Rod Stewart Caricature

Rod Stewart Caricature, age 31 during his recording session of the Cat Stevens cover “The First Cut Is The Deepest” at the Muscle Shoals Sound Studio in Sheffield, Alabama in 1976.

Stewart is a British rock singer and songwriter, with his distinctive raspy singing voice, he came to prominence in the late 1960s and the early 1970s with The Jeff Beck Group, and then with The Faces, though his music career had begun in 1962 when he took up busking with a harmonica.

In 1963, Stewart adopted the “Mod” lifestyle and look, and began fashioning the spiky rooster hairstyle that would become his trademark.
Guitarist Jeff Beck recruited Stewart for his new post-Yardbirds venture, and in February 1967, Stewart joined the Jeff Beck Group as vocalist and sometime songwriter. This would become the big break of his early career. There he first played with Ronnie Wood whom he had first met in a London pub in 1964; the two soon became fast friends.

During this time, Stewart got into a recording session with The Small Faces and sang background vocals on their famous tune “Itchycoo Park”, Stewart's first time on a Top 40 single.
In July, 1969, Stewart left the Jeff Beck Group, following his friend Wood's departure. The two joined The Small Faces existing members Ronnie Lane, Ian McLagan, and Kenney Jones, who soon decided to call the new line-up “Faces”.
Faces released their debut album “First Step” in early 1970 with a rock and roll style similar to the Rolling Stones. While the album did better in the UK than in the US, the Faces quickly earned a strong live following.

On the side Stewart embarked on some solo projects; “Gasoline Alley” (1970) and his iconic album, “Every Picture Tells A Story” (1971) which made him a household name.
Numerous hits launched him into stardom: “Maggie May”, “Reason To Believe”, “Mandolin Wind”, “Every Picture Tells A Story”, “(I Know) I'm Losing You”, “Tomorrow Is A Long Time”.

The second Faces album, “Long Player”, was released in early 1971 and enjoyed greater chart success than “First Step”. Faces also got their only US Top 40 hit with “Stay With Me” from their third album “A Nod Is as Good as a Wink…To a Blind Horse” released in late 1971.
Stewart released “Never a Dull Moment” in 1972. Repeating the “Every Picture” formula, for the most part, it reached number two on the US album charts and number one in the UK, and enjoyed further good notices from reviewers. “You Wear It Well” was a hit single that reached number 13 in the US and went to number one in the UK, while “Twisting the Night Away” made explicit Stewart's debt to Sam Cooke.

The Faces broke up in 1975; Stewart moved to Los Angeles to strike out on a solo career. Over time he racked up more hits such as: “Sailing”, “This Old Heart Of Mine”, “Tonight's The Night”, “The First Cut Is The Deepest”, “You're In My Heart”, “Hot Legs”, “Da Ya Think I'm Sexy”, “Forever Young”, “Downtown Train”, “All For Love” to name a few.

Stewart is one of the best-selling music artists of all time, having sold over 100 million records worldwide. As a solo artist, Stewart was inducted into the US Rock and Roll Hall of Fame in 1994, the UK Music Hall of Fame in 2006, and was inducted a second time into the US Rock and Roll Hall of Fame in 2012 as a member of Faces.

Stewart is an avid fan of British football. Stewart is known for his liaisons with women and has eight children, by five different mothers.

In reference to his divorces, Stewart was once quoted as saying, “Instead of getting married again, I'm going to find a woman I don't like and just give her a house.”