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ROD STEWART Brief Biography

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Rod Stewart has really had three phases to his career. Early on he was a rock cum folk singer, interpreting songs with great depth and feeling, then he moved into what he himself called his "tarty" disco period, and a succession of entertaining records such as 'Do Ya Think I'm Sexy' and 'Hot Legs', but these were songs of no great depth or lasting greatness. Thirdly, he's gone back in time waving goodbye to his disco and rock (well, heavier rock) phases, but has achieved his greatest sustained album successes to date, with his, so far, four compilations of American popular music standards.

After years as a bit of a wild rocker with The Faces, and as a solo singer, Rod Stewart is having the biggest success of his career singing American standards.

Rod has had a colourful past. In the 1960s he was deported from Spain, when he was a self-confessed Beatnik, and also had time as a gravedigger. A gifted footballer, Stewart was an apprentice at English football team, Brentford.

Musically, Stewart's career began in folk music. Looking back on Rod Stewart's career, he was on the cusp of fame for quite some time. His first recorded single was with Jimmy Powell & the Five Dimensions in the early 1960s, then he joined the much respected Long John Baldry's Hoochie Coochie Men, but a single, 'Good Morning Little Schoolgirl', failed to do anything. The Hoochie Coochie Men became Steampacket, and their line-up reads like a Who's Who of British music luminaries, including Stewart, Baldry, a very young Julie Driscoll, and Brian Auger. Again there were signs of a big breakthrough in Rod's career, and, in 1965, Steampacket supported top acts of the time, including The Rolling Stones and The Walker Brothers. Stewart (like David Bowie a year earlier) made his first TV appearance regarding men's fashion, specifically, in Rod's case, the Mod movement, hence the Rod the Mod sobriquet. After Steampacket broke up in 1966, Stewart became lead singer for Shogun Express, which featured future Fleetwood Mac legends Peter Green and Mick Fleetwood. One single on they broke up, with one part of the group burgeoning into Fleetwood Mac.

Rod Stewart's big break came when he joined The Jeff Beck Group as lead vocalist. Jeff Beck was the guitarist, and, curiously, Stewart's future Faces bandmate, Ron Wood, was on bass. The first album by The Jeff Beck Group, 'Truth', made a good showing in the UK and the US charts in 1968. Stewart once said that The Jeff Beck Group "blew" the much feted psychedelic lynchpins Vanilla Fudge away, when they were their support act. The Jeff Beck Group's second album, 'Beck-ola' was also successful, in 1969, but the band split up, and Stewart and Wood joined forces with three of the four Small Faces, (the exception being Steve Marriott who formed Humble Pie with Peter Frampton), Ronnie Lane, Kenny Jones, and Ian McLagan. Wood became the lead guitarist, and Stewart's voice was not that unlike Steve Marriott's raucous vocal style. Lane (bass), Jones (drums), and McLagan (keyboards) made up the line-up of one of rock's hottest acts of the early 1970s. Rod Stewart was also able to cultivate a solo career at the same time, and when 'Maggie May' became a number one single on both sides of the Atlantic in 1971, he had really cracked it. He had also recorded a single with Python Lee Jackson, an Australian group, in 1970, entitled 'In A Broken Dream', which was re-released in 1972 and became a hit. Stewart was famously paid for his contribution with a set of car seat covers. The song remains one of Rod Stewart's best and most moving vocal performances.


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Rod Stewart Amazon.co.uk CDs

Atlantic Crossing (Collector's Ed) ~ Rod Stewart Atlantic Crossing (Collector's Ed) ~ Rod Stewart
Every Picture Tells A Story ~ Rod Stewart Every Picture Tells A Story ~ Rod Stewart
Gasoline Alley ~ Rod Stewart Gasoline Alley ~ Rod Stewart
It Had To Be You - The Great American Songbook ~ Rod Stewart It Had To Be You - The Great American Songbook ~ Rod Stewart
Best of Rod Stewart ~ Rod Stewart Best of Rod Stewart ~ Rod Stewart

Rod Stewart Amazon.co.uk DVDs

Rod Stewart - It Had To Be You DVD  
Rod Stewart - It Had To Be You

Rod Stewart - The Best Of Rod Stewart and The Faces DVD  
Rod Stewart - The Best Of Rod Stewart and The Faces

Rod Stewart Amazon.com DVDs

Rod Stewart Discography

Solo Singles (and incomplete list of US and UK chart positions)
1970 In a Broken Dream (as Python Lee Jackson) (#3 UK, 1972 re-release)
1971 Maggie May (US #1 five weeks, UK #1 five weeks)
1971 Reason To Believe (B-side of above title) (#62)
1971 (I Know) I'm Losing You (as Rod Stewart with Faces) (#24)
1972 Handbags and Gladrags (#42)
1972 You Wear It Well (US #13, UK #1 one week)
1972 Angel (#40)
1973 Twisting the Night Away (#59)
1973 Oh! No Not My Baby (#59, #6 UK)
1974 Farewell (#7, UK)
1974 Mine For Me (written by Paul McCartney) (#91)
1975 Sailing (US #58, UK #1 four weeks)
1976 This Old Heart Of Mine (#83)
1976 Tonight's the Night (Gonna Be Alright) (#1 eight weeks)
1977 The First Cut Is the Deepest (US #21)
1977 I Don't Wanna Talk About It/The First Cut Is the Deepest (#21, UK #1 four weeks)
1977 The Killing Of Georgie (Part I & II) (#30)
1978 You're In My Heart (The Final Acclaim) (#4)
1978 Hot Legs (#28)
1978 I Was Only Joking (#22)
1979 Do Ya Think I'm Sexy? (US #1 four weeks, UK #1 one week)
1979 Ain't Love a Bitch (#22)
1980 I Don't Wanna Talk About It (originally recorded in 1975) (#46)
1981 Passion (#5)
1981 Somebody Special (#71)
1981 Young Turks (#5)
1982 Tonight I'm Yours (Don't Hurt Me) (#20)
1982 How Long (#49)
1983 Baby Jane (#14)
1983 What Am I Gonna Do (I'm So In Love With You) (#35)
1984 Infatuation (#6)
1984 Some Guys Have All the Luck (#10)
1985 All Right Now (#72)
1985 People Get Ready (Jeff Beck and Rod Stewart) (#48)
1986 Love Touch (#6)
1986 Another Heartache (#52)
1986 Every Beat Of My Heart (#83)
1987 Twistin' the Night Away (new version) (#80)
1988 Lost In You (#12)
1988 Forever Young (#12)
1989 My Heart Can't Tell You No (#4)
1989 Crazy About Her (#11)
1990 Downtown Train (#3)
1990 This Old Heart Of Mine (1989 version) (Rod Stewart with Ronald Isley) (#10)
1991 Rhythm Of My Heart (#5)
1991 The Motown Song (#10)
1992 Broken Arrow (#20)
1992 Your Song (#48)
1993 Have I Told You Lately (#5)
1993 Reason To Believe (live version from Unplugged) (#19)
1994 All For Love (Bryan Adams/Rod Stewart/Sting) (#1, three weeks)
1994 Having A Party (#36)
1995 Leave Virginia Alone (#52)
1997 If We Fall In Love Tonight (#54)
1998 Ooh La La (#39)

Albums with The Jeff Beck Group
Truth (1968) (US #15)
Beck-Ola (Cosa Nostra) (1970) (US #15)
The Best of Jeff Beck (1985)

Albums with The Faces
First Step (1970) (US #119)
Long Player (1971) (US #29)
A Nod Is as Good as a Wink...To a Blind Horse(1971) (US #6)
Ooh La La (1973) (US #21)
Coast to Coast: Overture and Beginners (Live album 1974) (US #63)
Snakes And Ladders / The Best of Faces (1975)
The Best of The Faces (1977)
Five Guys Walk Into A Bar (2004)

Solo Albums
An Old Raincoat Won't Ever Let You Down (released as The Rod Stewart Album in the United States) (1970) (US #139)
Gasoline Alley (1970) (US #27)
Every Picture Tells a Story (1971) (US #1)
Never a Dull Moment (1972) (US #2, UK #1)
Smiler (1974) (US #13)
Atlantic Crossing (1975) (US #9)
A Night on the Town (1976) (US #2)
Foot Loose & Fancy Free (1977) (US #2)
Blondes Have More Fun (1978) (US #1)
Foolish Behaviour (1980)
Tonight I'm Yours (1981)
Absolutely Live (1982, live)
Body Wishes (1983)
Camouflage (1984)
Every Beat of My Heart (1986)
Out of Order (1988)
Vagabond Heart (1991)
Lead Vocalist (1993)
Unplugged... and Seated (1993, live)
A Spanner in the Works (1995)
If We Fall in Love Tonight (1996)
When We Were the New Boys (1998)
Human (2001)
It Had to Be You: the Great American Songbook (2002) (US #4, UK #8)
As Time Goes By: the Great American Songbook 2 (2003) (US #2, UK #4)
Stardust: the Great American Songbook 3 (2004) (US #1, UK #3)
Thanks For The Memory: The Great American Songbook 4 (2005)

Compilation Albums
Sing It Again, Rod (1972) (US #31)
The Vintage Years 69 - 70 (1976)
Best of Rod Stewart (1976) (US #90)
Best of Rod Stewart, Volume II (1977)
Rod Stewart Greatest Hits Vol. 1(1979) (US #22)
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)

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