Rod Stewart

Born in Highgate, North London, England on 10 January 1945 and the youngest of five children, Stewart considered a career as a footballer before ultimately pursuing a career in music. In 1962 Stewart began spending time with Wizz Jones, a folk singer, and together they started to perform around England, Paris and even Barcelona, finding places to sleep under bridges. The following year Stewart picked up his signature Mod look, including his famous spiky rooster hairstyle. It was also the same year he became fascinated by R&B and soul music. He also joined his first paying musician job as a harmonica player and part-time vocalist with the R&B group, Dimensions.

Early in 1964 Long John Baldry discovered Stewart and invited him to play with his group the All Stars (renamed The Hoochie Coochie Men). As he started to gain more confidence as a performer on stage, Stewart would be billed as Rod the Mod. Later that same year he was scouted by Decca Records and signed his first solo contract resulting in his first single “Good Morning Little Schoolgirl.” In July 1965 Stewart became part of the group Steampacket and supported The Rolling Stones.

By early 1966 Stewart departed Steampacket and found his way into the Jeff Beck Group as a vocalist and occasional songwriter and continued to tour with them around Europe and hit the United States in June 1968. By August the group released their first album “Truth,” but despite it’s widespread success the band fell apart and by October 1968 Stewart signed a solo contract with Mercury Records by his 1971 released the album “Every Picture Tells a Story” that really started to get his career on an upward spiral. With another album under his belt, by 1975 Stewart made the move to Los Angeles, California and released “Atlantic Crossing.” He reached the pivotal point in his career three years later with the release of the iconic “Do Ya Think I’m Sexy” single, despite all of the criticisms about the lyrics.

As the times changed so did Stewart’s style; taking on a more new wave direction in the 80s. Unfortunately this resulted in mixed reviews of the albums that he released during this time. However things went back to stable with his 1988 release of “Out of Order” which had such hits as “Forever Young,” “Crazy About You,” and “My Heart Can’t Tell You No.” His following albums charted just as high and by 1994 he was inducted into the Rock & Roll Hall of Fame. The 90s saw him signing with Clive Davis’ new label J Records.

The 2000s was full of continued success. He concentrated on working on some of the best pop songs from the 1930s and 1940s called “The Great American Songbook,” and a second “As Time Goes By: the Great American Songbook,” going up to four of these albums. Unfortunately in May 2000 he was diagnosed with thyroid cancer, resulting in him going into surgery and having to “relearn” how to sing. To this day he continues his strong career and has released a tell all with his autobiography “Rod: The Autobiography.”