Ronnie Wood has revealed he joined the Rolling Stones because he was “in the right place at the right time”.
The guitar great, who joined the group in 1975, told Desert Island Discs he happened to be at a party with the band when its then guitarist Mick Taylor told them he was going to leave.
Ronnie, 78, also serenaded the host of the radio programme Lauren Laverne with his harmonica, which he always carries with him. He said: “I was just in the right place at the right time. I was sitting on this sofa between Mick Jagger and Mick Taylor, and Mick Taylor leans over to Jagger and says, ‘I’m leaving the band’ and got up and left.
“Jagger looked at me and said ‘Oh my god, what am I gonna do, would you join?’ and I said ‘I thought you would never ask’.” The father-of-six also revealed they have been working on a new album, saying it “is very exciting. We’re at the mixing stage”. When asked when it will be out, he said “when it is finished, my dear. We’re more than halfway there, I’d say by the end of the year, early next year.”
It will be the second album since the 2021 death of drummer Charlie Watts, but Ronnie said he would not have wanted them to “sit around grieving. We’ve got to oil the gears and keep the circus going.”
He also described the good chemistry between himself and band members Keith Richards and Mick Jagger as being there from the start, but added that they are competitive. “Keith doesn’t like it when I take solos much better than him,” he laughed. Ronnie also helped reunite Keith and Mick in the 1980s after a falling out.
He forced Keith to call his old friend and forced Mick to pick up after years of not talking, saying: “I just don’t stand for any messing around keeping this institution going. It would be catastrophic for it to fall apart, I wouldn’t allow that. Yes, they appreciate my diplomacy.” The guitarist had a decades-long battle with addiction and says his first girlfriend’s death was when he started “drowning his sorrows”.
But he has been clean since 2010: “Previously a lot of the pressure was from other people. It was only when I did it for myself that the penny dropped. If you don’t love yourself, you can’t love anyone else.” He chose Maybe I’m Amazed by Paul McCartney, Roll Over Beethoven by Chuck Berry, and Smokestack Lightning by Howlin’ Wolf among the discs he would take to a desert island.
His book choice was Just for Today: Daily Meditations for Recovering Addicts, and he was allowed several luxury items – a chest of painting supplies, his harmonica and a cashmere carpet.
● You can listen to the full interview on BBC Radio 4 at 10am tomorrow (Sunday), or on BBC Sounds.