Rod Stewart

Biography

An Old Raincoat Won't Ever Let You Down (US: The Rod Stewart Album). Roderick David "Rod" Stewart, CBE (born 10 January 1945)[2] is a British singer-songwriter and musician, born and raised in North London, England and currently residing in Epping. He is of Scottish and English[3] ancestry. With his distinctive raspy singing voice, Stewart came to prominence in the late 1960s and early 1970s with The Jeff Beck Group and then Faces. He launched his solo career in 1969 with his debut album An Ol...

An Old Raincoat Won't Ever Let You Down (US: The Rod Stewart Album). Roderick David "Rod" Stewart, CBE (born 10 January 1945)[2] is a British singer-songwriter and musician, born and raised in North London, England and currently residing in Epping. He is of Scottish and English[3] ancestry. With his distinctive raspy singing voice, Stewart came to prominence in the late 1960s and early 1970s 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 punk rock and heavy metal genres.[4][5] With his career in its fifth decade, Stewart has sold over 100 million records worldwide, making him one of the best selling artists of all time.[6] In the UK, 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.[7] He has had 16 top ten singles in the U.S, with four of these reaching number one on the Billboard Hot 100. In 2008, Billboard magazine ranked him the 17th most successful artist on the "The Billboard Hot 100 Top All-Time Artists".[8] He was voted at #33 in Q Magazine's list of the top 100 Greatest Singers of all time.[9] In 1994, Stewart was inducted into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame.[10] Early life Roderick David Stewart was born in Highgate, North London, the youngest of the five children of Robert Stewart and Elsie Gilbart.[11] His father was Scottish and had been a master builder in Leith, Edinburgh, while Elsie was English and had grown up in Upper Holloway in North London.[12] Married in 1928,[12] the couple had two sons and two daughters while living in Scotland, then they moved to Highgate.[11] Stewart came after an eight-year gap following his youngest sibling; he was born at home during World War II, half an hour after a German V-2 missile warhead fell on the local Highgate police station.[11][12] The family was neither affluent nor poor, and by all accounts Stewart was a spoiled child as the youngest;[11][12] Stewart has called his childhood "fantastically happy".[12] He had an undistinguished record at Highgate Primary School and failed the eleven plus exam.[13] He then attended the William Grimshaw Secondary Modern School in Hornsey.[14] His father retired from the building trade at age 65, then opened a newsagent's shop on the Archway Road when Stewart was in his early teens; the family lived over the shop.[11][12] Stewart's main hobby was railway modelling.[15] The Stewart family was mostly focused on football;[16] Robert had played on a local amateur side and managed some as well, and one of Stewart's earliest memories were the pictures of Scottish players such as George Young and Gordon Smith that his brothers had on the wall.[17][18] Rod was the most talented footballer in the Stewart family and was a strong supporter of Arsenal F.C..[17][19] Combining natural athleticism with near-reckless aggression, he became captain of the school football team and played for Middlesex Schoolboys as centre-half.[17] The family were also great fans of the singer Al Jolson and would sing and play his hits.[16][20] Stewart collected his records and saw his films, read books about him, and was influenced by his performing style and attitude towards his audience.[16][18][21] His introduction to rock and roll was hearing Little Richard's 1956 hit "The Girl Can't Help It" and seeing Bill Haley & His Comets in concert.[20] 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".[15] In 1960, he joined a skiffle group with schoolfriends called the Kool Kats, playing Lonnie Donegan and Chas McDevitt hits.[15][22] Stewart left school at age 15[23] and worked briefly as a silk screen printer.[24] Spurred on by his father, his ambition was to become a professional footballer.[19][23] In 1961 he joined on as an apprentice with Brentford F.C.,[23][25][26] a Third Division club at the time.[27] However, he disliked the early morning travel to West London and the daily assignment to clean the first team's boots.[23] His playing effectiveness at centre-half was hindered by his slight build — 5 feet 11 inches (1.80 m) but only 9 stone (130 lb; 57 kg) — and he pushed himself so much that he sometimes vomited at the side of the pitch.[23] After up to two months of play in pre-season fixtures,[nb 1] Stewart left the team, to the great disappointment of his father.[23] Stewart later reflected that: "I had the skill but not the enthusiasm."[23] 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." 1969–71: Solo Career establishment Stewart performing in Oslo, Norway, 5 November 1976. Mercury Records A&R man Lou Reizner had seen Stewart perform with Beck, and in October 1968 signed him to a solo contract;[61] but contractual complexities delayed Stewart's recording for him until July 1969.[67][71] Meanwhile, in May 1969, guitarist and singer Steve Marriott left English band The Small Faces.[67] Ron Wood was announced as the replacement guitarist in June and in October 1969 Stewart followed his friend and was announced as their new singer.[67] The two joined existing members Ronnie Lane, Ian McLagan, and Kenney Jones, who soon decided to call the new line-up Faces. 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"). 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 in the US, the Faces quickly earned a strong live following. Stewart released his second album, Gasoline Alley that autumn (Elkie Brooks later achieved a hit with a version of the title track in 1983). Rod's approach was similar to his first album, as exemplified by the title track; and mandolin was introduced into the sound. He then launched a solo tour. Stewart sang guest vocals for the Australian group Python Lee Jackson on "In a Broken Dream", recorded in April 1969 but not released until 1970. His payment was a set of seat covers for his car. It was re-released in 1972 to become a worldwide hit. [edit]1971-74: Every Picture Tells a Story Stewart's 1971 solo 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 US and the UK simultaneously, a chart first, in September. A loss of innocence tale set off by a striking mandolin part (by Ray Jackson of Lindisfarne), "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 rest of the album was equally strong, with "Mandolin Wind" again showcasing that instrument; "(I Know) I'm Losing You" adding hard-edged soul to the mix; and "Tomorrow Is a Long Time", a cover of a Bob Dylan song. But the ultimate manifestation of the early Stewart solo style was the Stewart-Wood-penned "Every Picture Tells a Story" itself: powered by Mick Waller's drumming, Pete Sears's piano, and Wood's guitar work in a largely acoustic arrangement; it is a fast, rocking, headlong romp relating the picaresque adventures of the singer. The second Faces album, Long Player, was released in early 1971 and enjoyed greater chart success than First Step. The Faces also got their only US Top 40 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 10 on both sides of the Atlantic on the back of the success of Every Picture Tells A Story. Throughout this period there was a marked dichotomy between Stewart's solo and group work, the former being meticulously crafted while the latter tended towards the boozy and sloppy.[citation needed] Steve Jones from The Sex Pistols regarded The Faces very highly and named them as a main influence on the British punk rock movement.[72] The Faces toured extensively 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. Repeating the Every Picture formula for the most part, it reached number two on the US album charts and number one in the UK, and enjoyed further good notices from reviewers. "You Wear It Well" was a hit single that reached number 13 in the US and went to number one in the UK, while "Twisting the Night Away" made explicit Stewart's debt to Sam Cooke. For the body of his early solo work Stewart earned tremendous critical praise. Rolling Stone's 1980 Illustrated History of Rock & Roll includes this in its Stewart entry:[44] Rarely has a singer had as full and unique a talent as Rod Stewart [...] a writer who offered profound lyricism and fabulous self-deprecating humour, teller of tall tales and honest heartbreaker, he had an unmatched eye for the tiny details around which lives turn, shatter, and reform [...] and a voice to make those details indelible. [... His solo albums] were defined by two special qualities: warmth, which was redemptive, and modesty, which was liberating. If ever any rocker chose the role of everyman and lived up to it, it was Rod Stewart. The Faces released their final album Ooh La La, which reached number one in the UK and number 21 in the US in 1973. The band toured Australasia, Japan, Europe and the UK in 1974[73] to support the album and the single "Pool Hall Richard". [edit]1974-75: Smiler and Faces tour In late 1974 Stewart released his Smiler album. In Britain, it reached number one, and the single "Farewell" number seven, but only number 13 on the Billboard pop album charts and the single "Mine for Me" only number 91 on the Billboard pop singles charts. It was his last original album for Mercury Records. After the release of the double album compilation The Best of Rod Stewart he switched to Warner Bros. Records and remained with them throughout the vast majority of his career. In 1975 the Faces toured the US twice (with Ronnie Wood joining The Rolling Stones' US tour in between)[73] before Stewart announced the Faces' break-up at the end of the year.[74] Read more on Last.fm. User-contributed text is available under the Creative Commons By-SA License; additional terms may apply.