This past weekend, Rod Stewart appeared on CBS Sunday Morning with keyboardist Jools Holland to promote their new collaborative covers album, Swing Fever. During the segment, Stewart looked back at the beginning of his career, revealing that a nose injury he suffered as a teenager may have had something to do with his uniquely raspy singing voice.
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Asked if he worked on developing the reedy sound of his voice, Stewart explained, “I didn’t … try to make it really raspy. It’s just the way it came out. It’s something to do with my nose and my throat, and it’s just a big accident.”
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He continued, “In fact, you know, I’ve got a broken nose here that I did when I was 19, when I was playing football. And then recently, a doctor said, ‘If we straighten this out and we give you a nice straight nose, you may … lose your voice.’”
Stewart said he told the doctor, “Leave that alone, mate. I’ll do with a bent nose.”
[RELATED: Rod Stewart, Ronnie Wood “Struggling” to Make First New Faces Album in 50 Years]
The 79-year-old artist also pointed out that when he was starting out, he’d wanted to sing like “Sam Cooke and all the great R&B singers,” but “this is how it came out.”
Stewart on His Early Career Struggles
As successful as Stewart became, he admitted that he struggled to be accepted in the music business when starting out during the 1960s.
“The first time I went to a record company, it was Decca Records, way back. I was on 19,” he recalled. “They said, ‘You’re far too rough, and you look really odd,’ ’cause I had the hair and the nose. … You know, they were all after pretty boys, pretty little [boy] singers. [I was] the opposite. … Well, look at this face. What else could I have been but a rock singer?”
Swing Fever May Be Headed for No. 1 in the U.K.
Stewart’s Swing Fever album, which was released on February 23, features renditions of 13 big-band era tunes he and Holland chose. According to OfficialCharts.com, the album is on pace to debut at No. 1 on the U.K.’s Official Albums Chart.
This would be Stewart’s 11th No. 1 album in his U.K. homeland, but his first chart-topper as a duo with another artist. It would be the first No. 1 album that Holland has released.
Stewart’s 2024 Concert Plans
Stewart has an extremely busy concert schedule lined up for 2024. His upcoming itinerary a March tour of Asia, and a European trek running from May to early July.
The singer also will play the final dates of his long-running Las Vegas residency at The Colosseum at Caesars Palace in late July and early August, followed by a trio of U.S. headlining shows in August. Then, on September 13, Stewart will play his first-ever co-headlining concert with Billy Joel at Cleveland Browns Stadium in Cleveland. Check out his full tour schedule at RodStewart.com.
Tickets for Stewart’s concerts are available now via various outlets, including StubHub.
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