Steven Van Zandt Talks Family, Music and His New Memoir, ‘Unrequited Infatuations’

Steven Van Zandt was 14 years old when the Beatles played The Ed Sullivan Show. It was a day that inspired millions of people, many of whom went on to buy and learn to play guitars. But while Van Zandt was in awe of the Mop Tops, his fingers already had experience noodling with a six-string. By then, Van Zandt’s grandfather had shown the aspiring musician songs from his family’s native Calabria, Italy. Van Zandt began to play the guitar to spend more time and bond with his grandfather, whom he loved dearly. The two got along well, strumming tunes. Then the Beatles landed and the musical “British Invasion” followed.

Van Zandt, who came of age in the ’60s, was bitten by the rock and roll bug immediately. The genre sunk its teeth into the young man. Later in life, he learned about Chuck Berry, Bo Diddley, and the stars of the ’50s. But at the moment, he found himself enamored with the Rolling Stones, the Kinks, the Animals, and many others.

These and many others are the stories in Van Zandt’s recently released New York Times best-selling memoir, Unrequited Infatuations. (And perhaps what he reminisces over while preparing his new line of wellness-focused cannabis products, Little Steven’s Underground Apothecary.)