(Credits: Far Out / Allan Warren)
Wed 8 October 2025 7:41, UK
Perhaps one of the most adaptable singers of his generation, Rod Stewart never had any qualms about who he was singing with.
Whether it was part of The Faces or during his solo career, Stewart worked his magic on any song that would have him, straddling the line between heavy blues and blistering rock and roll whenever he stepped up to the microphone. It was a skill that gave Stewart an impressive array of songs to lean on when he steps onto the stage.
To be a great singer is one thing, but to deliver a great performance, a high-quality band is desperately needed. While he may have surrounded himself with a star-studded cast of musicians, Stewart didn’t have the best time working alongside this rock legend.
Before he had even started his solo career, though, Stewart was already turning The Faces into one of the most in-demand rock bands in the country. Featuring a pre-Rolling Stones Ronnie Wood, Stewart had started to refine his signature rasp across songs like ‘Stay With Me’, which would become one of the biggest hits that the band ever had.
While he thought he would try to become a solo star, one of his biggest hits came about accidentally when ‘Maggie May’ began climbing up the charts. Although Stewart had a rock and roll pedigree unlike any other, his start with the Jeff Beck Group in the late 1960s remained one of the great rock and roll marriages.
Rod Stewart in 1984. (Credits: Far Out / Warner Bros. Records)
Fresh out of The Yardbirds, Beck had an uncanny ability to make the guitar speak whenever he played his leads. Although Stewart was working as the singer of his band most of the time, the melodic foundation of each song came from how Beck could twist his guitar into anything he wanted, sounding like it was crying out in pain at one minute and then lashing out in anger the next.
While Stewart may have gotten his first major gigs when working with Beck, he admitted that he was never that fond of being in a band with him. Even though they may have been able to play circles around any other group in town, Stewart thought that Beck wasn’t the right fit for him because of how he conducted himself around his bandmates.
Despite everyone realising who the leader was in a band called The Jeff Beck Group, Stewart felt that the guitarist didn’t have the greatest rapport with any of his musicians, telling Louder, “Jeff was a great guy, but he wasn’t a great bandleader. I mean, you have to look after your band.”
Now, Beck is certainly one of the greatest guitarists the world has ever known, but to be a bandleader is to be in charge of a small marauding gang on every tour stop. Beck clearly didn’t know how to handle the responsibility of being the man in charge of an entire band.
It wasn’t just having to deal with their partying, but the very simple thing of being paid correctly: “I remember when me and Ronnie were staying in New York, and we never got a per diem, we just got our money every week, and sometimes that money would be very late in coming. So me and Woody would go up the corner from the Gorham Hotel where all the bands used to stay, and we’d go into shops and nick eggs – steal them”.
For all of the dire straits that he was put in, Stewart didn’t blame Beck for any of his struggles. Instead of blaming the guitarist, he thought that most of the blame should be placed on Beck’s manager, Peter Grant, who quickly became one of the most ruthless managers of all time thanks to his work with Led Zeppelin.
Even though the money may have been slowly rolling in, Stewart thought that Beck was still an exceptional guitarist and always relished the opportunity to play with him whenever he got the chance. Rock and roll credentials may not permit you to do outlandish things, but Stewart knew that even if he wasn’t getting paid, he was witnessing genius at work.
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