Ahead of Abu Dhabi gig, 11 important milestones and facts about Rod Stewart

As Rod Stewart roars into the capital for the first time, we round up 11 important moments, myths and facts about the 72-year-old British singer.

Rod Stewart's daughter, Kimberly Stewart, revealed to 'The Sunday Times Style' magazine her father's sometimes outlandish choice of is due to the face he is colourblind. AP Images
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In another world he could have been a member of The Kinks

Born in 1945, Rod Stewart’s life on the road began while in his mid-teens, busking around Europe with folk guitarist Wizz Jones – he was even rounded up and deported from Spain for vagrancy in 1963. That same year, Ray and Dave Davis, old school friends of his, briefly considered him as a singer for their band, which became The Kinks.

He learnt harmonica by watching Mick Jagger

In late 1963, while working in his brother’s shop, Stewart started attending The Rolling Stones’ regular gigs at London’s Studio 51 club, where Jagger’s harmonica style on these early blues covers informed his own approach to the instrument. Later, when he joined impresario Giorgio Gomelsky’s group, Steampacket, the band’s first gig was as support to The Rolling Stones in 1965.

His distinctive vocal style was the result of trying to imitate Sam Cooke

Stewart's early, overlooked solo work was largely inspired by two years of listening to soul great Sam Cooke, whose Shake he covered in 1966. Decades later, he covered Cooke's Wonderful World on the 2009 album Soulbook. He later dismissed his own effort, saying: "I'm a poor imitation of him. I just hear myself trying to sound like Sam Cooke. It's a waste of time."

His best loved song was originally a B-side

If you know only one Rod Stewart song, it is probably Maggie May, that soft-rock radio staple that opens with the quintessential, raspy Stewart vocal. Crazy as it sounds today, the song was originally judged only worthy of being a B-side, in 1971, to early minor hit Reason to Believe. Maggie May was later named as one of The Rock and Roll Hall of Fame's 500 Songs that Shaped Rock and Roll.

Some believe he should have remained a hard rocker

Stewart first reached a wider audience in the late 1960s as a member of the short-lived Jeff Beck Group, the first solo project launched by the guitar legend after leaving The Yardbirds. Steeped in a blues-rock sound, the two albums released by the band, Truth and Beck-Ola (1968-9), are regarded as influential touchstones that paved the way for Led Zeppelin's hard-rock sound, led by fellow ex-Yardbird Jimmy Page.

Or a stadium rocker

When rhythm guitarist Ronnie Wood left Beck’s group to join the ashes of The Small Faces in 1969, Stewart followed suit, birthing British rock icons the Faces. The loose and lively outfit enjoyed a raucous reputation to rival The Rolling Stones – until 1975, when Wood joined Jagger and co, and Stewart went solo for good, pursuing more diverse sounds.

After Rod went disco, the critics turned

It was one thing to leave an iconic rock band, another sacrilege altogether to record a disco tune. It is his best-selling track, but 1978's Do Ya Think I'm Sexy? provoked a press backlash, prompting influential critic Greil Marcus's infamous put-down in Rolling Stone's 1980 Illustrated History of Rock & Roll: "Rarely has a singer had as full and unique a talent as Rod Stewart; rarely has anyone betrayed his talent so completely."

The myth grew bigger than the music

Now rich beyond his wildest dreams, Stewart’s readiness to show off his latest car, house or girlfriend often overshadowed his music. Known for dating a string of blondes – and fathering eight children to five mothers – much of his autobiography is devoted to descriptions of keeping his relentless infidelities secret from the women in question.

But not all the myths are true

Such a larger-than-life character has been associated a long list of notorious anecdotes, many of them unprintable here. It is worth noting, however, that most of them are not true. Of the more innocuous stories about him, for example, he was never a gravedigger, nor did he sign as an apprentice footballer – though he is a huge football fan and a passionate supporter of Scottish Premier League side Glasgow Celtic and the Scottish national team (his father was from Scotland). One lesser quoted truth: Stewart is a model railway enthusiast, and has a 450 square metre track in his LA home.

Thank – or blame – him for kicking off the whole standards-album thing

These days, it is almost obligatory for ageing musical icons to release an, often ill-conceived, album of vintage standards. We are looking at you Bob Dylan. No one has milked the format quite so shamelessly as Stewart. After a series of decreasingly engaging albums – arguably reaching a nadir with the vapid Oasis and Primal Scream covers on 1998's When We Were the New Boys – Stewart's career was commercially revived in 2002 with It Had to Be You: The Great American Songbook. It would be the first in a series of five cover albums tackling landmark 1930s and 1940s pop standards by the likes of Irving Berlin, Cole Porter, and George and Ira Gershwin.

The muse returns

Stewart admits he gave up writing new music for a "dark period of 20 years". Then, in 2013, he presented his first original material in 15 years on Time. It became his first number one album since 1976 and paved the way for Another Country in 2015, his 29th and latest studio album, which enjoyed Platinum sales and respectful reviews. Stewart credits the fresh inspiration with the writing of 2012's tell-all memoir Rod: The Autobiography.

• Rod Stewart performs at du Arena, Yas Island, tomorrow. Tickets start at Dh295 from www.thinkflash.ae

rgarratt@thenational.ae