Rod Stewart might be celebrated today as the raspy-voiced rocker behind classics like Maggie May and Sailing, but his musical education started somewhere far less rebellious – with his parents’ record collection.
Speaking candidly in a 2024 interview with AXS TV, the music icon admitted his earliest exposure to singing came via one of the most controversial entertainers of the early 20th century.
“I used to listen to Al Jolson… I didn’t listen to a lot of Al Jolson – I was forced to listen to Al Jolson ‘cause my mum and dad played him, and my brothers and sisters loved him. I remember they took me to see the movies – two movies that were made about him.”
The films in question – The Jolson Story (1946) and its sequel Jolson Sings Again (1949) – made a massive impression on postwar audiences and brought Jolson’s theatrical style into millions of homes.
But Jolson was just the beginning. Very quickly, Stewart found himself drawn toward something far more raw and emotional: “After that, it was all the great Black acts: Muddy Waters, Sam Cooke, Otis Redding… all of those guys influenced me”.
“James Brown as well. Yeah, all of them. Little Walter too.”
That early obsession with soul and rhythm & blues would go on to shape his entire career. From his days fronting The Faces to solo smashes, Stewart channelled the passionate style of his musical heroes into every performance. Unlike some of his clean-cut contemporaries, Stewart admittedly never tried to sound polished.
“Well let’s put it this way” he explained. “I never wanted to sound like Pat Boone, you know? I wanted to sound like Little Richard. I wanted that dirtiness.”
Growing up in 1960s England, Stewart was part of a generation of young British musicians who found their spiritual home in the music of America’s Black artists.
“We all felt it”, he said. “I’m sure The Stones, The Animals, Elton – we were all influenced by Black culture and Black music. It’s got us through bad times, it really has. We never wanted to sound like white groups.”
In the same interview, when questioned about how he felt when James Brown called him “the best white soul singer he knew.”, Stewart’s answer was a simple: “He’s absolutely right… No, that was a wonderful compliment.”