone, Hook Herrara on harmonica, Leo Green on tenor sax, Richard Mecurio on drums, Jack Daley on bass, Andy Burton on B3 organ, Clifford Carter on piano, Danny Sadownick on percussion, Tommy Walsh and Matt Holland on trumpet, Neil Sidwell on trombone, George Millard on flute, and a women's section called the Divas of Soul (Julie Maguire, Sarah Carpenter and Jess Greenfield) on backing vocals.

[103][104] Consisting of the best performances from their North American and European concerts, the collection feature Little Steven and his 15-strong band taking you on a musical history lesson as they blast through an arsenal of songs spanning rock, pop, soul, blues, funk, doo-wop, reggae and everything in between.

[105] Little Steven and the Disciples of Soul recorded a cover of Elvis Presley's "Santa Claus Is Back in Town", featuring actor Kurt Russell on lead vocals, for the 2018 film The Christmas Chronicles.

[109][110][111] Van Zandt finally reissued his albums in the 7 LP and 4-CD box set, Rock N Roll Rebel: The Early Work, released on December 6, 2019.

In 1999, Van Zandt took one of the lead roles in The Sopranos, playing level-headed but deadly mob consigliere and strip club owner Silvio Dante.

The casting choice was made by series creator David Chase, who invited Van Zandt to audition after seeing him induct The Rascals at the 1997 Rock and Roll Hall of Fame and being impressed with his humorous appearance and presence.

[115][114] Van Zandt eventually agreed to star on the show as Silvio Dante, and his real-life spouse Maureen (née Santoro) was cast as his on-screen wife Gabriella.

[120][121] On the show, Van Zandt portrays a Sopranos-like role of an ex-mafioso who enters the witness protection program and flees to Norway to escape a colleague against whom he testified.

[130] The first set of records released by Wicked Cool also included new albums from Underground Garage favorites the Charms, the Chesterfield Kings and the Cocktail Slippers; and CBGB Forever, a tribute to the famous, now-defunct venue.

[132] In 2007, Van Zandt launched the non-profit Rock and Roll Forever Foundation and its TeachRock project, which creates K-12[clarification needed] national curriculum.

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.

Van Zandt and Baker assembled over 54 different artists to record an album entitled Sun City in order to raise awareness about the apartheid policy in South Africa.

Artists that took part in the making of the album included Bruce Springsteen, Peter Gabriel, Miles Davis, Bob Dylan, Bono, and Lou Reed.

The primary goal of the album and foundation was to draw attention to South Africa's racist policy of apartheid and to support a cultural boycott of the country.