Rod Stewart

Roderick David Stewart, (born January 10,1945), is a British rock singer who was a member of the Jeff Beck Group and the Faces before embarking on a solo career. In a career in its fifth decade, Stewart has achieved numerous hit singles worldwide, most notably in the UK, where his tally of 62 hit singles includes 24 that went Top 10, of which six went all the way to number one. It has been estimated that Stewart's album and single sales total more than 250 million, and he is probably most widely known for his instantly identifiable husky voice. He is the youngest of five children and was born in Highgate, North London to parents who owned a newsagents shop there. His father, Robert Joseph Stewart, was Scottish. He had trials with the football clubs Celtics, and Brentford. He then worked as a grave digger. He soon switched to a career in music joining folk singer Wizz Jones in the early 1960s. Stewart joined the Jeff Beck Group as vocalist. In 1968, their first album Truth became a hit on both sides of the Atlantic and the group toured extensively. The second album Beck-Ola also was a hit in the middle of 1969 but the group broke up by the end of the year. Much of Stewart's sense of phrasing was developed during his time with the Jeff Beck Group. He then joined the Faces and managed to get a solo recording contact too. It was his second album, Gasoline Alley, and a solo tour that really launched his career. In 1975, Rod Stewart moved to the U.S., applying for citizenship due to his love affair with Britt Ekland and a fight with the UK tax officials. He released the Atlantic Crossing album for his new record company. The first single "Sailing" was a massive #1 hit in the UK, while it only reached the Top 60 of the U.S. charts. In 1978 he released Foot Loose & Fancy Free which reached #2. "You're In My Heart" was the hit single, reaching #4 in the U.S. He only had three Top 10 singles between 1982 and 1988. But in 1990 his version of a Tom Waits song Downtown Train went to #2 in the US singles charts. The Vagabond Heart album continued his comeback with "Rhythm of My Heart" and "Motown Song" both reaching the Top 10. Also in 1990 he recorded "It Takes Two" with Tina Turner which reached #5 on the UK charts. He was inducted into the Rock And Roll Hall Of Fame in 1994. In recent years, Stewart has concentrated on singing 1930s and 1940s pop standards from the “Great American Songbook”, written by Berlin, Gershwin, and Porter and he has seen album sales equal to the 1970s. In 2006, he returned to rock with the release of Still the Same…Great Rock Classics of Our Time which debuted at #1 on Billboard with 184,000 copies sold in the first week. Obviously, a lot of people like Rod Stewart. I’m one of them. Visit his website at: www.rodstewart.com

Research provided by: www.wikipedia.org

Visit my e-zine: http://www.concelebratory.blogspot.com/
And personal blog: http://www.copyat5.blogpot.com/