Outlook Mixtape: Gangsters, The Boss, and a dad on the run

Three people whose lives entwine with the cult classic television show, The Sopranos.

Robin Green is a multi-award-winning American writer who has been dizzyingly successful. But at times, she didn't even realise she could actually write. A self-described “clueless girl”, she was in her 20s when she became the only woman on the editorial masthead at Rolling Stone magazine in the 1970s. Robin later moved to Los Angeles with the love of her life, an aspiring writer called Mitch. It was while watching daytime TV that her career took a dramatic turn, leading her and Mitch into the writing room for the hit show The Sopranos. She crafted characters and storylines inspired from her own life – including her gangsterish grandfather.

Known as the man behind ‘The Boss’, rock guitarist and actor Steve Van Zandt is Bruce Springsteen’s longtime friend, musical collaborator and founding member of the E Street Band. But in the late 90s, Steve came into contact with a different 'boss' altogether - when he took on the role of Silvio Dante in The Sopranos - a role in which, once again, he was the man behind the boss - the loyal consigliere to Tony Soprano.

Musician Nick Reynolds is a member of London-based band, Alabama 3, whose track Woke Up This Morning was used as the theme song for The Sopranos. But Nick's own life is unexpectedly linked to real life international crime. Early one morning in 1968, a young Nick answered his front door – completely oblivious to the whirlwind about to be unleashed on his family. Most of his childhood had been spent carefree and happy on the warm shores of Mexico with his parents. But, all the while, he'd been growing up in the shadow of one of the most notorious crimes of the 20th Century.

Presenter: Asya Fouks

Producer: Anna Lacey and Marcia Veiga

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(Photo: Cassette tape. Credit: Getty Images)