Sir Rod Stewart


1945 -

English rock star, renowned for his husky voice. Despite widely being regarded as Scottish, Stewart was actually born in Highgate (London), the son of an Edinburgh plumber who had moved south. He began his career as an apprentice player with Brentford Football Club, but soon followed his musical passion and joined the pop group Jimmy Powell and the Five Dimensions (1963), which became the Steampacket. He went on to become a member of Shotgun Express (1965) and then the Jeff Beck Group (1967), which gave him national exposure and took him on international tours.

When this group broke up Stewart began his solo career, but also found time to perform with the popular Faces (1970-5). His first chart-topping album was Every Picture Tells a Story (1971), which hit No. 1 in the same week as his single Maggie May. Amongst his numerous albums are Gasoline Alley (1970), which included the track Lady Day, Never a Dull Moment (1972) and Atlantic Crossing (1975), which included the No. 1 hit Sailing - an anthem which became a TV theme. Stewart continued with Vagabond Heart (1991), which included the hit song Rhythm of my Heart, Unplugged and Seated (1993) and When we were the New Boys (1998). Other hits include Hot Legs (1978), the superbly immodest D'ya think I'm Sexy (1978) and Ole Ola, which was adopted by the Scottish football team in the 1978 World Cup, What am I gonna do (1983), Baby Jane (1983) and Every Beat of my Heart (1986).

He was awarded a CBE for services to music in the New Year Honours list of 2002, sang in the Opening Ceremony for the 2014 Commonwealth Games in Glasgow and was knighted in the 2016.


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