Sir Roderick David Stewart CBE (born 10 January 1945) is a British rock and pop singer and songwriter. Born and raised in London, he is of Scottish and English ancestry. Known his distinctive raspy singing voice, he has sold over 120 million records worldwide. He has had 10 number-one albums and 31 top-ten singles in the UK, six of which reached number one. Stewart has had 16 top-ten singles in the US, with four reaching number one on the Billboard Hot 100.
Rod was the center of a controversy in 1966 (much likely against his will), when Ron Nasty was quoted as saying that the Rutles were bigger than him as Rod had never had a hit record at that point, but ended up being horribly misunderstood. As Nasty predicted, Rod would not be big for another eight years, topping the charts with his ballad "Maggie May" (co-written by Dirk McQuickly) in 1971.
Music career[]
Rod 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. 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.
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 (1964–1965)
- Steampacket (1965–1966)
- Soul Agents (1965–1966)
- Shotgun Express (1966-1967)
- The Jeff Beck Group (1967–1969)
- Faces (1969–1975, 1986, 1993, 2015, 2019, 2020, 2021–present)
Discography[]
Studio albums[]
- An Old Raincoat Won't Ever Let You Down (1969)
- Gasoline Alley (1970)
- Every Picture Tells a Story (1971)
- Never a Dull Moment (1972)
- Smiler (1974)
- Atlantic Crossing (1975)
- A Night on the Town (1976)
- Foot Loose & Fancy Free (1977)
- Blondes Have More Fun (1978)
- Foolish Behaviour (1980)
- Tonight I'm Yours (1981)
- Body Wishes (1983)
- Camouflage (1984)
- Every Beat of My Heart (1986)
- Out of Order (1988)
- Vagabond Heart (1991)
- A Spanner in the Works (1995)
- When We Were the New Boys (1998)
- Human (2001)
- It Had to Be You: The Great American Songbook (2002)
- As Time Goes By: The Great American Songbook, Volume II (2003)
- Stardust: The Great American Songbook, Volume III (2004)
- Thanks for the Memory: The Great American Songbook, Volume IV (2005)
- Still the Same... Great Rock Classics of Our Time (2006)
- Soulbook (2009)
- Once in a Blue Moon: The Lost Album (2010)
- Fly Me to the Moon... The Great American Songbook Volume V (2010)
- Merry Christmas, Baby (2012)
- Time (2013)
- Another Country (2015)
- Blood Red Roses (2018)
- The Tears of Hercules (2021)