Legends of Rock & Roll: Rod Stewart

By James Hoag

The bad boy of American rock music. Rod Stewart always had a woman on his arm. He has had the ideal rock and roll career. He's done it all, sex, drugs and rock and roll. If you were alive in 1971, you have never forgotten "Maggie May", the story of an older woman and a young college student who shares her bed. This was sexy stuff back in the Seventies. Rod Stewart went on to fame and fortune and is one of the best-selling artists of the rock and roll era. This Legends of Rock & Roll book covers his life from birth until today. He turned 70 in 2015 and still can rock with the best of them.

We answer such questions as: Did Rod Stewart ever play Soccer professionally. Just exactly what is his favorite hobby. How many wives (and girlfriends) did he have over the years?

All the Legends of Rock & Roll books are essentially biographies, but I am interested primarily in the music. You'll find that the emphasis is on the music, how it came to be, who wrote it and performed it and any juicy tidbits about any given song or album.

• Language: English
• Publisher: James Hoag
• Release date: May 21, 2016
• ISBN: 9781310735400

James Hoag

James Hoag has always been a big fan of Rock & Roll. Most people graduate from high school and then proceed to "grow up" and go on to more adult types of music. James got stuck at about age 18 and has been an avid fan of popular music ever since. His favorite music is from the Fifties, the origin of Rock & Roll and which was the era in which James grew up. But he likes almost all types of popular music including country music.After working his entire life as a computer programmer, he is now retired and he decided to share his love of the music and of the performers by writing books that discuss the life and music of the various people who have meant so much to him over the years.He calls each book a "love letter" to the stars that have enriched our lives so much. These people are truly Legends.

Book preview

Legends of Rock & Roll – Rod Stewart

By

James Hoag

~~~

Smashwords Edition

Copyright © 2015 by James Hoag

Discover other titles by James Hoag at Smashwords.com

Cover by James Hoag

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Publishers Notes

Disclaimer

Legends of Rock & Roll –Rod Stewart Copyright 2015 James Hoag.

All rights reserved.

No parts of this book may be reproduced in any form or by any electronic or mechanical means including information storage and retrieval systems without written permission from the publisher. The only exception is for a reviewer. A reviewer may quote brief passages in a review.

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Table of Contents

Introduction

Growing Up in London

Jazz to Beatnik to Mod to Blues

Long John Baldry

Jeff Beck

Faces

Every Picture Tells a Story

Dee Harrington & Britt Ekland

Tonight’s the Night

Do Ya Think I’m Sexy?

The Albums Continue

Dry Spell

The Real Rod Stewart

Penny

The Great American Songbook

Legacy of Rod Stewart

Afterword

Selected Discography

About the Author

Introduction

The year was 2002. I was browsing through my favorite store, my local Best Buy store, where I bought all of my CDs. This was before I had fully embraced the internet; streaming and getting your tunes via download was still a few years into the future.

I saw this album on the shelf and knew immediately that I had to have it. It was Rod Stewart’s first Great American Songbook album. I couldn’t believe it. Rod Stewart was finally acting his age. I knew a lot of rock performers, as they got older, would drop singing rock music and opt for more of a traditional sound, but I never dreamed Rod Stewart would do this.

And you know what? The album was great. All old classics from the Forties: It Had to Be You, You Go to My Head, Moonglow, and eleven others. I listened to it in the car on the way home, singing along with every number. He went on to record four more Great American Songbooks, and I have them all. They keep me company on long trips and when I’m feeling melancholy.

I feel like I have grown up with Rod Stewart. He has always been somewhat of a bad boy in the music world. Not everyone can sing songs like Do Ya Think I’m Sexy? and Ain’t Love a Bitch and really pull it off.

Rod was the sex symbol of the Seventies, at least in the field of music. Even though he had some success before hitting it big in the United States, his first song here was Maggie May which went to number one. It is a song about a relationship between an older woman and a young college student. She has a hold over him, and he laments how he should be leaving. This was 1971 and such songs were just not played on American radio. However, Maggie May was, and it solidified Rod Stewart’s reputation and sent him on the road to super stardom.

If you’ve read any of the other Legends of Rock & Roll books, you know what to expect here. I write these books because I love the music and as I get older, I like to go back and re-visit my youth, back to a kinder, simpler, more innocent time. A time when a song like Maggie May was considered a little bit naughty. If you love Rod Stewart as much as I do, you will enjoy reading about how he became a star, his life, and his music up until today.

Rod is still very much alive. He turned 70 this year (2015). He still tours, and he still sounds as great as ever. He has a voice that, when you hear it, you know exactly who is singing. I hope you enjoy reading about Rod Stewart.

Growing Up in London

Rod Stewart is his real name. He was born Roderick David Stewart on January 10, 1945. We even know his street address at the time: 507 Archway Road, Highgate, London, England (but don’t try to find it; the house was demolished long ago.) He was the youngest of five children of parents Robert Stewart and Elsie Gilbert. Father Robert was Scottish and had been a master builder in Leith (pronounced Lite), Edinburgh, Scotland. Mother Elsie grew up in Upper Holloway in London. After a tour in the merchant navy, Robert had the occasion to attend a dance at Tufnell Park in North London and there met Elsie. Love blossomed, and they were married in 1928. They initially lived in Scotland where they had two sons, Donald and Bob, and two daughters, Peggy and Mary. After moving to Highgate, the Stewart family welcomed one more boy into the family in 1945, Roderick.

The Second World War was winding down when he was born. There is a story that claims that the German’s dropped a bomb that landed just a few feet from where he was born right at the time he was born, but Rod says that’s not true. Bombs did fall but not at that time.

The youngest of five children, Rod thinks he was definitely