Famous British singer-songwriter Rod Stewart is hugely well-liked in the US and the UK. After brief experiences with several bands, he found his first taste of success with the Jeff Beck Group before rising to fame with the band Faces, who helped establish the blues-rock subgenre. He began his solo career as well as a group career, releasing albums that combined rock, R&B, soul, and folk music. Every Picture Tells a Story, Never a Dull Moment, Blondes Have More Fun, Tonight I’m Yours, Atlantic Crossing, and the Great American Songbook series were some of his best-selling albums. With his characteristic raspy singing voice and some of his top-charting tunes, including “Maggie May,” “Tonight’s the Night,” “Da Ya Think I’m Sexy?” “Have I Told You Lately,” and “Downtown Train,” he became well-known. He developed into a rock and pop superstar during the course of his more than five-decade career, producing countless solo smash singles all over the world, particularly in the UK and the US. He is one of the most successful British vocalists of all time, with over 130 million recordings sold worldwide. He has received numerous accolades for his contributions to music.
Roderick’s Childhood and early life
David Stewart was born on January 10, 1945, to English mother Elsie Gilbart and Scottish father Robert Stewart in Highgate, North London. He was enrolled in Hornsey’s William Grimshaw Secondary Modern School after failing his eleven-plus exam at Highgate Primary School.
At the age of 14, he began learning how to play the guitar and began performing with his schoolmates in the skiffle band Kool Kats on popular tunes by Lonnie Donegan and Chas McDevitt. He dropped out of school at age 15 and began taking various jobs to help support his family, including grave digging, silk screen printing, and fence construction.
Rod Stewart’s Career
He collaborated with a variety of bands beginning in 1961, including Jimmy Powell & the Five Dimensions, Hoochie Coochie Men, Steampacket, and Shotgun Express, and had his share of critically unsuccessful albums released.
In 1967, he became a vocalist for Jeff Back Group, where he experienced his first taste of popularity. The powerful blues-rock band gained notoriety in 1968 because of the success of their debut album, “Truth,” which peaked at No. 15 on the US albums list.
After the publication of their second album, “Beck-Ola,” in 1969, the trio split up. He soon joined the English group Faces, which in 1970 issued its self-titled debut album. In 1969, he released his debut solo album, “An Old Raincoat Won’t Let You Down,” then two years later, “Gasoline Alley.” The track “Stay with Me” from “A Nod Is as Good as a Wink… To a Blind Horse” gave the group its first Top 40 hit in 1971.
Tensions within the band persisted during the band’s 1972 tour as a result of his successful solo career. His chart-topping 1973 album “Never a Dull Moment” was released, adding to the rage. The band finished recording their final album, “Ooh La La,” in 1973. They then went on a global tour and disbanded in 1975.
He relocated to Los Angeles in 1975, where he recorded the successful albums “A Night on the Town” (1976) and “Foot Loose & Fancy-Free,” with the top-charting singles “Tonight’s the Night” and “You’re in My Heart.”
His 1981 platinum album “Tonight I’m Yours,” which featured new wave and synthpop influences, was when his popularity began to wane.
His 1989 single “Downtown Train” from “Storyteller” peaked at No. 3 on the Billboard Hot 100, while his 1988 album “Out of Order” had all of its tracks reach the Billboard Hot 100. In 1993, he and Ronnie Wood taped an MTV Unplugged event that became the best-selling album “Unplugged… and Seated,” which featured the smash track “Have I Told You Lately.”
A Spanner in the Works (1995), If We Fall in Love Tonight (1996) When We Were the New Boys (1998), and The Story So Far: The Very Best of Rod Stewart (2001) were some of his further albums. With remakes of the timeless songs from the 1930s and 1940s, he recorded four volumes of the “The Great American Songbook” series: “It Had To Be You” (2002), “As Time Goes By” (2003), “Stardust” (2004), and “Thanks for the Memory” (2005).
He recorded “Fly Me to the Moon,” the fifth song in the Great American Songbook series, in 2010. After ‘Let It Snow! Let It Snow! Let It Snow!’ hit the top of the Billboard Adult Contemporary Chart, he released his autobiography, “Rod: The Autobiography,” in 2013.
Rod’s Bigger Works
He became an overnight success in 1971 when his third solo album, “Every Picture Tells a Story,” which included the single “Maggie May,” topped the charts in the US and the UK. Da Ya Think I’m Sexy?, the blockbuster hit track from his 1978 album “Blondes Have More Fun,” which sold over 4 million copies and topped the Billboard album charts, is an example of how disco was included into his music formula.
He released his chart-topping album “Atlantic Crossing” in 1975, which included the number-one UK smash single “Sailing,” which is still his best-selling record in the UK to this day.
Recognition & Achievements
His song “Maggie May” was featured in the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame’s list of “500 Songs that Shaped Rock and Roll” in 1971. At the 1993 Brit Awards, he was presented with the ‘Outstanding Contribution to Music’ award.
He was admitted into the “Rock and Roll Hall of Fame” in 1994 and set a Guinness World Record for the largest free rock concert, which drew 4.2 million spectators to Rio de Janeiro’s Copacabana Beach.
He won the 2005 Grammy Award for Best Traditional Pop Vocal Album for “Stardust… The Great American Songbook Volume III.” In 2005, he was honored with a star on the Hollywood Walk of Fame, and in 2006, he was admitted to the “UK Music Hall of Fame.” He was awarded the Order of the British Empire medal in 2007 for his musical achievements.
In 2008, Billboard magazine ranked him as the 17th best “Billboard Hot 100 All-Time Pop Artist.” In Q Magazine’s and Rolling Stone’s lists of the “Top 100 Greatest Singers of All Time,” he was listed at numbers 33 and 59, respectively.
Personal Legacy & Life
Suzannah Boffey, a London art student, and he had a brief relationship in 1962 that terminated after Sarah Streeter, their daughter, was born in 1963 and placed for adoption. Sean Roderick Stewart was born in 1980, while Kimberley Alana Stewart was born in 1979 after his first marriage to Alana Hamilton. In 1984, the couple got a divorce. Ruby Stewart, his daughter, was born in 1987 from his relationship with model Kelly Emberg, with whom he was in love from 1983 to 1990.
Renee Cecil Stewart, a daughter, was born in 1992, and Liam McAlister Stewart, a boy, was born in 1994 after he married model Rachel Hunter in 1990. The couple divorced in 2006 after divorcing in 1999. He began dating photographer-turned-covergirl Penny Lancaster in 1999, and the couple gave birth to a son, Alastair Wallace Stewart, in 2005. Aiden Patrick Stewart was the couple’s second child; they wed in 2007. He received a thyroid cancer diagnosis in 2000 and underwent quick and effective surgery.
Estimated Net Worth
British singer-songwriter Rod Stewart CBE has a $300 million fortune. One of the most successful musicians in history, Rod Stewart has sold more than 250 million albums worldwide throughout the course of his career. Young musician Rod Stewart was first drawn to folk and R&B but was eventually “discovered” by Long John Baldry while playing the harmonica on a London railway platform.