From starting as a busker on the streets of London with guitarist Wizz Jones in the early 1960s and rising to fame as the lead singer of the Faces, Sir Rod Stewart arrives at Glastonbury at the latter stage of a stellar career.
The 80-year-old will appear at Worthy Farm in the Sunday tea time legends slot, where he is expected to reunite with Faces and Rolling Stones guitarist Ronnie Wood.
Faces drummer Kenney Jones also hinted to the PA news agency earlier this year that he may join the pair.
Faces
Beginning from the ashes of the disbanded Small Faces in 1969, Sir Rod and Wood joined up with the broken-up band’s keyboard player Ian McLagen, drummer Jones and bass player and singer Ronnie Lane, when Small Faces singer and guitarist Steve Marriott formed Humble Pie.
Their first two albums First Step (1970), which still carried the old Small Faces name in the US upon its release, and Long Player (1971) saw limited commercial success, but A Nod Is As Good As A Wink… To A Blind Horse, also released in 1971, sent them to number two in the UK albums chart.
The single Stay With Me, taken from the band’s third LP, peaked at number six in the UK charts and has gone on to become one of Sir Rod’s best-known songs, regularly performed at his concerts.
Fourth album Ooh La La (1973) saw lead single Cindy Incidentally reach number two on the UK singles chart, while standalone single Pool Hall Richard also reached the top 10 in the same year.
It was followed up with the single You Can Make Me Dance, Sing Or Anything (Even Take The Dog For A Walk, Mend A Fuse, Fold Away The Ironing Board, Or Any Other Domestic Shortcomings), which reached number 12, but would be the last released by the band before they broke-up in 1975.
Sir Rod’s bandmates also backed him on his solo records released between 1969 and 1974, playing on his earliest number one singles Maggie May and You Wear It Well.
Since their break-up, surviving original members Sir Rod, Wood and Jones have reunited to perform on a number of occasions, the most recent coming at the Brit Awards in 2020. The band are strongly rumoured to be releasing a new album next year.
Sir Rod’s career outside of the band
Prior to joining the Faces, Sir Rod started out as a folk singer busking on the streets of London with Wizz Jones and went on to appear in a number of bands during the mid-1960s, before first coming to public attention as the singer in The Jeff Beck Group.
