Roderick David Stewart (born January 10, 1945 in Highgate, London) is an English born singer and songwriter of Scottish descent, most known for his uniquely raspy, gravelly, hoarse-sounding voice and personable singing style, as exemplified in his signature song " Maggie May".
In a career now entering its fifth decade, Stewart has achieved 27 top 10 hit singles worldwide. Although the quality of his recordings has dipped at times, he is widely recognised as among the best interpretive singers of recent times, and has consistently been a presence in the charts since the early 1970s.
Stewart was the youngest of five children born to Robert and Elsie Stewart. His parents owned a newsagent's shop in North London, and the family resided above the shop. Minutes before Rod Stewart was born, a German V-2 rocket hit the police station just down the street and exploded.
Rod Stewart started as an apprentice footballer with Brentford F.C. based in West London. He soon switched to a career in music joining folk singer Wizz Jones in the early 1960s as a street singer travelling around Europe; this resulted in his being deported from Spain for vagrancy. Stewart also worked as a gravedigger during this period.
On his return to England, he went to Birmingham to join Jimmy Powell & the Five Dimensions as a vocalist and blues harp player — he and the band recorded a single for Pye Records. He is also commonly alleged to have played the instrument on Millie Small's "My Boy Lollipop", which became a huge hit in 1964, but this account has never been confirmed and remains disputed.
Rod Stewart returned to London in 1964 to join Long John Baldry's Hoochie Coochie Men which recorded a single "Good Morning Little Schoolgirl" which failed to chart. The Hoochie Coochie Men evolved into Steampacket featuring Stewart, Baldry, Julie Driscoll, Brian Auger, Mickey Waller and Rick Brown. Steampacket supported the Rolling Stones and the Walker Brothers in the northern summer of 1965 and would also record an album that would not be released until 1970 when Stewart had become well-known in musical circles. Stewart also earned the nickname "Rod the Mod" in that period after an appearance on a BBC documentary,1965, on the Mod movement.