Steve Van Zandt Featured on ’60 Minutes’

Steve Van Zandt was profiled on the CBS Program 60 Minutes on Sunday night (Nov. 19) profiling his career as a member of the E Street Band, his role as Silvio Dante on The Sopranos, his TeachRock organization and his activism fighting apartheid in the ’80s.

“People always say, ‘Aren’t you worried about, being replaced?’” he said in a candid moment about his role in the E Street Band in the segment, titled ‘The Underboss’. “I’m like, ‘No. I can’t be replaced. How many best friends do you have for 50 years?'”

Speaking about TeachRock, Van Zandt explained how he launched the program to teach kids about history through music on what he described as teaching on “their turf.”

“People don’t understand we’re the only country in the world that thinks art is a luxury,” he said. “Everyone else in the world understands that art is an essential part of the quality of life.”

Later in the program, Bruce Springsteen sang Van Zandt’s praises as ” “the consigliere of the E Street Band.”

“If I have questions pertaining a direction for the band, or issues with the band, or something like the set list, I’m not sure what we’re gonna play that night, or what we should start with, or if he has second doubts about something, he always comes to me,” Springsteen explained. “He’s been essential to me since he walked into the studio during the Born to Run sessions and fixed the horns and my guitar parts.”

Springsteen, who has known Van Zandt since the guitarist was 16, added, “We’ve been doing it together for a long time. And that’s a wonderful thing. How many people have their best friend at their side 50 some years later?”

Watch the interview below: