Rod Stewart

Roderick David Stewart was born 10 January 1945 and started his music career in 1962 busking before joining the Jeff Beck Group in 1967 and then Faces in 1969, launching a solo career the same year. His 1971 album Every Picture Tells a Story and its single "Maggie May" both hit number one across the UK, US, Canada and Australia, cementing a fusion of rock, folk, soul and R&B that defined his early sound. After Faces dissolved in 1975 he rolled through a string of chart-toppers - Atlantic Crossing, A Night on the Town, Foot Loose & Fancy Free - before "Da Ya Think I'm Sexy?" took him into disco territory in 1978, hitting number one in four countries. The 1980s and 90s saw a shift to soft rock, though 1991's Vagabond Heart climbed to number two in the UK and "All for Love" with Bryan Adams and Sting went to number one worldwide in 1993. Knighted in 2016, inducted into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame twice, he remains among the best-selling artists of all time - guitarist Steve Cropper once said Stewart ranked alongside Otis Redding as the finest singer he'd ever worked with.