Little Steven

Even after the fourth series of the Sopranos, I'm still a little shocked that Little Steven and Silvio are the same guy. Little Steven (aka Steven van Zandt) who in 1985, co-founded Artist Against Apartheid, writing 'Sun City' and organising a slew of music celebrities to perform it - Bob Geldorf had come out a few months earlier with 'Do they know it's Christmas', a terrible song that made a lot of money - 'Sun City' did a different thing, drawing a weighty cultural picket-line around Pretoria with a great song - sweet move.

Okay, ancient history. Then, on january 10 1999, HBO screen episode 1 of the Sopranos and there he is, little Steven, playing Silvio Dante - a stooge at the heart of one of the coolest dramas on earth. Join the dots yourself - he's nothing if not unorthodox - Steven van Zandt - an original in an ocean of t'shirts.