Stevie Van Zandt says it was “career suicide” to quit Bruce Springsteen’s E-Street Band
E-Street Band guitarist Stevie Van Zandt has opened up in his memoir about what he describes as “very public career suicide” when he walked away from working with Bruce Springsteen‘s group for a period in the 1980s.
The 73-year-old musician has a longstanding association with Bruce Springsteen. They already knew each other when Van Zandt initially joined the band in 1975. The two worked well together; however, in 1984, when Springsteen was recording his breakthrough album Born in the USA, Van Zandt opted to leave the band. Today, he describes his decision as “the big mistake of my life.”
After leaving the band, Van Zandt had some success releasing solo records under the name Little Steven and starred in the critically acclaimed mafia series The Sopranos. He played Silvio Dante from 1999 until the show concluded in 2007 and even later revealed that part of his performances were based on Springsteen.
“I decided that I had to create this guy,” he said, discussing his character, “First of all, I wrote a biography of who the guy was, and I made up my own story. He grew up with Tony Soprano, he was his best friend, he’s the only guy who doesn’t want to be the boss, he’s the only guy he trusts. I kind of used my relationship with Bruce, basically.”
In conversation with The Guardian, Van Zandt elaborated on the passage from his book where he refers to leaving the band as a “big mistake.”
“All my life,” he said, “I’ve carried with me this guilt and feeling of, jeez, if only I could have stayed in the band and yet done all these other things. Wouldn’t that have been wonderful? I realised when I analysed it that is ridiculous, and that wouldn’t have happened.”
Weighing up the good with the bad, Van Zandt reflected that if he stayed in the band, “There wouldn’t have probably been any solo records, there wouldn’t have been the Sun City record, there wouldn’t have been The Sopranos or Lilyhammer.”
He continued, “I don’t know what I would have done… If I’d continued to dedicate my life to Bruce Springsteen’s vision, I would never have realised my potential… I still haven’t, obviously, but I got a few things done, and I think they wouldn’t have gotten done if I’d stayed.”
Van Zandt rejoined the E-Street Band in 1995 and continues to play with Bruce Springsteen today. They are set to play Wembley Stadium in London next month.
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