Roderick David Stewart (born January 10, 1945) is an English singer of Scottish descent. Stewart was the youngest of five children born to Robert and Elsie Stewart. His parents owned a newsagent's shop in North London, and the family resided above the shop. Minutes before Rod Stewart was born in Highgate, London, a German V-2 rocket hit the police station just down the street and exploded.
Over his lengthy career, Stewart has sung rock, standards, folk rock and pop and has achieved success at each. He has achieved 3 US number one albums over three decades. Although the quality of his recordings has dipped at times, he is widely recognised as among the best interpretive singers of recent decades, and has consistently been a presence in the charts since the early 1970s.
1960-1969 "Rod the Mod" early career
Rod Stewart started as an apprentice soccer player with Brentford F.C. based in West London. He soon switched to a career in music joining folk singer Wizz Jones in the early 1960s being deported from Spain for vagrancy. On his return to England, he went to Birmingham to join Jimmy Powell & the Five Dimensions as a vocalist and blues harp player. The band recorded a single for Pye Records with Stewart on blues harp. He also played the instrument on Millie Small's "My Boy Lollipop" which became a huge hit in 1964.
Rod Stewart returned to London in 1964 to join Long John Baldry's Hoochie Coochie Men which recorded a single "Good Morning Little Schoolgirl" which failed to chart. The Hoochie Coochie Men evolved into Steampacket featuring Stewart, Baldry, Julie Driscoll , Brian Auger, Mickey Waller and Rick Brown . Steampacket supported the Rolling Stones and the Walker Brothers in the northern summer of 1965 and would also record an album that would not be released until 1970 when Stewart had become well-known in musical circles. Stewart also earned the nickname "Rod the Mod" in that period after an appearance on a BBC documentary,1965, on the Mod movement.
Steampacket broke up in early 1966 with Stewart joining Shotgun Express as lead vocalist with Beryl Marsden . Shotgun Express also contained Mick Fleetwood and Peter Green who would go on to form Fleetwood Mac and Peter Mardens . Shotgun Express released one single before breaking up.
Stewart then joined Jeff Beck's the Jeff Beck Group as vocalist. 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 the middle of 1969 but the group broke up by the end of the year.
Never A Dull Moment - career success 1969-1975
The US band Cactus offered Stewart a job as lead singer but he decided to join The Faces with Ron Wood who was a bass player with the Jeff Beck Group switching to guitar. The Faces were previously The Small Faces until the departure of Steve Marriott. Steve Jones from The Sex Pistols regards The Faces very highly and names them as a main influence on the British punk movement. Stewart also signed a solo contract - An Old Raincoat Won't Let You Down being his first solo album in 1969 - known as the Rod Stewart album in the US.
The Faces released their debut album First Step in early 1970 with a rock and roll style similar to the Rolling Stones. While the album did better in the UK than the US, the Faces quickly earned a strong live following. Stewart would release his second album Gasoline Alley with Martin Quittenton as his lead guitarist supplying a mandolin sound. He also launched a solo tour.
Stewart's 1971 album Every Picture Tells a Story made him a household name when the B-side of his minor hit "Reason to Believe" "Maggie May" started receiving radio play, the album and the single hit number one in both the U.S. and the U.K. simultaneously, a chart first, in September. "Maggie May" was also named in The Rock and Roll Hall of Fame's 500 Songs that Shaped Rock and Roll, which is one of three songs by him to appear on that list.
The second Faces album "Long Player" was released in early 1971 which enjoyed greater chart success than First Step. The Faces also got their only U.S. top forty hit with "Stay With Me" from their third album A Nod is as Good as a Wink to a Blind Horse released in late 1971. This album reached the top ten on both sides of the Atlantic on the back of the success of Every Picture Tells A Story.
The Faces had an extensive tour in 1972 with growing tension in the band over Stewart's solo career enjoying more success than the band's. Stewart released Never A Dull Moment in the same year reaching number two on the US album charts and number one in the UK and enjoyed further critical success.
The Faces released their final album Ooh La La which reached number one in the UK and number 21 in 1973. The Faces went on their final tour in 1974 to support Ooh La La and the single "Pool Hall Richard". The band formally broke up in 1975 with Ron Wood joining the Rolling Stones as their guitar player and Stewart pursuing his solo career.
Stewart would release the Smiler album in late 1974 which proved to be a disappointment reaching only number 13 on the Billboard pop album charts with the single "Mine For Me" only reaching number 91 on the Billboard pop singles charts. Smiler is generally regarded as Stewart's weakest album of the seventies.
Atlantic crossing 1975-1980
In 1975, Rod Stewart moved to the US, applying for citizenship due to his love affair with Britt Ekland and a fight with the UK tax authorities. He released the Atlantic Crossing album with producer Tom Dowd and the Muscle Shoals rhythm section. Atlantic Crossing marked both a return to form and a return to the top 10 of the Billboard album charts. The first single "Sailing" was a massive number one hit in the UK, while it only reached the top 60 of the US charts. "This Old Heart of Mine" was also a top 100 hit in 1976, written by legendary Holland-Dozier-Holland songwriting combo of Motown fame.
Later in 1976, Stewart topped the Billboard singles charts for eight weeks and the Australian singles charts with "Tonight's the Night" with a video featuring Britt Ekland. The A Night on the Town album went to #2 on the Billboard album charts and was Stewart's first album to go platinum. It quite overshadowed a greatest hits record released in 1976 that only reached #90.
"The First Cut is the Deepest", a cover of a Cat Stevens song, went top 30 in the US in 1977. However, it was officially credited as a number 1 in the UK even though "God Save the Queen" by the Sex Pistols is widely believed to have sold more records in that week. "The Killing of Georgie (Part 1 and 2)" about the killing of a gay man was also a top 40 hit for Stewart during 1977.
Foot Loose and Fancy Free from 1978 continued Stewart's run of chart success again reaching #2 and featuring the same sound from A Night on the Town. Stewart scored another US #1 single with "Do Ya Think I'm Sexy" which was a crossover hit reaching #5 on the Billboard black charts due to its disco sound. "Do Ya Think I'm Sexy" was the lead single from 1979's Blondes Have More Fun which went to #1 on the Billboard album charts and sold 4 million albums. It was to be Stewart's last number one album for 25 years.
Out of Order 1981-2001
In 1981, Stewart added elements of new wave and synth-pop to his sound for the Tonight I'm Yours album. The title song and "Young Turks" both reached top 5 of the Billboard charts with the album going platinum.
Stewart's career then went into a relative slump. He only had three top ten singles between 1982 and 1988 and only 1983's Camouflage album went gold in the UK. In 1988, he returned with Out Of Order produced by Duran Duran's Andy Taylor and by Bernard Edwards of Chic. "Forever Young" and "Lost in You" from that album were both significant hits on the Billboard Hot 100 and mainstream rock charts.
His version of the Tom Waits song "Downtown Train" went to #2 of the US singles charts. This song was taken from a four CD compilation set called Storyteller. The Vagabond Heart album continued his comeback with "Rhythm of my Heart" and "Motown Song" both reaching the top 10.
In 1993, he recorded "All For Love" with Sting and Bryan Adams for the soundtrack to the movie The Three Musketeers; the single reached #1 on the US charts.
Stewart reunited with Ron Wood to record an MTV Unplugged special. It featured an acoustic version of "Have I Told You Lately" which topped the Billboard adult contemporary chart and went top ten on the Billboard Hot 100. The Unplugged album reached #2 on the Billboard album charts.
In 1995, Stewart released "A Spanner in the Works" containing a cover of Tom Petty's "Leave Virginia Alone" which reached the top 10 of the adult contemporary charts. The latter half of the 1990s was not as commercially successful with If We Fall In Love Tonight not making much of an impression on the charts. ('Spanner' is the British term for what American's typically refer to as a 'wrench'.)
When we Were the New Boys from 1998 contained versions of Britpop acts such as Oasis and Primal Scream. Hoever, it only reached #44 on the UK album charts. Human, his final album on the Warner Brothers label only just reached the top 50 in 2001 with the single "I Can't Deny It" going top 40 in the UK and top 20 in the adult contemporary.
The Story So Far: the Very Best Of a greatest hits album compiled from his time at Warner Brothers went to the top ten in the UK and reached number 1 in places like Belgium and France in 2001.
Stewart has been known for his liaisons with attractive women, including Britt Ekland and was later married to Alana Hamilton and Rachel Hunter. He fathered six children. He was quoted as saying that he'd rather have his penis cut off than cheat on her. He was later sued for divorce on the grounds of adultery.
In recent years, Stewart has concentrated on singing 1930s and 1940s pop standards from the "Great American Songbook ", written by songwriters such as Irving Berlin, Cole Porter, and George Gershwin and Ira Gershwin, with great popular success but middling critical success. These albums have been released on Clive Davis's J Records label and have seen Stewart enjoy album sales equal to the 1970s.
The first album from the songbook series "It Had to Be You" reached #4 on the US album chart, #8 in the UK and #10 in Canada when released in late 2002. The track "These Foolish Things" reached #13 on the Billboard adult contemporary charts and #2 in Taiwan. "They Can't Take That Away From Me" went top 20 on the world internet charts and top 30 on the adult contemporary charts.
The second album "As Time Goes By" reached #2 in the US, #4 in the UK and #1 in Canada. "Bewitched Bothered and Bewildered", a duet with Cher went top 20 on the US adult contemporary charts and top 5 in Taiwan. "Time After Time" was another top 30 track on the US adult contemporary charts.
A musical featuring many of Stewart's songs opened November 7, 2003 at London's Victoria Palace theatre. It is written and directed by Ben Elton, who previously created a similar production, We Will Rock You, with music by Queen.
In 2004, Stewart is reuniting with Ron Wood for concerts of The Faces material. A Rod Stewart and the Faces best of Changing Faces reached the top 20 of the UK album charts.Five walked in to a bar a compilation box off old Faces work went in to the shops, it is worldwide regarded as a "must have" in Rock & Roll history. Together with Ron Wood he is still working on the album You Sing I'll Strut .
In late 2004, Stardust the third album in the American Songbook series was released. It was his first US number 1 album in 25 years selling over 200,000 albums in its first week. It also debuted at #1 in Canada, #3 in the UK and top ten in Australia. His version of Louis Armstrong's "What a Wonderful World", featuring Stevie Wonder has made the top 20 of the world adult charts.
List of bands
During his career, Rod Stewart has been a member of a number of groups including:
- Jimmy Powell and the Five Dimensions 1963;
- the Hoochie Coochie Men later Steampacket 1964-1965;
- Shotgun Express 1966
- the Jeff Beck Group 1966-1969
- the Faces 1969-1975
Rod Stewart recorded his first solo album in 1969 and has worked solely as a solo artist since 1975.
Discography
- With the Jeff Beck Group:
- With The Faces:
- First Step (1970)
- Longplayer (1971)
- A nod's as good as a wink to a blind horse (1971)
- Ooh la la (1973)
- Coast to coast - Overtures & beginners (Live album 1974)
- The best of The Faces - Snakes and ladders (1975)
- The best of The Faces (1977)
- Compilations
- Sing it again, Rod (1972)
- The vintage years 69 - 70 (1976)
- Best of Rod Stewart (1976)
- Best of Rod Stewart, Volume II (1977)
- Rod Stewart Greatest Hits Vol. 1 (1979)
- Hot Rods (1980)
- The best of Rod Stewart (1989)
- The Rock Album (1989)
- The Ballad album (1989)
- Storyteller - The Complete Anthology: 1964-1990 (1989)
- Downtown train (1991)
- Handbags & Gladrags (1995)
- The Very Best of Rod Stewart (2001)
- The Story So Far: Very Best of Rod Stewart (2002)
- Encore: The Very Best Of 2 (2003)
Reference
External links
Last updated: 05-17-2005 10:57:25
