You may know Steve from The Sopranos (he plays Silvio Dante) or as the longtime guitarist from Bruce Springsteen’s E Street Band. Now you can get to know him as the coolest DJ in the country, a proud throwback to the late-night hipster jocks of long-gone 1960s and ‘70s FM radio.
- Kurt Loder, MTV News.com, April 15, 2002

On April 7, 2002, coincidentally the same date in 1967 that Tom Donahue kicked off “progressive FM radio” on KMPX in San Francisco, Little Steven’s Underground Garage had its inaugural broadcast on 27 stations throughout the United States. No radio show has ever gotten this much attention; during the week preceding the first broadcast Van Zandt appeared on ABC, CBS, and Fox, and a press blitz of mega proportions took place throughout cities that are carrying the program. In addition, the premiere star-studded broadcast at New York’s Hard Rock Café on April 7 achieved prominent placement on both local and network news as well as in local and national newspapers and magazines.

Being the coolest D.J. in the country is just the latest chapter in a long and distinguished musical career.

He is an acclaimed record producer for artists such as Bruce Springsteen, Southside Johnny and the Asbury Jukes, Artists United Against Apartheid, Darlene Love, Lone Justice, Gary U.S. Bonds, Michael Monroe, Lords of the New Church and the Arc Angels.

A gifted songwriter, he has written songs for artists including Jimmy Cliff, Southside Johnny, Gary U.S. Bonds, Brian Setzer, and Darlene Love.

In addition, Steven is a well-known musician in his own right, performing as a founding member of Bruce Springsteen and the E Street Band as well as w ith his own band Little Steven and the Disciples of Soul.

In his early years as a musician, arranger, and producer he helped to craft what is now known as the Asbury Park Sound; horn-driven hard-driving soul music; forever legitimizing the genre of "bar band music." After leaving the E Street Band in 1982, he spent the 80's immersed in international politics, released four albums, and toured internationally with his own band. He has worked to further human rights since the early 1980's, spearheading the hugely successful anti-apartheid Sun City project, and establishing the Solidarity Foundation in 1985 to support the sovereignty of indigenous peoples. He has been honored twice by the United Nations for his human rights achievements, and received the International Documentary Association Award for his film The Making of Sun City.

Hearts of Stone by Southside Johnny and the Asbury Jukes, produced and written by Steven, was named in 1990 by Rolling Stone as one of the top 100 albums of the past twenty years, and Rolling Stone called Sun City one of the best 100 albums of the 1980's.

In January 1999 Steven added yet another facet to his mercurial career: acting. He plays Silvio Dante in HBO's critically acclaimed dramatic series, The Sopranos, which completed its fourth season in 2002. The series has received numerous awards and honors. Stephen Holden said in The New York Times "it may just be the greatest work of American popular culture of the last quarter century." In addition to his fulltime acting job, Steven joined his old friend Bruce Springsteen for a record-breaking international tour with the E Street Band during 1999 and 2000. and is currently on tour with Bruce and the E Street Band to promote the hugely successful album, The Rising.

His fifth solo album (and the final album in a cycle conceived back in 1982) Born Again Savage combined the topics of sex, politics, and religion in a hard rock setting, and was released by Steven in late 1999 on his own label, Renegade Nation.

In 2000 Steven contributed the song "Affection" to the second Sopranos soundtrack CD, Peppers & Eggs, from his unreleased album, Nobody Loves And Leaves Alive, performed by his 90's garage band, The Lost Boys.

In Spring 2001, Steven joined forces with Jon Weiss of Cavestomp! to present a series of live garage rock concerts at a downtown New York club, the Village Underground. By the end of the year the series had showcased some 50 new bands along with such legends as Barry & The Remains, The Troggs, The Pretty Things, and Dave Davies of the Kinks. In addition, Steven was the catalyst for establishing the first garage rock section ever to be part of a major music retail chain in all 40 stores of The Wiz in the New York tri-state area. His passion and support of the genre also initiated a national search for new, unsigned talent sponsored by The Wiz. In December 2001 The Best of Little Steven's Cavestomp! Garage Rock Band Search Volume 1 CD was released by The Wiz, featuring 20 unsigned young bands.

Little Steven’s Underground Garage and the Cavestomp! concert series has been covered extensively in the trades as well as in Rolling Stone's Hot Issue, Entertainment Weekly, The New York Times, Variety, Vanity Fair, GQ, The New York Daily News, and dozens of other print and electronic media outlets. Little Steven was named a Person of the Year by Rolling Stone in December 2002.

Little Steven's Underground Garage, which debuted on April 7, 2002, continues to garner rave reviews from journalists and listeners alike. The program launched with 20 affiliates and has grown to an unprecedented 112 affiliates in 138 markets across the United States and Canada.