Rod Stewart
Sir Roderick David Stewart CBE (born 10 January 1945)[2] is a British rock and pop singer and songwriter. With his distinctive raspy singing voice, Stewart is among the best-selling music artists of all time, having sold more than 120 million records worldwide.[3] He has had 10 number-one albums and 31 top-ten singles in the UK, six of which reached number one.[4] Stewart has had 16 top-ten singles in the US, with four reaching number one on the Billboard Hot 100. He was knighted in the 2016 Birthday Honours for services to music and charity.[5]
"Roderick Stewart" redirects here. For the politician, see Rory Stewart.
Rod Stewart
Rod the Mod
- Singer
- songwriter
- record producer
- musician
1961–present
- Susannah Boffey (1963–1964)
- Jennie Rylance (1965–1967)
- Dee Harrington (1971–1975)
- Britt Ekland (1975–1977)
- Kelly Emberg (1983–1990)
- Rock
- pop
- blue-eyed soul
- blues rock
- folk rock
- soft rock
- disco
- traditional pop (2000s and 2023–present)[1]
Stewart's music career began in 1962 when he took up busking with a harmonica. In 1963, he joined The Dimensions as a harmonica player and vocalist. In 1964, Stewart joined Long John Baldry and the All Stars before moving to the Jeff Beck Group in 1967. Joining Faces in 1969, he also maintained a solo career releasing his debut album that year. Stewart's early albums were a fusion of rock, folk music, soul music, and R&B.[6][7] His third album, 1971's Every Picture Tells a Story, was his breakthrough, topping the charts in the UK, US, Canada and Australia, as did its ballad "Maggie May". His 1972 follow-up album, Never a Dull Moment, also reached number one in the UK and Australia, while going top three in the US and Canada. Its single, "You Wear It Well", topped the chart in the UK and was a moderate hit elsewhere.
After Stewart had a handful more UK top-ten hits, the Faces broke up in 1975. Stewart's next few hit singles were ballads with "Sailing", off the 1975 UK and Australian number-one album, Atlantic Crossing, becoming a hit in the UK and the Netherlands (number one), Germany (number four) and other countries, but barely charting in North America. A Night on the Town (1976), his fifth straight chart-topper in the UK, began a three-album run of going number one or top three in the US, Canada, the UK and Australia with each release. That album's "Tonight's the Night (Gonna Be Alright)" spent almost two months at number one in the US and Canada, and made the top five in other countries. Foot Loose & Fancy Free (1977) contained the hit "You're in My Heart (The Final Acclaim)" as well as the rocker "Hot Legs". Blondes Have More Fun (1978) and its disco-tinged "Da Ya Think I'm Sexy" both went to number one in Canada, Australia and the US, with "Da Ya Think I'm Sexy" also hitting number one in the UK and the top ten in other countries. Stewart's albums regularly hit the upper rungs of the charts in the Netherlands throughout the '70s and in Sweden from 1975 onward.
After a disco and new wave period in the late 1970s and early 1980s, Stewart's music turned to a soft rock/middle-of-the-road style, with most of his albums reaching the top ten in the UK, Germany and Sweden, but faring less well in the US. The single "Rhythm of My Heart" was a top five hit in the UK, US and other countries, with its source album, 1991's Vagabond Heart, becoming, at number ten in the US and number two in the UK, his highest-charting album in a decade. In 1993, he collaborated with Bryan Adams and Sting on the power ballad "All for Love", which went to number one in many countries. In the early 2000s, he released a series of successful albums interpreting the Great American Songbook.
In 2008, Billboard magazine ranked him the 17th most successful artist on the "Billboard Hot 100 All-Time Top Artists".[8] A Grammy and Brit Award recipient, he was voted at No. 33 in Q Magazine's list of the Top 100 Greatest Singers of all time.[9] As a solo artist, Stewart was inducted into the US Rock and Roll Hall of Fame in 1994, the UK Music Hall of Fame in 2006, and he was inducted a second time into the US Rock and Roll Hall of Fame in 2012 as a member of Faces.[10][11]
Music career
1961–1963: Early work and The Dimensions
Stewart worked in the family shop and as a newspaper delivery boy.[34] He then worked briefly as a labourer for Highgate Cemetery, which became another part of his biographical lore.[nb 3] He worked in a North Finchley funeral parlour[34] and as a fence erector and sign writer.[28] In 1961, he went to Denmark Street with The Raiders and got a singing audition with well-known record producer Joe Meek, but Meek stopped the session with a rude sound.[36] Stewart began listening to British and American topical folk artists such as Ewan MacColl, Alex Campbell, Woody Guthrie, Ramblin' Jack Elliott, and especially Derroll Adams and the debut album of Bob Dylan.[36][37]
Stewart became attracted to beatnik attitudes and left-wing politics, living for a while in a beatnik houseboat at Shoreham-by-Sea.[36] He was an active supporter of the Campaign for Nuclear Disarmament at this time, joining the annual Aldermaston Marches from 1961 to 1963 and being arrested on three occasions when he took part in sit-ins at Trafalgar Square and Whitehall for the cause.[28][36] He also used the marches as a way to meet and bed girls.[36][38] In 1962, he had his first serious relationship, with London art student Suzannah Boffey (a friend of future model and actress Chrissie Shrimpton); he moved to a bed-sit in Muswell Hill to be near her.[39] She became pregnant, but neither Rod nor his family wanted him to enter marriage; the baby girl was given up for adoption and Rod and Suzannah's relationship ended.[39]
In 1962, Stewart began hanging around folk singer Wizz Jones, busking at Leicester Square and other London spots.[40] Stewart took up playing the then-fashionable harmonica.[41] On several trips over the next 18 months Jones and Stewart took their act to Brighton and then to Paris, sleeping under bridges over the River Seine, and then finally to Barcelona.[40] Eventually, this resulted in Stewart being rounded up and deported from Spain for vagrancy in 1963.[33][40][42] At this time, Stewart, who had been at William Grimshaw School with three of their members, was briefly considered as singer for the embryonic Kinks.[20][37][43][44][45]
In 1963, Stewart adopted the Mod lifestyle and look, and began fashioning the spiky rooster hairstyle that would become his trademark.[46] (It was made possible with sugar water or large amounts of his sisters' hair lacquer, backcombing, and his hands holding it in place to protect it from the winds of the Highgate Underground station.[46][47][48]) Disillusioned by rock and roll, he saw Otis Redding perform in concert and began listening to Sam Cooke records; he became fascinated by rhythm and blues and soul music.[46]
After returning to London, Stewart joined a rhythm and blues group, the Dimensions, in October 1963, as a harmonica player and part-time vocalist.[32][49] It was his first professional job as a musician, although Stewart was still living at home and working in his brother's painting and picture frame shop.[50][51] A somewhat more established singer from Birmingham, Jimmy Powell, then hired the group a few weeks later, and it became known as Jimmy Powell & the Five Dimensions (which also included bassist Louis Cennamo), with Stewart being relegated to harmonica player.[32][49] The group performed weekly at the famed Studio 51 club on Great Newport Street in London, where The Rolling Stones often headlined;[49] this was Stewart's entrée into the thriving London R & B scene,[52] and his harmonica playing improved in part from watching Mick Jagger on stage.[41] Relations soon broke down between Powell and Stewart over roles within the group[50] and Stewart departed. Contrary to popular legend, during this time Stewart likely did not play harmonica on Millie Small's 1964 hit "My Boy Lollipop". That was probably Peter Hogman of the Dimensions, although Powell has also claimed credit.[32][53] Powell did record and release a single during this period, though Stewart did not appear on it.[49]
1964–1967: Steampacket and "Rod the Mod" image
In January 1964,[nb 4] while Stewart was waiting at Twickenham railway station after having seen Long John Baldry and the All Stars at Eel Pie Island,[32][53][55] Baldry heard him playing "Smokestack Lightnin'" on his harmonica, and invited him to sit in with the group; when Baldry discovered Stewart was a singer as well, he offered him a job for £35 a week, after securing the approval of Stewart's mother.[53] Quitting his day job at the age of nineteen, Stewart gradually overcame his shyness and nerves and became a visible enough part of the act that he was sometimes added to the billing as "Rod the Mod" Stewart,[41][53][54] the nickname coming from his dandyish style of grooming and dress.[37] Baldry touted Stewart's abilities to Melody Maker magazine and the group enjoyed a weekly residence at London's fabled Marquee Club.[54] In June 1964, Stewart made his recording début (without label credit) on "Up Above My Head", the B-side to a Baldry and Hoochie Coochie Men single.[56] While still with Baldry, Stewart embarked on a simultaneous solo career.[57] He made some demo recordings,[nb 5] was scouted by Decca Records at the Marquee Club, and signed to a solo contract in August 1964.[58] He appeared on several regional television shows around the country and recorded his first single in September 1964.[57][58]
Turning down Decca's recommended material as too commercial, Stewart insisted that the experienced session musicians he was given, including John Paul Jones, learn a couple of Sonny Boy Williamson songs he had just heard.[59] The resulting single, "Good Morning Little Schoolgirl", was recorded and released in October 1964; despite Stewart performing it on the popular television show Ready Steady Go!, it failed to enter the charts. Also in October Stewart left the Hoochie Coochie Men after having a row with Baldry.[58]
Stewart played some dates on his own in late 1964 and early 1965, sometimes backed by the Southampton R & B outfit The Soul Agents.[60] The Hoochie Coochie Men broke up, Baldry and Stewart patched up their differences (and indeed became lifelong friends),[61] and legendary impresario Giorgio Gomelsky put together Steampacket, which featured Baldry, Stewart, Brian Auger, Julie Driscoll, Micky Waller, Vic Briggs and Ricky Fenson; their first appearance was in support of The Rolling Stones in July 1965.[62] The group was conceived as a white soul revue, analogous to the Ike & Tina Turner Revue, with multiple vocalists and styles ranging from jazz to R&B to blues.[63] Steampacket toured with the Stones and The Walker Brothers that summer, ending in the London Palladium;[63] seeing the audience react to the Stones gave Stewart his first exposure to crowd hysteria.[64] Stewart, who had been included in the group upon Baldry's insistence, ended up with most of the male vocal parts.[63] Steampacket was unable to enter the studio to record any material because its members all belonged to different labels and managers,[63][65] although Gomelsky did record one of their Marquee Club rehearsals.[nb 6]
Stewart's "Rod the Mod" image gained wider visibility in November 1965, when he was the subject of a 30-minute Rediffusion, London television documentary titled "An Easter with Rod" that portrayed the Mod scene.[33][66] His parallel solo career attempts continued on EMI's Columbia label with the November 1965 release of "The Day Will Come", a more heavily arranged pop attempt, and the April 1966 release of his take on Sam Cooke's "Shake", with the Brian Auger Trinity.[66] Both failed commercially and neither gained positive notices.[67] Stewart had spent the better part of two years listening mostly to Cooke; he later said, "I didn't sound like anybody at all ... but I knew I sounded a bit like Sam Cooke, so I listened to Sam Cooke."[51] This recording solidified that singer's position as Stewart's idol and most enduring influence; he called it a "crossing of the water."[37][51][63]
Stewart left Steampacket in March 1966,[66] with Stewart saying he had been sacked and Auger saying he had quit.[63] Stewart then joined a somewhat similar outfit, Shotgun Express, in May 1966 as co-lead vocalist with Beryl Marsden.[63][66] The other members included Mick Fleetwood and Peter Green (who would go on to form Fleetwood Mac), and Peter Bardens.[66] Shotgun Express released one unsuccessful single in October 1966, the orchestra-heavy "I Could Feel The Whole World Turn Round", before disbanding.[63][66] Stewart later disparaged Shotgun Express as a poor imitation of Steampacket and said, "I was still getting this terrible feeling of doing other people's music. I think you can only start finding yourself when you write your own material."[66] By now, Stewart had bounced around without achieving much success, with little to distinguish himself among other aspiring London singers other than the emerging rasp in his voice.[52]
1967–1969: Jeff Beck Group period
Guitarist Jeff Beck recruited Stewart for his new post-Yardbirds venture,[68] and in February 1967, Stewart joined the Jeff Beck Group as vocalist and sometime songwriter.[69] This would become the big break of his early career.[37] There he first played with Ronnie Wood[63] whom he had first met in a London pub in 1964;[58] the two soon became fast friends.[68] During its first year, the group experienced frequent changes of drummers and conflicts involving manager Mickie Most wanting to reduce Stewart's role. They toured the UK and released a couple of singles that featured Stewart on their B-sides.[69][70] Stewart's sputtering solo career also continued with the March 1968 release of non-hit "Little Miss Understood" on Immediate Records.[69]
The Jeff Beck Group toured Western Europe in spring 1968, recorded, and were nearly destitute. Then assistant manager Peter Grant booked them on a six-week tour of the United States starting in June 1968 with the Fillmore East in New York.[69][71][72] Stewart, on his first trip to America, suffered terrible stage fright during the opening show and hid behind the amplifier banks while singing. Only a quick shot of brandy brought him out front.[69] Nevertheless, the show and the tour were a big success,[37][72] with Robert Shelton of The New York Times calling the group exciting and praising "the interaction of Mr. Beck's wild and visionary guitar against the hoarse and insistent shouting of Rod Stewart,"[71] and New Musical Express reporting that the group was receiving standing ovations and pulling receipts equal to those of Jimi Hendrix and The Doors.[69]
In August 1968, their first album Truth was released, and by October, it had risen to number 15 on the US albums chart but failed to chart in the UK.[69] The album featured Beck's masterly guitar technique and manipulated sounds as Stewart's dramatic vocalising tackled the group's varied repertoire of blues, folk, rock, and proto-heavy metal.[52][70][73] Stewart also co-wrote three of the songs[73] and credited the record for helping to develop his vocal abilities and the sandpaper quality in his voice.[51] The group toured America again at the end of the year to a strong reception, then suffered from more personnel upheaval[69][74] (something that would continue throughout Beck's career). In July 1969, Stewart left following his friend Wood's departure.[51][75] Stewart later recalled, "It was a great band to sing with, but I couldn't take all the aggravation and unfriendliness that developed.... In the two and a half years I was with Beck I never once looked him in the eye – I always looked at his shirt or something like that."[69]
The group's second album, Beck-Ola, was released in June 1969 in the US and in September 1969 in the UK, bracketing the time the group was dissolving; it also made number 15 in the US albums chart and reached number 39 in the UK albums chart.[37][75][76] During his time with the group, Stewart initially felt overmatched by Beck's presence, and his style was still developing; but later Stewart felt the two developed a strong musical, if not personal, rapport.[69][77] Much of Stewart's sense of phrasing was developed during his time with the Jeff Beck Group.[51] Beck sought to form a new supergroup with Carmine Appice and Tim Bogert (of the similarly just-breaking-up Vanilla Fudge) joining him and Stewart, but Stewart had other plans.[78]
1969–1975: Solo career established and Faces albums
Mercury Records A&R man Lou Reizner had seen Stewart perform with Beck, and on 8 October 1968 signed him to a solo contract;[69] but contractual complexities delayed Stewart's recording for him until July 1969.[75][79] Meanwhile, in May 1969, guitarist and singer Steve Marriott left English band The Small Faces.[75] Ron Wood replaced him as guitarist in June and on 18 October 1969, Stewart followed his friend and became the band's new singer.[75] The two joined existing members Ronnie Lane, Ian McLagan, and Kenney Jones, who soon decided to call the new line-up Faces.[80]
An Old Raincoat Won't Ever Let You Down became Stewart's first solo album in 1969 (it was known as The Rod Stewart Album in the US). It established the template for his solo sound: a heartfelt mixture of folk, rock, and country blues, inclusive of a British working-class sensibility, with both original material ("Cindy's Lament" and the title song) and cover versions (Ewan MacColl's "Dirty Old Town" and Mike d'Abo's "Handbags and Gladrags"). The backing band on the album included Wood, Waller and McLagan, plus Keith Emerson and guitarists Martin Pugh (of Steamhammer, and later Armageddon and 7th Order) and Martin Quittenton (also from Steamhammer).[81]
During his career, Rod Stewart has been a member of a number of groups including:
