Roderick David "Rod" Stewart , CBE (born 10 January 1945) is a British singer-songwriter born and raised in London, England and currently residing in Epping. He is of Scottish and English lineage.
With his distinctive raspy singing voice, Stewart came to prominence in the late 1960s and early '70s with The Jeff Beck Group and then Faces. He launched his solo career in 1969 with his debut album An Old Raincoat Won't Ever Let You Down (US: The Rod Stewart Album) . His work with The Jeff Beck Group and Faces proved to be influential on the formation of the heavy metal and punk rock genres, respectively. Both bands were also pioneers of blues-rock.
With his career in its fifth decade, Stewart has achieved numerous solo hit singles worldwide, most notably in the UK, where he has garnered six consecutive number one albums and his tally of 62 hit singles include 31 that reached the top 10, six of which gained the number one position. He has also had 16 top ten singles in the USA, with four of these reaching number one. His most-known solo hit singles are "Maggie May", "You Wear It Well", "Sailing", "Tonight's the Night (Gonna Be Alright)", "I Don't Want to Talk About It", "Hot Legs", "Da Ya Think I'm Sexy?", "Downtown Train", "Some Guys Have All the Luck", "Young Turks", "This Old Heart of Mine", "Forever Young", "The First Cut is the Deepest", "Have I Told You Lately", "My Heart Can't Tell You No" and "Rhythm of My Heart." He was voted at #33 in the poll of "Q Magazine top 100 Greatest Singers of all time".
Biography
Early life
Roderick Stewart was born in Highgate, North London, the youngest of Robert and Elsie Stewart's five children. Robert was Scottish and had been a master builder in Leith outside of Edinburgh, while Elsie was English and had grown up in Upper Holloway in North London. Married in 1928, the couple had two sons and two daughters while living in Scotland, then they moved to Highgate. Rod came after an eight-year gap following his youngest sibling and was born at home during World War II, half an hour after a German V-2 rocket fell on the local Highgate police station.
The family was neither affluent nor poor, and by all accounts Rod was a spoiled child as the youngest. In his own recollection, Rod says "I had a fantastically happy childhood." Rod had an undistinguished record at Highgate Primary School and failed the eleven plus exam. He then attended the William Grimshaw Secondary Modern School in Hornsey. Robert retired from the building trade at age 65, then opened a newsagent's shop on the Archway Road when Rod was in his early teens; the family lived over the shop. Rod's primary home hobby was railway modelling.
The Stewart family was mostly focused on football; Robert had played on a local amateur side and managed some as well, while Rod was the most talented footballer in the family and was a strong supporter of Arsenal F.C. Combining natural athleticism with near-reckless aggression, Rod rose to become captain of the school football team and played for Middlesex Schoolboys as centre-half.
The family were also great fans of the singer Al Jolson and would sing and play his hits. Rod collected his records, read books about him, and was influenced by his performing style and attitude towards his audience. His introduction to rock and roll was Little Richard's 1956 hit "The Girl Can't Help It". His father bought him a guitar in January 1959; the first song he learned was the folk tune "It Takes a Worried Man to Sing a Worried Song" and the first record he bought was Eddie Cochran's "C'mon Everybody". In 1960, he joined a skiffle group with schoolfriends called the Kool Kats, playing Lonnie Donegan and Chas McDevitt hits.
1960–1969
Stewart left school at age 15 and worked briefly as a silk screen printer. Spurred on by his father, his ambition was to become a professional footballer. In 1961 he joined on as an apprentice with Brentford F.C., a Third Division club at the time. However, he disliked the early morning travel to West London and the daily assignment to clean the first team's boots. His playing effectiveness at centre-half was hindered by his slight build — 5 feet 11 inches (1.80 m) but 9 stone (130 lb; 57 kg) — and he pushed himself so much that he sometimes vomited at the side of the pitch. After up to two months of play in pre-season fixtures, Stewart left the team, to the great disappointment of his father. Stewart later reflected that: "I had the skill but not the enthusiasm." Regarding possible career options, Stewart concluded, "Well, a musician's life is a lot easier and I can also get drunk and make music, and I can't do that and play football. I plumped for music ... They're the only two things I can do actually: play football and sing."
He worked in the family shop and as a newspaper delivery boy, then as a grave digger at Highgate Cemetery, partly to face a childhood fear of death. He worked in a North Finchley funeral parlour and as a fence erector and sign writer. In 1961 he went to Denmark Street and got a singing audition with legendary record producer Joe Meek, but Meek stopped the session cold with a rude sound. Stewart began listening to Woody Guthrie, Ramblin' Jack Elliot, and especially Bob Dylan's debut album, and became attracted to beatnik attitudes and left-wing politics, living for a while in a beatnik houseboat at Shoreham-by-Sea. He became an active supporter of the Campaign for Nuclear Disarmament at this time, joining the annual Aldermaston Marches in 1961 through 1963 and being arrested on three occasions when he took part in sit-ins at Trafalgar Square and Whitehall for the cause. His commitment was not total, however, as he also used the marches as a way to meet and bed girls. In 1962 he had his first serious relationship, with London art student Suzannah Boffey (and a friend of future model and actress Chrissie Shrimpton); he moved to a bed-sit in Muswell Hill to be near her. She became pregnant, but neither Rod nor his family wanted him to enter marriage; the baby girl was given for adoption and Rod and Suzannah's relationship ended.
In 1962, Stewart began hanging around folk singer Wizz Jones, busking at Leicester Square and other London spots. Stewart took up playing the then-fashionable harmonica, learning to play in part from watching Mick Jagger on stage. 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. Finally this resulted in Stewart being rounded up and deported from Spain for vagrancy during 1963.
In the spring of 1962, Stewart joined The Ray Davies Quartet, later known as the successful British band The Kinks, as their lead singer. He had known three of their members at William Grimshaw School and at the time, Ray Davies was uncomfortable with the lead vocalist role. He performed with the group on at least one occasion, but was soon dropped due to complaints about his voice from then-drummer John Start's mother as well as musical and personality differences with the rest of the band. Stewart then briefly fronted his own group, Rod Stewart & The Moonrakers, who competed with Davies' band.
In 1963, Stewart adopted the Mod lifestyle and look, and began fashioning the spiky rooster hairstyle that would become his trademark. 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 and Cooke became his idol.
After returning to London he joined Jimmy Powell & the Five Dimensions in 1963 as a vocalist and harmonica player. Together they recorded a single for Pye Records. Long John Baldry discovered him drunk and busking for his train fare and invited him to join The Hoochie Coochie Men which recorded a single "Good Morning Little Schoolgirl", which failed to enter the charts. The Hoochie Coochie Men evolved into Steampacket featuring Stewart, Baldry, Julie Driscoll, Brian Auger, Mickey Waller and Rick Brown. Steampacket toured with the Rolling Stones and the Walker Brothers on tour in the summer of 1965. They also recorded tracks that weren't released as an album until 1970, after Stewart had become well known in musical circles. Stewart earned the nickname "Rod the Mod" during that period, as a result of his appearance in a 1965 BBC documentary on the mod subculture. Steampacket broke up in early 1966 with Stewart joining Shotgun Express as lead vocalist with Beryl Marsden. Amongst the members of Shotgun Express were Mick Fleetwood and Peter Green (who would go on to form Fleetwood Mac), and Peter Bardens. Shotgun Express released one single before disbanding. There is evidence of recordings of two Mike d'Abo songs 'Little Miss Understood' and 'So Much to Say, (So Little Time)' from The Immediate Singles Collection (1985; CCSCD 102), a compilation of Immediate Record's hits.
Stewart then joined the Jeff Beck Group as vocalist, where he first played with Ronnie Wood. In 1968 their first album Truth became a hit on both sides of the Atlantic and the group toured extensively. The second album Beck-Ola also was a hit in 1969 but the group members had parted ways by the end of the year. Much of Stewart's sense of phrasing was developed during his time with the Jeff Beck Group.
1969–1975
The US band Cactus was going to have Stewart in the line up that included Jeff Beck, Carmine Appice and Tim bogert (X vanilla Fudge) but Rod and Ronnie Wood decided instead to work with three former members of Small Faces, calling the new line-up Faces. Stewart also sig
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