Rod The Autobiography - Softcover

Author

Softcover

ISBN 10: 0099574756 ISBN 13: 9780099574750

Publisher: Arrow Books Ltd, 2001

Synopsis

Rod: The Autobiography
Ridiculously funny and astonishingly candid, Rod Stewart's memoir is the rock autobiography of the decade' Daily Mail'One of the most entertaining, revealing, captivating books of the year' IndependentRod Stewart was born the working-class son of a Scottish plumber in North London. Despite some early close shaves with a number of diverse career paths, ranging from gravedigging to professional football, it was music that truly captured his heart - and he never looked back.Rod started out in the early 1960s, playing the clubs on London's R&B scene, before his distinctively raspy voice caught the ear of the iconic front man Long John Baldry, who approached him while busking one night on a railway platform. Stints with pioneering acts like the Hoochie Coochie Men, Steampacket, and the Jeff Beck Group soon followed, paving the way into a raucous five years with the Faces, the rock star's rock band, whose offstage antics with alcohol, wrecked hotel rooms and groupies have become the stuff of legend.And during all this, he found a spare moment to write 'Maggie May', among a few others, and launch a solo career that has seen him sell an estimated 200 million records, be inducted into the Hall of Fame twice, and play the world's largest ever concert. Not bad, as he says, for a guy with a frog in his throat.And then, there is his not-so-private life: marriages, divorces and affairs with some of the world's most beautiful women - Bond girls, movie stars and supermodels - and a brush with cancer which very nearly saw it all slip away.Rod's is an incredible life, and here, thrillingly and for the first time, he tells the whole thing, leaving no knickers under the bed. A rollicking rock 'n' roll adventure that is at times deeply moving, this is the remarkable journey of a guy with one hell of a voice - and one hell of a head of hair.

About this title

About the Author

ROD STEWART is a two-time Rock & Roll Hall of Fame inductee and a Grammy Living Legend.  In a career spanning five decades, he has sold more than 150 million records and continues to be one of the top-grossing and most beloved live performers in the world. In 2007, the Queen of England bestowed him the prestigious CBE (Commander of the British Empire) for his contributions to music. He lives with his wife, Penny Lancaster, and children in Beverly Hills, California and Epping, Essex.

From the Hardcover edition.

Review

“Funny, self-deprecating and a whole lot less boastful than he could be, Mr. Stewart offers a string of Grade-A rock ‘n’ roll debauchery stories and...makes them charming.” –The New York Times 

“The best news about Stewart’s autobiography is that it revives the rollicking humor and self-deprecating personality of his early career. It takes the jolly perspective of a guy who knows he’s one of the world’s luckiest men, and the result proves infectious.”  –New York Daily News
 
“In an action-packed memoir, Stewart explains how he survived the excesses of Seventies rock stardom...full of bad behavior and enough ex-wives to fill an entire soccer side.” —Rolling Stone

“A he-said romp through a five-decade music career that spawned a string of enduring pop classics...[Stewart is] an entertaining storyteller who admits that at age 67 he still spends time on that bottle-blond, high-maintenance hair. We love him for that.” –The Tampa Bay Times
 
“Unsurprisingly, Rod Stewart has a few stories to tell...The singer tells them in a charming, often humble and self-deprecating, and always entertaining fashion throughout Rod, his autobiography....A moving read.” –The Buffalo News

“...a life that seems to be one endless romp from hit song to hot date, with a few stylish Italian sports cars and expensive pieces of Pre-Raphaelite art thrown in for good measure. Blondes (Have More Fun), indeed.” –USA Today

"The most outrageous—and wittiest—rock autobiography of the decade." –The Daily Mail

 “Amiably and self-knowingly told... the tone [is] pitched right and the jokes good." –The Guardian
 
"Forget your Salman Rushdie.  Put down your JK Rowling.  Tomorrow sees the publication of one of the most entertaining, revealing, captivating books of the year-- the autobiography of Rod Stewart.  Truly." –The Independent online

“Anyone who wants to be a rock and roll superstar should read this...crazy stories.” –Jimmy Fallon
 
“A likable, mostly generous and well-written look back at the days of bedding starlets and destroying hotels.” –Kirkus

“Looking at the fall release schedule and seeing memoirs slated from Pete Townshend and Neil Young, who would have tipped Rod Stewart as being the rock graybeard most likely to produce the best book? But he did. Rod: The Autobiography (Crown) is a warm, roguish reminiscence. More playful than Townshend's at times ponderous Who I Am and far more insightful than Young's numbing Waging Heavy Peace, Stewart's memoir has much of the joyful, big-hearted raffishness of the singer's classic early '70s recordings. (It's more "Mandolin Wind" than "Da Ya Think I'm Sexy?" — or anything else of his from the last 35 years or so.) The book is a fun, rollicking read.” —Spin.com


From the Hardcover edition.

About this edition

• Publisher: Arrow Books Ltd
• Publication date: 2001
• ISBN 10: 0099574756
• ISBN 13: 9780099574750
• Binding: Paperback