BJORN OLSSON
STEVEN VAN ZANDT
(March 24 Update: The book’s American publishing company, Hatchette, has posted information about it here.)
There is no official announcement yet. But information about a planned autobiography by Steven Van Zandt has shown up on the websites of four British online booksellers as well as the Amazon sites for Spain, Italy and France.
The sites all contain the same information. That a book by E Street Band members, solo artist, “Sopranos”/”Lilyhammer” and all-around rock ‘n’ roll renaissance man Van Zandt, titled “Unrequited Infatuations,” will be published on Sept. 28, 2021.
The four sites all offer the same description of the 256-page book:
This is a story that starts in the New Jersey suburbs in the early 1960s. Steven Van Zandt, just a boy, was already impatient to get going. Call it restlessness. Call it ambition. Call it the need for adventure. Whatever it was, when rock and roll arrived, it was a rescue mission. It freed Van Zandt to chart his own course, and he did: first in teen bands, then on the bar-band circuit, then in arenas and stadiums all over the world.
Along the way, he developed a personal and professional partnership with Bruce Springsteen, anchoring the E Street Band as it became the top rock-and-roll live act in the world and serving as Springsteen’s right-hand man.
And then, in 1982, as the E Street Band was recording Born in the USA, Van Zandt walked away from the group. He became a purely political artist, traveling to the world’s hot spots-from Nicaragua to South Africa-and making records about what he found there. Then came the Sopranos. After David Chase saw Van Zandt at the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame, he invited him to be a part of his new show. In fact, he wanted him for the lead role, Tony Soprano. HBO wasn’t thrilled about casting an untested actor, so Van Zandt ended up playing Tony’s consiglieri, Silvio Dante, who became the show’s darkly funny heart.
In the years that followed, Van Zandt rejoined Springsteen, touring the world with the reunited E Street Band playing the biggest stadiums in the world.
UNREQUITED INFATUATIONS chronicles every twist and turn of Van Zandt’s vibrant, varied, and always surprising life: his early years as a rock-and-roll disciple, his rise to fame through boardwalks and bar bands, his trailblazing decade as a hard-rocking activist. All the ups and downs, the triumphs and the troughs, the false starts and the times he pulled out all the stops. Throughout it all, his passion has drawn order out of chaos, driven his story forward.
None of the sites shows a photo of the book’s cover.
I will update this post if and when more information becomes available.
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2 comments
I have various early and more current photos of Stevie I can submit if he is interested.
Frank Stefanko
Sugar Miami Steve, Give me 1-2 hours to ask you questions re your music career 1974-1979, the time period I expect you will glance over, on your way to writing about your solo career. This was the period I admire about you the most, when you were managing, producing, writing, arranging songs for the Jukes, playing for Springsteen, and doing things like organizing two sets of Miami Horns for each band. When SSJ was sick, you and Bruce covered his shows at Monmouth County Arts Center May 12-13, 1977, with the Jukes and the E Street Band. Did you live across from the Stone Pony, or was that just a business/mailing address for Miami Productions? I need to know about the demo session for the Jukes, when you recorded “I Don’t want to Go Home’, ‘Sweeter than Honey’ and ‘The Fever’ for Steve Popovich and got them a recording contract. Did Bruce play tambourine on all 3 songs, or just The Fever? I may have couple of the tracks, they are demos, but not sure of date. You recorded their second album during the Dec-Jan break in the Lawsuit Tour, that’s when Sugar Miami took over the entire production. Springsteen had a song called ‘Little Girl of Mine’ from early 1976, next thing I know you were singing it on ‘The Early Work’. The album listing said ‘Little Girl So Fine’, but that was not what it was called at the time of your recording, and you were clearly singing ‘Little Girl of Mine’ on the album. I am guessing it was you who came up with the new lyrics, title, and arrangement, another masterpiece. You gotta tell about what happened during all those recording sessions, including 1978, when you dragged Max with you to Secret Studios to record ‘Hearts of Stone’. I know Bruce recorded the demos for ‘Hearts’ and ‘Talk to Me’ on Oct 14, 1977, while you had the day off to play at the Roxy in Los Angeles with the Jukes. I got a picture of the note Thom Panunzio wrote to hold the cassette with both songs for you. When did you start recording, Jan 15, 1978, after your Darkness work was pretty much complete? Did you and Max come to Record Plant on March 9, 1978, to record the new version of Darkness On the Edge of Town from scratch? I know Max was there, because his drum sound got a lot of attention during those sessions. Please, I have many questions for you, make some time so we can do this. These crazy Springsteen fans want to know everything, and they want music, too. So bring any old DAT tapes when you come, I hope you saved them. I promise to only ask questions about music, I don’t care about fights with Southside Johnny, etc. Take care, talk to you soon-tw