Stevie Van Zandt reflects on the ‘big mistake of my life’ after leaving Bruce Springsteen’s E Street Band

Stevie Van Zandt has spoken of what he described in his memoir as a “very public career suicide” when he left Bruce Springsteen’s E Street Band.

The 73-year-old rock musician already had a long association with The Boss when he joined his band in 1975.

However, during the recording of Springsteen’s 1984 hit record Born in the United States, Van Zandt chose to leave the band in what he called “the biggest mistake of my life.”

After his departure, he released a number of solo records under his moniker Little Steven, and also starred in the critically adored crime drama series The Sopranos as Silvio Dante from 1999 until the show ended in 2007.

Among his many other pursuits, he has been a songwriter, arranger and producer, radio host, author and record label owner. Now he is the subject of a new HBO original documentary, Steve Van Zandt: Disciple.

Talk to The Guardian, Van Zandt expanded on what he wrote in his book: Unrequited infatuations, As he revealed, he still has mixed feelings about his decision to leave the E Street Band.

“My whole life I’ve carried around this guilt and this feeling of, oh my, if only I could have stayed in the band and still done all these other things,” he said.

“Wouldn’t that have been wonderful? I realized as I analyzed it that it was ridiculous and that it wouldn’t have happened.

If he had stayed in the band, he explains, “there probably wouldn’t have been any solo records, there wouldn’t have been any City of the Sun recording, there would have been no The Sopranos Or Lilyhammer.”

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“I don’t know what I would have done,” he continued. “I might have produced a few things and who knows where I would have gone? But if I had continued to dedicate my life to Bruce Springsteen’s vision, I would never have realized my potential. »

“I still haven’t done it, obviously, but I’ve done a few things that I think wouldn’t have been done if I had stayed.”

Van Zandt remains a member of the E Street Band and is described by Springsteen in the documentary as his “rock ‘n’ roll brother”.

He was inducted into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame in 2014 along with his E Street bandmates.

Elsewhere this week, The bear Star Jeremy Allen White has revealed he wants to perform his own voice when he plays Springsteen in the upcoming biopic, Deliver me from nowhere.

The actor will play the role of the “Born to Run” singer in the project, which is set around the time he released his 1982 album. Nebraska.

“We’re going to do our best,” White, 33, explained during a red carpet interview with Variety.

He also revealed that he has yet to meet Springsteen, although they have “communicated a little bit through other people.”

“I try to have a little bit, I think, my own process before I meet the man,” The bear explained the star. “I want to try to have a little understanding so that when I meet him, I’ll have a little confidence somewhere in me.”