Rod Stewart

In the Sixties and Seventies, Rod Stewart was a jet-setting bon vivant and blond sex symbol with a grizzled-yet-buoyant voice. He tasted fame with Jeff Beck Group and then the Faces, but Stewart's most significant commercial success came as a solo artist. After garnering initial critical acclaim for his unerring choice of cover material, Stewart in the late Seventies began to lean toward self-mocking (or just plain cheesy) material. Although he didn't exactly maintain exacting quality control, Stewart's self-mocking charm and seemingly effortless singing have consistently kept him popular.

The son of a Scottish shopkeeper, Stewart was born and raised in London. After a short stint as an apprentice to a pro soccer team, he joined a series of local bands that included Jimmy Powell and the Five Dimensions, the Hoochie Coochie Men, and Long John Baldry's group, which eventually morphed into Steampacket. In 1967 former Yardbirds guitarist Jeff Beck enlisted him as lead vocalist for the Jeff Beck Group. Beck had lots of rocker cred in America, and this new group toured the U.S after the release of their 1968 debut, Truth. Petrified by the size of audience during the first night of shows at New York's Fillmore East, Stewart sang the opening number from backstage. The band was expert at flashy blues rock, and the power of Beck-Ola (1969) established Stewart as a rough-and-ready rock & roll front man.

In 1969 while still working with Beck, Stewart signed a contract with Mercury. His solo debut, The Rod Stewart Album (Number 139, 1969), was recorded with Mick Waller and Ron Wood of the Jeff Beck Group, plus Small Faces keyboardist Ian McLagan and guitarist Martin Quittenton. Stewart's material was a grab bag of mellow folk songs, bawdy drinking tunes, a taste of soul, and a couple of barrelhouse rockers. The album sold modestly; Jeff Beck Group fans considered it too subdued, but critics were impressed by Stewart's overall sound. Planning to form a new band with Stewart and the Vanilla Fudge's Tim Bogert and Carmine Appice, Beck disbanded his group. That project didn't materialize until 1972, long after Stewart and his buddy Wood had joined the Small Faces, soon redubbed the Faces. Stewart spent the next seven years dividing his time between that band and a solo career, recording a Faces album each time he recorded one of his own.

In 1970 the Small Faces made First Step, and Stewart released Gasoline Alley (Number 27, 1970). Their arrival was followed by tours of the U.S. Working as both group member and solo artist gave the singer ample opportunity to show the world the breadth of his interests. In the studio with the Faces, Stewart was simply a member of a quintet of equals, merrily banging out hard-swinging rock & roll. On his own, he was different; the moody Gasoline Alley amplified his reputation as an emotionally compelling storyteller. When Every Picture Tells a Story came out in June of 1971, the response was swift and strong. The record refined its predecessor's strong points, putting a rock & roll spin on soul and R&B items, and bringing some emotional heft to reflective folk tunes. In October, the album sat in the Number One slots in America and Britain, the first record to achieve such status. Its success was driven by "Maggie May," a Stewart-Quittenton song that has become one of classic rock radio's most resilient ditties. Before "Maggie May" had faded, Stewart followed up with a gritty version of the Temptations' "(I Know) I'm Losing You" (Number 24, 1971). The similarly powerful Never a Dull Moment (Number Two, 1972), with his own "You Wear It Well" (Number 13, 1972), was also a hit.

With two gold albums made on his own, Stewart's role in the Faces became strained. Other labels wanted a piece of the star, and late in 1974 he released his final disc for Mercury, Smiler (Number 13). Stewart hired veteran American producer Tom Dowd and Muscle Shoals session musicians to record his forthcoming Warner Bros. debut,