S – is for Rod Stewart – Rod the Mod

Saturday 18th March

Rod Stewart.  Phew.  Everyone, well every young man in the early Seventies wanted to be Rod Stewart.  He had the looks, he had the voice, he had the girls – and he had the songs and was Top of the Pops; in fact he had the number one single (Maggie May) and Album (Every Picture Tells A Story) in both the U.K. and U.S.A. – a feat rarely duplicated.

Rod had been a singer in a couple of bands (The Dimensions and Steampacket) in the early 60’s and no-one had heard of him.  He was part of that movement in Britain that was fascinated by the Blues singers of America, and the emerging R’n’B and Soul scenes; in fact Rod modelled his voice on that of Sam Cooke in the early days.  But he always had that incredible raspy sound that seems to ooze sex.  Success however eluded him; he had a single with Long John Baldry and the Hoochie Coochie Men ‘Good Morning Little Schoolgirl’ which flopped.  He played with the Brian Augur Trinity and Shotgun Express before joining the Jeff Beck group where he met guitarist Ronnie Wood.  The Beck group had some success but fortune was to take another turn when in 1969 Stevie Marriott, lead singer with The Small Faces, left – and Ronnie Wood and Rod Stewart stepped into the breach and the band became the Faces.

But Rod had already signed a solo album deal with Mercury Records and had to fulfill this alongside recording with the Faces; he got round this by basically having the Faces as his session players on his solo albums.  The Faces were a riot, often completely drunk but amazing on stage and Rod’s singing just got better and better – they were the must-see band.  Both Rod’s and the Faces albums were getting better and better, and there were at least two every year; how they fitted in massive tours and writing and recording all those albums I have no idea but somehow they did.  In 1971 Rod released ‘Every Picture Tells A Story’, his most accomplished album to date and maybe his Masterpiece.  An American DJ apparently flipped the first single ‘Reason to Believe’ and started playing the ‘B’ side ‘Maggie May’.  The rest is History.  Rod with his spiky hair and great rock vocals went from strength to strength and was the biggest hit all over the world.  What could possibly go wrong?  Fame.  Venues started billing the Faces as ‘Rod Stewart’ in bold and ‘The Faces’ in small type.  The band began to split up, Ronnie Wood left to join the Stones, and the Faces were no more….Rod eventually left for America…

Southern Illinois University