Video | Interview with Little Steven

Millennials would not guess that fifteen years ago the combination of the terms MTV and Jersey Shore would have yielded very different results.

If you listen to the music of Bruce Springsteen, Southside Johnny and many other musicians from the East Coast, you'll be able to identify a very distinctive flavor of American Rock: the Jersey Shore sound. It's a blend of rock 'n' roll, R&B, and soul filled with energy. And, if you pay close attention to the credits, you’ll find one name that pops up again and again: Stevie Van Zandt.

Better known as Little Steven, Van Zandt is a multifaceted artist. But his fame is not exclusively derived from his restless activity in the musical scene and his partnership with Springsteen. He’s also led a successful acting career playing prominent roles in HBO's series The Sopranos and the Netflix series Lilyhammer.

In the 1980s, Van Zandt used his fame to denounce and fight Apartheid in South Africa by creating Artist United Against Apartheid. What started as a one-song project morphed into one of the first musical collaborations among major recording artists to support a political cause rather than a social one.

Nowadays, he is active in Little Kids Rock, an organization that works to reinstate music and arts curriculums in disadvantaged American public schools affected by lack of funding.

While visiting Barcelona on a promotional tour for his new album: Summer of Sorcery. Van Zandt shared some of his time with Barcelona Metropolitan. Play the video above to hear his thoughts on his career and his opinion on a range of topics including education and political activism.

You can follow Stevie Van Zandt on Twitter @StevieVanZandt, Facebook @LittleStevenVanZandt, and Instagram stevievanzandt.