Unrequited Infatuations, Stevie Van Zandt
Unrequited Infatuations, Stevie Van Zandt
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Unrequited Infatuations
A Memoir

Bestseller

Author: Stevie Van Zandt

Narrator: Stevie Van Zandt

Unabridged: 14 hr 26 min

Format: Digital Audiobook Download

Publisher: Da Capo

Published: 09/28/2021


Synopsis

Uncover never-before-told stories in this epic tale of self-discovery by Rock ’n’ Roll legend Stevie Van Zandt.

An instant New York Times, USA Today, Wall Street Journal, Los Angeles Times, and Publishers Weekly bestseller!

The first true heartbeat of Unrequited Infatuations is the moment when Stevie Van Zandt trades in his devotion to the Baptist religion for an obsession with Rock and Roll. Groups like the Beatles and the Rolling Stones created new ideas of community, creative risk, and principled rebellion. While still a teenager, he met Bruce Springsteen, a like-minded outcast/true believer who became one of his most important friends and bandmates. Van Zandt anchored the E Street Band as they conquered the Rock and Roll world. 

And then, in the early '80s, Van Zandt stepped away from E Street to embark on his own odyssey. He refashioned himself as Little Steven, a political songwriter and performer, fell in love with Maureen Santoro who greatly expanded his artistic palette, and visited the world's hot spots as an artist/journalist to not just better understand them, but to help change them. Most famously, he masterminded the recording of "Sun City," an anti-apartheid anthem that sped the demise of South Africa's institutionalized racism and helped get Nelson Mandela out of prison. 

By the '90s, Van Zandt had lived at least two lives—one as a mainstream rocker, one as a hardcore activist. It was time for a third. David Chase invited Van Zandt to be a part of his new television show, the Sopranos—as Silvio Dante, he was the unconditionally loyal consiglieri who sat at the right hand of Tony Soprano (a relationship that oddly mirrored his real-life relationship with Bruce Springsteen). 

Underlying all of Van Zandt's various incarnations was a devotion to preserving the centrality of the arts, especially the endangered species of Rock. Unrequited Infatuations chronicles the twists and turns of Stevie Van Zandt's always surprising life. It is more than just the testimony of a globe-trotting nomad, more than the story of a groundbreaking activist, more than the odyssey of a spiritual seeker, and more than a master class in rock and roll (not to mention a dozen other crafts). It's the only book of its kind.


About Stevie Van Zandt

Stevie Van Zandt, also known as Little Steven or Miami Steve, is an American singer, songwriter, musician, producer, actor, and activist. He is best known as a member of Bruce Springsteen's E Street Band, in which he plays guitar and mandolin. He also starred in all seven seasons of The Sopranos.


Reviews

Goodreads review by Michael on March 18, 2023

Stevie Van Zandt has always been more than just Bruce Springsteen's sidekick. This man has been a comet of creative energy ever since he arrived on the scene. His memoir, "Unrequited Infatuations" takes us on a non-stop ride from the first page to the last. We soar up the ladder of rock stardom, the......more

Van Zandt to Springsteen (circa 1999) “I know you’re trying to be funny,” I said. “But it’s only funny if it’s not true! If it was a line from a Dave Van Ronk song, we’d all have a good laugh about it, right? Look, I’m sure it’s more than a little weird to be rich and famous after almost forty years......more

Goodreads review by John on October 02, 2021

I’ve been attending Springsteen and the E Street Band concerts since 1975. I haven’t missed one tour. I say this because I was looking forward to learn more about Steven and his relationships with the band members and some anecdotes from touring. I got none of it. Steven writes about how he’s the grea......more

Goodreads review by Laura on October 03, 2021

Unrequited Infatuations: A Memoir By Stevie Van Zandt Highly disappointing- I had such high expectations for this story. Clearly, someone who was in the E Street Band, the Sopranos, Lilyhammer, and who was a long-time friend of Bruce Springsteen’s would have fascinating stories to tell? SVZ does, only......more

Goodreads review by Steve on August 28, 2021

Music memoirs are a dime a dozen but Stevie Van Zandt’s new entry, #Unrequited Infatuations, is worth a million bucks. for, if nothing else, a glimpse of his raw enthusiasm. Van Zandt, first known as Bruce Springsteen’s Underboss Guitarist in The E Street Band, tells his tales of life in the music b......more


Quotes

Unrequited Infatuations is a wonderfully original take on a Rock ’n’ Roll autobiography.”—Paul McCartney

“In the New Jersey state of mind somewhere between Bruce Springsteen Stadium and The Bon Jovi Arena is a little known street called Little Steven Boulevard with hundreds of endless souvenir shops, gift stores all associated with Little Steven the Consigliere, all top level stuff, the gangster memorabilia, Little Steven wallets and handbags, bandanas and head scarfs, Little Steven glassware and coffee mugs, Little Steven flags, key chains, stickers and patches, pens and guitar picks, cardboard stand-up cut outs of Little Steven, jigsaw puzzles and buttons. You can spend a fortune on the street, listen to every song he ever played on and watch every television show that he’s made, visit the underground garage and also enroll in the Little Stevie’s underground college. It’s all there, a lot of copies of this book as well. And just like one of Stevie’s favorite songs, this book keeps you hanging on and checks all the boxes (check out the one on page 153—it’s hilarious and there’s hundreds of others).

This indeed is a cautionary tale filled with outrageous humor, worldly wisdom, and an uncanny sense of daring. No doubt about it, Stevie proves it time and time again he’s the man to know.”—Bob Dylan

“An inimitable Rock ’n’ Roll life told as boldly as it was lived. From the stages of the biggest stadiums in the world to the politically roiling provinces of South Africa, my good friend pursued his Rock ’n’ Roll vision with a commitment few have displayed. A must read for E Street Band fans and Rock fans the world over. In this book Little Steven LETS IT ROCK!”—Bruce Springsteen

“What a wonderful, witty, incisive, moving, authentic, and beautifully written memoir. Stevie Van Zandt’s Unrequited Infatuations is a heartfelt and soulful tour though Rock ’n’ Roll history, politics, and pop culture from the vantage point of a rare talent and singular American life. I loved every page.”—Harlan Coben, bestselling author of Win, The Boy from the Woods, Run Away, and the Myron Bolitar series

“A glorious trip into the mind of a true Rock and roll Renaissance Man. Stevie’s autobiography digs beneath the surface of his music, evolving into something extraordinarily rich and complex. It’s part Rock ’n’ Roll history lesson, part political thriller, part revelatory dive into the brotherhood of a band. And so much more. What’s most impressive is Stevie’s self-deprecating honesty. He has the courage to write about his failures, alongside tales of his enormous success. The stories are also wildly entertaining, hilarious and emotionally devastating. One of the best Rock ’n’ Roll books ever written. It belongs on a shelf between Bob Dylan’s Chronicles and Gerri Hershey’s Nowhere To Run. A masterpiece.”—Chris Columbus, director, producer, and screenwriter

“Steven and I grew up in the same town, two miles apart—unless you count the fact that creatively, he was on another planet. Beneath the bandana is the beautiful mind of a polymath: singer, songwriter, actor, activist, arranger, thinker, and creator. There is sex, there are drugs, and thank the Lord—there is rock and roll. Names are named. Mistakes are made. Fights are (mostly) forgiven. And lightning strikes more than once. This is the beautifully told story of a great American life, and I dreaded the arrival of the final page.”—Brian Williams, journalist

“I was expecting a great music book with a bit more depth than most. What I got was the Tao Te Ching of Rock biographies! Only it’s Lao Tzu with a fabulous sense of humor! This adventure is metaphysically amazing.”—Michael Des Barres, actor / writer / musician / DJ

“Steven Van Zandt is the ultimate Rock ’n’ Roll soldier, an eyewitness to history who has made plenty of his own in the trenches and the studio. His stories of struggle and awakening, the mysteries of creation, and the ties that bind in every great band come at you like a blaze of killer 45s in a true voice of America: part Vegas, part Alan Freed, all New Jersey.”—David Fricke, journalist, SiriusXM, Mojo, Rolling Stone

Unrequited Infatuations is as musical, soulful, funny, adventurous, inspiring, and real as the man who wrote it, the one and only Stevie Van Zandt."—Jon Landau, journalist, music producer, and manager

 “A pleasure for music fans and one of the best entertainment memoirs in recent years."—Kirkus Reviews