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Before the facts
From Rod the mod to glam-disco fashion victim and suave standards crooner. Check out our album covers gallery tracking Rocking Rod's evolution:
A hairstyle for every decade?.
24 FACTS
Vagabond Heart
1. Roderick David Stewart was born on January 10, 1945.
2. Rod wasn't an overnight success. His first single, "Good Morning Little School Girl" didn't even chart in 1964. Before cracking it he signed to play soccer with Brentford F.C.. His CV also includes silk screenprinting, signwriting and gravedigging.
3. Rod's always been a rebel: back in the late 60s he was arrested when he took part in sit ins for the Campaign for Nuclear Disarmament cause.
4. In the early 60s while busking his way across Europe, he was deported from Spain for Vagrancy.
5. He got the nickname "Rod the Mod" after appearing on a 1965 BBC documentary on the Mod movement.
6. Legendary gonzo rock music writer Lester Bangs wrote an epic novella based on Rod's debut smash hit "Maggie May". Rod later fessed up that the song was indeed about his first 'exchange of fluids' with an older woman at a jazz festival.
7. Rod is a team player: after stint with Jimmy Powell and the Five Dimensions (1963) he was discovered drunk and busking in the steet by Long John baldry who invited him to join his Hoochie Coochie Men (aka Steampacket) (1964–1965). Stints in Shotgun Express (1966) and The Jeff Beck Group (1966–1969) followed, but it was singing in The Faces (1969–1975) that earned Rod his rep. Wilco's Jeff Tweedy reckons they were "punk prototypes".
8. Rod was infamously paid with a set of car seat covers for singing vocals on a song by Australian band Python Lee Jackson.
9. Brazilian singer Jorge Ben sued Rod for "Do Ya Think I'm Sexy?" sounding too similar to his song Taj Mahal. Ben won and got Rod to donate all his profits from the song to UNICEF.
10. In February 1979: Rod's "Da Ya Think I'm Sexy?" topped the singles charts for a month. It happened to be the first 48-track 12-inch disco remix ever.
Do ya think I'm Sexy?: tabloid trivia
11. "I am always crazy for hot women. I am like a rabbit. I could do it anytime, anywhere" he once said. He has seven children with five different mothers. So yes, Rod really is a ladies man.
12. Models have always been his preference, from dating Bond babes, Britt Ekland and Kelly Emberg to marrying Alana Stewart (April 1979 to 1984), Rachel Hunter (December 1990 to November 2006) and Penny Lancaster (since June 2007).
13. He once reportedly said he would rather have his penis cut off than cheat on (his then) wife Rachel.
14. Rod also loves fast cars: he owns one of only 400 Enzo Ferraris. In 1982, he was car-jacked in in Hollywood while standing next to his $50,000 Porsche which was parked on Sunset Boulevard.
Hall of Fame
15. Rod was inducted into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame in 1994. He celebrated by wining an MTV Movie award for Best Movie Song (shared with Bryan Adams and Sting) for the song "All For Love" from the Three Musketeers movie.
16. Rod performed to 3.5 million fans at Copacabana Beach in Rio de Janeiro on New Year's Eve 1994. Yep, it's the largest concert crowd ever.
17. Rod got a Grammy Award for his album of Sinatra-style standards, Stardust: the Great American Songbook 3 in 2005.
18. He earned his star on the Hollywood Walk of Fame on 11 October 2005.
19. In 2007 the British Queen bestowed the prestigious CBE (Commander of the British Empire) on Rod in her traditional New Year honours list. Not bad for a Scotsman!
20. He's ranked No. 8 in the Rolling Stone's 5th-annual list of Biggest Moneymakers. By 2008, Rod had sold in excess of 250 million albums and singles worldwide.
21. At the 9th Annual GQ Men of the Year Awards, Rod was given the Lifetime Achievement Award for 2006.
22. Rod has his own line of clothing which is available on his Offcial Website.
23. He knew he'd made it when...he was lampooned in South Park's 47th episode, "Are You There God, It's Me Jesus".
24. He was diagnosed with thyroid cancer in 2000. After surgery, he had to learn how to sing again. He's fully recovered.
25. Best-selling author Chuck Klosterman reckons Rod's distinctive rasp is "the single greatest male singing voice of the rock era" (Spin magazine).
- Compiled by Miles Keylock
(Sources: www.rodstewart.com, www.rockhall.com, wikipedia and a telephone interview)
From Rod the mod to glam-disco fashion victim and suave standards crooner. Check out our album covers gallery tracking Rocking Rod's evolution:
A hairstyle for every decade?.
24 FACTSVagabond Heart
1. Roderick David Stewart was born on January 10, 1945.
2. Rod wasn't an overnight success. His first single, "Good Morning Little School Girl" didn't even chart in 1964. Before cracking it he signed to play soccer with Brentford F.C.. His CV also includes silk screenprinting, signwriting and gravedigging.
3. Rod's always been a rebel: back in the late 60s he was arrested when he took part in sit ins for the Campaign for Nuclear Disarmament cause.
4. In the early 60s while busking his way across Europe, he was deported from Spain for Vagrancy.
5. He got the nickname "Rod the Mod" after appearing on a 1965 BBC documentary on the Mod movement.
6. Legendary gonzo rock music writer Lester Bangs wrote an epic novella based on Rod's debut smash hit "Maggie May". Rod later fessed up that the song was indeed about his first 'exchange of fluids' with an older woman at a jazz festival.
7. Rod is a team player: after stint with Jimmy Powell and the Five Dimensions (1963) he was discovered drunk and busking in the steet by Long John baldry who invited him to join his Hoochie Coochie Men (aka Steampacket) (1964–1965). Stints in Shotgun Express (1966) and The Jeff Beck Group (1966–1969) followed, but it was singing in The Faces (1969–1975) that earned Rod his rep. Wilco's Jeff Tweedy reckons they were "punk prototypes".
8. Rod was infamously paid with a set of car seat covers for singing vocals on a song by Australian band Python Lee Jackson.
9. Brazilian singer Jorge Ben sued Rod for "Do Ya Think I'm Sexy?" sounding too similar to his song Taj Mahal. Ben won and got Rod to donate all his profits from the song to UNICEF.
10. In February 1979: Rod's "Da Ya Think I'm Sexy?" topped the singles charts for a month. It happened to be the first 48-track 12-inch disco remix ever.
Do ya think I'm Sexy?: tabloid trivia11. "I am always crazy for hot women. I am like a rabbit. I could do it anytime, anywhere" he once said. He has seven children with five different mothers. So yes, Rod really is a ladies man.
12. Models have always been his preference, from dating Bond babes, Britt Ekland and Kelly Emberg to marrying Alana Stewart (April 1979 to 1984), Rachel Hunter (December 1990 to November 2006) and Penny Lancaster (since June 2007).
13. He once reportedly said he would rather have his penis cut off than cheat on (his then) wife Rachel.
14. Rod also loves fast cars: he owns one of only 400 Enzo Ferraris. In 1982, he was car-jacked in in Hollywood while standing next to his $50,000 Porsche which was parked on Sunset Boulevard.
Hall of Fame15. Rod was inducted into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame in 1994. He celebrated by wining an MTV Movie award for Best Movie Song (shared with Bryan Adams and Sting) for the song "All For Love" from the Three Musketeers movie.
16. Rod performed to 3.5 million fans at Copacabana Beach in Rio de Janeiro on New Year's Eve 1994. Yep, it's the largest concert crowd ever.
17. Rod got a Grammy Award for his album of Sinatra-style standards, Stardust: the Great American Songbook 3 in 2005.
18. He earned his star on the Hollywood Walk of Fame on 11 October 2005.
19. In 2007 the British Queen bestowed the prestigious CBE (Commander of the British Empire) on Rod in her traditional New Year honours list. Not bad for a Scotsman!
20. He's ranked No. 8 in the Rolling Stone's 5th-annual list of Biggest Moneymakers. By 2008, Rod had sold in excess of 250 million albums and singles worldwide.
21. At the 9th Annual GQ Men of the Year Awards, Rod was given the Lifetime Achievement Award for 2006.
22. Rod has his own line of clothing which is available on his Offcial Website.
23. He knew he'd made it when...he was lampooned in South Park's 47th episode, "Are You There God, It's Me Jesus".
24. He was diagnosed with thyroid cancer in 2000. After surgery, he had to learn how to sing again. He's fully recovered.
25. Best-selling author Chuck Klosterman reckons Rod's distinctive rasp is "the single greatest male singing voice of the rock era" (Spin magazine).
- Compiled by Miles Keylock
(Sources: www.rodstewart.com, www.rockhall.com, wikipedia and a telephone interview)
