The year was 1978, and a musical monster named Disco roamed the land. Rod Stewart had helped pioneer blues rock but decided this beast needed placating.
To this day, 45 years later, “Da Ya Think I’m Sexy” remains, along with the lilting “Maggie May,” one of the singer’s signature tunes. You’re sure to hear both when catching Stewart on his expansive U.S. tour, which starts Saturday in Sparks, Nevada, traverses North America and ends with a six-date Las Vegas residency in November.
Does he have any regrets about going disco?
“It’s called jumping on the bandwagon, mate,” Stewart, 78, says with a laugh.
“It’s like my friend Jeff Beck said after he did ‘Hi Ho Silver Lining,’ it’s like a pink lavatory seat hanging around your neck forever,” he says. “Same for me. I didn’t know if I was ashamed of it because the critics hated it. But the public loved it. And that’s what counts.”
Stewart exudes energy in a recent video conversation from his estate in England, prior to a series of British dates preceding his Stateside run.
In a wide-ranging conversation, he tackles topics such as his late bandmate Beck, selling his music catalog and housing Ukrainian refugees.
And then there’s the matter of this reportedly being his last greatest hits tour ever.
“I’m not saying I won’t sing ‘Maggie May’ ever again, but it’ll be the end of the tours that I’ve been doing for a million years,” he says, adding that he is most keen to work on a new swing music album with band leader Jools Holland.
Recently, Stewart posted a clarifying letter to fans on Instagram. “I shall never retire! I was put on this earth to be a singer,” he wrote. “I could never turn my back on the songs that I’ve written and sung over the past six decades. They are like my children.”
Stewart on the hunt for the best home for his back catalog, deals that have netted some rockers millions
Those songs make up a catalog of hits with few rivals. Not just the radio smashes such as “Hot Legs,” but wildly successful covers of great American songbook standards.
Stewart says he’s personally working on finding a home for that collection, a legacy-securing move that recently earned around $500 million for Bruce Springsteen and around as much for Bob Dylan.
“The dollar amount matters but I would be OK with less if I knew it was all being handled right,” he says. “It’s taking a while, and I’m not getting any younger.”
Stewart remains saddened by the loss of Beck, who died at age 78 in January after contracting bacterial meningitis. Stewart’s signature rasp broke out as a staple of The Jeff Beck Group.
“(Rolling Stone’s) Ronnie (Wood) and I were talking about him during the recent tribute concert in London, and I told the audience, Ronnie and I might not have been known if it wasn’t for Jeff taking us to the United States and showing us the ropes,” he says. “We owe him a lot.”
Stewart famously had a contentious relationship with Beck later in life, with reunion plans always a subject of heated debate. But the mutual respect remains apparent.
“Me and Woodie weren’t that close to him, he had his demons and could be a bit distant,” he says. “But the love was there. He loved me for my voice, and I love him for his guitar playing. He listened when I sang and reacted. Most guitar players don’t listen.”
Stewart is selling his $70 million Los Angeles home, but he doesn’t hate LA
While those old times are never far from his mind, Stewart is also resolutely and excitedly focused on the future. He and his third wife, Penny Lancaster, who he married in 2007, have two children and spend so much time in England now that Stewart has put his Los Angeles mansion on the market for $70 million.
But, Angelenos take note, he does not hate LA.
“Someone said I was selling because I thought LA was toxic, and I never said, that,” he says. “I love LA, and if I don’t get the price I want, I won’t sell it.”
One item that he has moved out of his California home to England is a massive model railroad, some 50 feet by 35 feet complete with a post-war scale model city built in large part by Stewart himself.
“Took me two years to move it, but I work on it every day,” he says. “I wake up, do my emails, work out, then by 10 a.m. I’m in there working on it until I’m needed in the house. A model railroad is never complete.”
Speaking of working out, the famously soccer-crazy Stewart doesn’t hit the pitch as much these days after knee and ankle surgeries, but he still supports the Glasgow, Scotland, squad Celtic, in tribute to his passion for deep Scottish roots on his father’s side.
“I’m so proud of being Scottish,” he says, which explains his latest venture: Joining a group of friends in distributing a new blend of Scottish whiskey he’s called Wolfie’s.
The business venture echoes those of other celebrities, such as Sammy Hagar (tequila and rum) and George Clooney (tequila). “I wasn’t a whiskey drinker before, but this has me very excited,” he says.
Upset by the war in Ukraine, the World War II history buff decided to house refugees
Stewart has found another passion. Helping Ukrainians displaced by the war. In addition to sending his nephews with trucks full of staples to the country’s border, he recently rented out a home in England to house a refugee family, some of whom now work on his grounds. Why?
“Because I remember World War II, and if those pictures of Ukrainian refugees had been in black and white you’d have thought it was 1939,” he says.
That’s why in addition to “Da Ya Think I’m Sexy,” Stewart has added a new staple to his sets, the song “Rhythm of My Heart.” He comes out dressed in Ukrainian colors and puts up photos of refugees and Ukraine’s president, Volodymyr Zelenskyy.
“I give him a big salute,” he says. “I hope to make people aware that if Master Putin gets his way, it’s the end of the world as we know it.”
It’s a world Stewart has spent more than a half-century filling with song. Like his pals in the Stones, The Who and The Beatles, he is likely to carry on until the final whistle. He said as much in that Instagram post: “I will keep doing this for as long as the good Lord lets me.”
