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Mandolin

A Glenn F5 Fern mandolin.
String instrument
Classification	String instrument Plucked string instrument
Hornbostel–Sachs classification	321.321-6 (Composite chordophone sounded by a plectrum)
Developed	Mid 18th century from the mandolino
Playing range
(a regularly tuned mandolin with 14 frets to body)
Related instruments
Family Mandolin Mandola Octave mandolin Mandocello Mandobass Angélique (instrument) Archlute Balalaika Barbat (lute) Bağlama Baglamas Biwa Bouzouki Charango Chitarra Italiana Daguangxian Đàn tỳ bà Dombra Domra Dutar Electric pipa Erhu Irish bouzouki Kobza Liuqin Lute Mandriola Oud Pandura Pipa Rubab Setar Sitar Surbahar Tambouras Tanbur Tanbur (Turkish) Tembûr Theorbo Tiorbino Tiqin Topshur Tricordia Ukulele Veena Zhonghu

A mandolin (Italian: mandolino) is a musical instrument in the lute family (plucked, or strummed). It descends from the mandore, a soprano member of the lute family. The mandolin soundboard (the top) comes in many shapes—but generally round or teardrop-shaped, sometimes with scrolls or other projections. A mandolin may have f-holes, or a single round or oval sound hole. A round or oval sound hole may be bordered with decorative rosettes or purfling.^[1][2]

Early mandolins had six double courses of gut strings, tuned similarly to lutes, and plucked with the fingertips. Modern mandolins—which originated in Naples, Italy in the late 18th century—commonly have four double courses (four pairs) of metal strings, which are plucked with a plectrum.

Many variants of the mandolin have existed. These include Milanese, Lombard, Brescian and other six-course types, as well as four-string (one string per course), twelve-string (three strings per course), and sixteen-string (four strings per course).

Construction[link]

Weber F-5-style mandolin (f-holes)

A-5-style mandolin (f-holes)

Example of an A-4-style mandolin (oval hole)

A mandolin typically has a hollow wooden body with a tailpiece that holds one end of the strings, a floating bridge, a neck with a flat (or slight radius) fretted fingerboard, a nut, and mechanical tuning machines to accommodate metal strings.

Like any plucked instrument, mandolin notes decay to silence rather than sound out continuously as with a bowed note on a violin. Its small size and higher pitch make mandolin notes decay faster than larger stringed instruments like guitar, which encourages the use of tremolo (rapid picking of one or more pairs of strings) to create sustained notes or chords. The mandolin's paired strings facilitate this technique: the plectrum (pick) strikes each of a pair of strings alternately, providing a more full and continuous sound than a single string would.

Various design variations and amplification techniques have been used to make mandolins compatible in volume with louder instruments and orchestras. Hybridization with the louder banjo creates the mandolin-banjo, and resonators have been used, most notably by Dobro and the National String Instrument Corporation. Some musicians play electric mandolins through amplifiers.

Variations[link]

Bowlback[link]

1930 National Triolian resonator mandolin from Lowell Levinger's collection

Carved (acoustic-electric) and Neapolitan (round-backed) mandolins—front

Carved and Neapolitan (round-backed) mandolins—back

Mandolins come in several forms. The Neapolitan style, known as a round-back or bowl-back (or "tater-bug," colloquial American) has a vaulted back made of a number of strips of wood in a bowl formation, similar to a lute, and usually a canted, two-plane, uncarved top. Another form has a banjo-style body.

Archtop[link]

At the very end of the nineteenth century, a new style, with a carved top and back construction inspired by violin family instruments began to supplant the European-style bowl-back instruments, especially in the United States. This new style is credited to mandolins designed and built by Orville Gibson, a Kalamazoo, Michigan luthier who founded the "Gibson Mandolin-Guitar Manufacturing Co., Limited" in 1902. Gibson mandolins evolved into two basic styles: the Florentine or F-style, which has a decorative scroll near the neck, two points on the lower body, and usually a scroll carved into the headstock; and the A-style, which is pear shaped, has no points, and usually has a simpler headstock.

These styles generally have either two f-shaped soundholes like a violin (F-5 and A-5), or an oval sound hole (F-4 and A-4 and lower models) directly under the strings. Much variation exists between makers working from these archetypes, and other variants have become increasingly common. Generally, Gibson F-hole F-5 mandolins and mandolins influenced by that design are strongly associated with American bluegrass music, while the A-style is more associated with Irish, folk, or classical music. The F-5s more complicated woodwork also translates into a more expensive instrument.

Internal bracing to support the top in the F-style mandolins is usually achieved with parallel tone bars, similar to the bass bar on a violin. Some makers instead employ "x-bracing," which is two tone bars mortised together to form an X. Some luthiers now using a "modified x-bracing" that incorporates both a tone bar and x-bracing.

Numerous modern mandolin makers build instruments that largely replicate the Gibson F-5 Artist models built in the early 1920s under the supervision of Gibson acoustician Lloyd Loar. Original Loar-signed instruments are sought after and extremely valuable. Other makers from the Loar period and earlier include Lyon and Healy, Vega, and Larson Brothers. Notable modern American mandolin manufacturers include Weber, Monteleone, and Collings. Mandolins from other countries include The Loar (China), Michael Kelly (Korea), Eastman (China), Kentucky(China), and Morgan Monroe(China).

Others[link]

Other American-made variants include the mandolinetto or Howe-Orme guitar-shaped mandolin (manufactured by the Elias Howe Company between 1897 and roughly 1920), which featured a cylindrical bulge along the top from fingerboard end to tailpiece; the Army-Navy style with a flat back and top; and the Vega mando-lute (more commonly called a cylinder-back mandolin manufactured by the Vega Company between 1913 and roughly 1927), which had a similar longitudinal bulge but on the back rather than the front of the instrument.

As with almost every other contemporary string instrument, another modern variant is the electric mandolin. These mandolins can have four or five individual or double courses of strings.

History[link]

Mandolins evolved from the lute family in Italy during the seventeenth and eighteenth centuries, and the deep bowled mandolin, produced particularly in Naples, became common in the nineteenth century. The original instrument was the mandore, which evolved in the fourteenth century from the lute. Over time and as the instrument spread around Europe, it took on many names and various structural characteristics.

Further back, dating to around 15,000 BC to 8000 BC, single-stringed instruments have been seen in cave paintings and murals. They were struck, plucked, and eventually bowed. From these, the families of stringed instruments developed. Single strings were long and gave a single melody line. To shorten the scale length, other strings were added with a different tension and pitch so one string took over where another left off. In turn, this led to being able to play dyads and chords. The bowed family became the rabob, and then the rebec fiddle, evolving into the modern violin family by 1520 (incidentally also in Italy). The plucked family led to lute-like instruments in 2000 BC Mesopotamia, and developed into the oud or ud before appearing in Spain, first documented around 711 AD, courtesy of the Moors.

Over subsequent centuries, the strings were doubled to courses, and eventually (in Europe) frets were added, leading to the first lute appearing in the thirteenth century. The history of the lute and the mandolin are intertwined from this point. The lute gained a fifth course by the fifteenth century, a sixth a century later, and up to thirteen courses in its heyday. As early as the fourteenth century a miniature lute or mandora appeared. Like the mandola, it had counterparts in Assyria (pandura), the Arab countries (dambura), and Ukraine (kobza-bandura). From this, the mandolino (a small cat gut-strung mandola with six strings tuned g b e' a' d g sometimes called the Baroque mandolin or cat-banjo and played with a quill, wooden plectrum or finger-style) was developed in several places in Italy. A nearly identical instrument called the mandore was used in France at the same time. The mandolino was sometimes called a mandolin in the early eighteenth century (around 1735) Naples. At this point, all such instruments were strung with gut strings.

The first evidence of modern steel-strung mandolins is from literature regarding popular Italian players who traveled through Europe teaching and giving concerts. Notable are Signor Leone and G. B. Gervasio, who traveled widely between 1750 and 1810.^[2] This, with the records gleaned from the Italian Vinaccia family of luthiers in Naples, Italy, led some musicologists to believe that the modern steel-strung mandolin was developed in Naples by the Vinaccia family. Gennaro Vinaccia was active c. 1710 to c. 1788, and Antonio Vinaccia was active c. 1734 to c. 1796.^[3] An early extant example of a mandolin is one built by Antonio Vinaccia in 1772, which resides at the Victoria and Albert Museum in London, England. Another is by Giuseppe Vinaccia, built in 1763, residing at the Kenneth G. Fiske Museum of Musical Instruments in Claremont, California.^[4] The earliest extant mandolin was built in 1744 by Gaetano Vinaccia. It resides in the Conservatoire Royal de Musique in Brussels, Belgium.^[5]

These mandolins, like their modern descendants, are called Neapolitan mandolins because they originate in Naples, Italy. They are distinguished by an almond-shaped body with a bowled back constructed from curved strips of wood along its length. The sound table is bent just behind the bridge, the bending achieved with a heated bending iron. This "canted" table helps the body support a greater string tension. A hardwood fingerboard is flush with the soundtable. Ten metal or ivory frets are spaced along the neck in half-steps, with additional frets glued upon the soundtable. The strings are brass except for the lowest string course, which are gut or metal wound onto gut. The bridge is a movable length of hardwood or ivory placed in front of ivory pins that hold the strings. Wooden tuning pegs are inserted through the back of a flat pegboard. The mandolins have a tortoise shell pickguard below the soundhole under the strings. A quill or shaped piece of tortoise shell is used as a plectrum.^[5][6]

Other luthiers who built mandolins included Rafaele Calace (1863 onwards) in Naples, Luigi Embergher (1856–1943) in Rome and Arpino, the Ferrari family (1716 onwards, also originally mandolino makers) in Rome, and De Santi (1834–1916) in Rome. The Neapolitan style of mandolin construction was adopted and developed by others, notably in Rome, giving two distinct but similar types of mandolin – Neapolitan and Roman.

The twentieth century saw the rise in popularity of the mandolin for Celtic, bluegrass, jazz, and classical styles. Much of the development of the mandolin from Neapolitan bowl-back to the flat-back style (actually, gently rounded and carved like a violin) is attributable to Orville Gibson (1856–1918). See above.

Tuning[link]

A variety of different tunings are used. Usually, courses of 2 adjacent strings are doubled (tuned to the same pitch). The most common tuning by far, GDAE, is the same as violin tuning:

• fourth (lowest tone) course: G3 (196.00 Hz)
• third course: D4 (293.66 Hz)
• second course: A4 (440.00 Hz; A above middle C)
• first (highest tone) course: E5 (659.25 Hz)

Other tunings exist, including "cross-tunings," in which the usually doubled string runs are tuned to different pitches. Additionally, guitarists may sometimes tune a mandolin to mimic a portion of the intervals on a standard guitar tuning to achieve familiar fretting patterns.

Mandolin family[link]

1920 Gibson F-4 mandolin, 1917 Gibson H-2 mandola, 1924 Gibson K-4 mandocello, and 1929 Gibson mando-bass, from Gregg Miner's collection

L-R - Banjo-mandolin, standard mandolin, 3-course mandolin, Tenor mandola.

The mandolin is the soprano member of the mandolin family, as the violin is the soprano member of the violin family. Like the violin, its scale length is typically about 13 inches (330 mm). Modern American mandolins modeled after Gibsons have a longer scale, about 13-7/8" (352 mm).

Other members of the mandolin family are:

• The mandola (US and Canada), termed the tenor mandola in Britain and Ireland and liola or alto mandolin in continental Europe, which is tuned to a fifth below the mandolin, in the same relationship as that of the viola to the violin. Some also call this instrument the "alto mandola." Its scale length is typically about 16.5 inches (420 mm). It is normally tuned like a viola: C-G-D-A.
• The octave mandolin (US and Canada), termed the octave mandola in Britain and Ireland and mandola in continental Europe, which is tuned an octave below the mandolin. Its scale length is typically about 20 inches (500 mm), although instruments with scales as short as 17 inches (430 mm) or as long as 21 inches (530 mm) are not unknown.
• The mandocello, which is classically tuned to an octave plus a fifth below the mandolin, in the same relationship as that of the cello to the violin: C-G-D-A. Today, it is frequently restrung for octave mandolin tuning or the Irish bouzouki's GDAD. Its scale length is typically about 25 inches (635 mm). A typical violoncello scale is 27" (686 mm).
• The Greek laouto is essentially a mandocello, ordinarily tuned D-G-D-A, with half of each pair of the lower two courses being tuned an octave high on a lighter gauge string. The body is a staved bowl, the saddle-less bridge glued to the flat face like most ouds and lutes, with mechanical tuners, steel strings, and tied gut frets. Modern laoutos, as played on Crete, have the entire lower course tuned in octaves as well as being tuned a reentrant octave above the expected D. Its scale length is typically about 28 inches (712 mm).
• The mando-bass, has 4 single strings, rather than double courses, and is tuned like a double bass or an acoustic bass guitar. These were made by the Gibson company in the early twentieth century, but appear to have never been very common. Reportedly, most mandolin orchestras preferred to use the ordinary double bass, rather than a specialised mandolin family instrument. Calace and other Italian makers predating Gibson also made mandolin-basses.

1911 Leland piccolo mandolin, from Gregg Miner's collection

• The piccolo or sopranino mandolin is a rare member of the family, tuned one octave above the tenor mandola and one fourth above the mandolin; the same relation as that of the piccolo or sopranino violin to the violin and viola. One model was manufactured by the Lyon & Healy company under the Leland brand. A handful of contemporary luthiers build piccolo mandolins. Its scale length is typically about 9.5 inches (240 mm).
• The Irish bouzouki is also considered a member of the mandolin family; although derived from the Greek bouzouki, it is constructed like a flat backed mandolin and uses fifth-based tunings, most often GDAE (an octave below the mandolin), although sometimes GDAD, ADAD or ADAE are used in place of the guitar-like fourths-and-third tunings of the three- and four-course Greek bouzouki. Although the bouzouki's bass course pairs are most often tuned in unison, on some instruments one of each pair is replaced with a lighter string and tuned in octaves, in the fashion of the 12-string guitar. Although occupying the same range as the octave mandolin/octave mandola, the Irish bouzouki is distinguished from the former instrument by its longer scale length, typically from 22 inches (560 mm) to 24 inches (610 mm), although scales as long as 26 inches (660 mm), which is the usual Greek bouzouki scale, are not unknown.
• The modern cittern is also an extension of the mandolin family, being typically a five course (ten string) instrument having a scale length between 20 inches (500 mm) and 22 inches (560 mm). It is most often tuned to either DGDAD or GDADA, and is essentially an octave mandola with a fifth course at either the top or the bottom of its range. Some luthiers, such as Stefan Sobell also refer to the octave mandola or a shorter-scaled Irish bouzouki as a cittern, irrespective of whether it has four or five courses.
• In Indian classical music and Indian light music, the mandolin, which bears little resemblance to the European mandolin, is likely to be tuned to E-B-E-B. As there is no concept of absolute pitch in Indian classical music, any convenient tuning maintaining these relative pitch intervals between the strings can be used. Another prevalent tuning with these intervals is C-G-C-G, which corresponds to Sa-Pa-Sa-Pa in the Indian carnatic classical music style. This tuning corresponds to the way violins are tuned for carnatic classical music.

Mandolin music[link]

Latin American musician playing a mandolin.

Mandolins have a long history, and much early music was written for them. In the first half of the 20th century, they enjoyed a period of great popularity in Europe and the Americas as an easier approach to playing string music. Many professional and amateur mandolin groups and orchestras were formed to play light classical string repertory. Just as this practice was falling into disuse, the mandolin found a new niche in American country, old-time music, bluegrass, and folk music. More recently, the Baroque and Classical mandolin repertory and styles have benefited from the raised awareness of and interest in Early music. Tremolo and fingerpicking methods are used while playing a mandolin.

Australia[link]

The earliest references to the mandolin in Australia come from Phil Skinner MBE (1903–1991). In his article "Recollections"^[7] he mentions a Walter Stent, who was “active in the early part of the century and organised possibly the first Mandolin Orchestra in Sydney.” He also refers to Roy Smedley, a student of Walter Stent, who performed on the radio and “was a most outstanding mandolinist, prominent over many years; his technique, choice of solos and stage presentation left little to be desired, and the students he produced did him great honour”.^{[citation needed]}

Phil Skinner played a key role in the development of the mandolin movement in Australia in the 20th century and was awarded an MBE in 1979 for services to music and the community. He was born Harry Skinner in Sydney in 1903 and started learning music at age 10 when his uncle (who couldn’t read music) tutored him on the banjo. Phil began teaching part time at age 18 years until the Depression Years forced him to begin teaching full time and learn a broader range of instruments. Phil founded the Sydney Mandolin Orchestra, the oldest surviving mandolin orchestra in Australia.^{[citation needed]}

On 30 January 1976, Harry Baker of the Fremantle Music School in Western Australia organised a meeting to consider forming a mandolin orchestra in Fremantle. Seventeen interested people attended and decide to proceed. News of this is published in the Independent Post on 4 February 1976 along with an appeal for more players. Robert Schulz, a music teacher, is appointed conductor. The Fremantle-Coburn News announced that the Fremantle Music School had put together a mandolin group consisting of 8 players (2 of each: 1st & 2nd mandolin, mandola, guitar), but looking for 30-40 others. Initially called the Fremantle Mandolin Orchestra, it later became the West Australian Mandolin Orchestra(WAMO), which survives today (2009) with approx 30 players.^{[citation needed]}

By 1974, a mandolin ensemble called Varianten has formed in Geelong, Victoria and eventually becomes the Geelong Mandolin Orchestra (GMO).

The Sydney Mandolins (Artistic Director Adrian Hooper) has made a major contribution to mandolin music in Australia and a significant amount of mandolin music was composed for this ensemble, and their lasting legacy is their extensive recordings of these works (over 115 CDs), which are still heard on ABC Classic FM radio today.^{[citation needed]} Composers they have commissioned include Dr Eric Gross, Ann Carr-Boyd, Larry Sitsky, Caroline Szeto, Betty Beath, Ian Shanahan and John Peterson. Their virtuoso mandolinist Paul Hooper has had many solo works written for him as well as number of Mandolin Concertos which he has performed with the Tasmanian Symphony Orchestra and Sydney Symphony Orchestra.

In January 1979, the Federation of Australian Mandolin Ensembles (FAME) Inc. was formed. Bruce Morey from Melbourne is the first FAME President. Plans were made to send an Australian Mandolin Orchestra on a tour to Germany, which occurred May 1980.

In Australian country and folk, the mandolin is not unknown. Groups such as My Friend The Chocolate Cake use the mandolin extensively. The McClymonts also use the mandolin, as do Mic Conway's National Junk Band and the Blue Tongue Lizards. Nevertheless, in folk and traditional styles, the mandolin remains more popular in Irish Music and other traditional repertoires.

Brazil[link]

The mandolin has a long and rich tradition in Brazilian folk music, especially in the style called choro. The composer and mandolin virtuoso Jacob do Bandolim did much to popularize the instrument through many recordings, and his influence continues to the present day. Some contemporary mandolin players in Brazil include Jacob's disciple Deo Rian, and Hamilton de Holanda (the former, a traditional choro-style player, the latter an eclectic innovator).

The mandolin came into Brazil by way of Portugal. Portuguese music has a long tradition of mandolins and mandolin-like instruments (see, for example, the Portuguese guitar).

The mandolin is used almost exclusively as a melody instrument in Brazilian folk music - the role of chordal accompaniment being taken over by the cavaco and nylon-strung guitar. Its popularity, therefore, has risen and fallen with instrumental folk music styles, especially choro. The later part of the 20th century saw a renaissance of choro in Brazil, and with it, a revival of the country's mandolinistic tradition.

Continental Europe[link]

An increased interest in bluegrass music, especially in Central European countries such as the Czech Republic and Slovak Republic, has inspired many new mandolin players and builders. These players often mix traditional folk elements with bluegrass. Classically, Beethoven composed mandolin music^[8] and enjoyed playing the mandolin.^[9] The opera Don Giovanni by Mozart includes some mandolin parts. Also very well known are the mandolin concerti by Vivaldi. Gustav Mahler used the mandolin in his Symphony no. 7 and Das Lied von der Erde. Some 20th century classical composers also used the mandolin as their instrument of choice (amongst these are: Schoenberg, Webern, Stravinsky, Zappa^{[disambiguation needed ]}).

Greece[link]

The mandolin has a long tradition in the Ionian islands (the Heptanese) and Crete. It has long been played in the Aegean islands outside of the control of the Ottoman Empire. It is common to see choirs accompanied by mandolin players (the mandolinátes) in the Ionian islands and especially in the cities of Corfu, Zakynthos, and Kefalonia. The evolution of the repertoire for choir and mandolins (kantádes) occurred during Venetian rule over the islands.

On the island of Crete, along with the lyra and the laouto (lute), the mandolin is one of the main instruments used in Cretan Music. It appeared on Crete around the time of the Venetian rule of the island. Different variants of the mandolin, such as the "mantola," were used to accompany the lyra, the violin, and the laouto. Stelios Foustalierakis reported that the mandolin and the mpougari were used to accompany the lyra in the beginning of the 20th century in the city of Rethimno. There are also reports that the mandolin was mostly a woman's musical instrument. Nowadays it is played mainly as a solo instrument in personal and family events on the Ionian islands and Crete.

India[link]

Mandolin music was used in the Indian Movies as far back as the 1940s by the Raj Kapoor Studios in movies such as Barsaat, Awara etc. Even in the movie Dilwale Dulhania Le Jayenge which came out in 1995, the Mandolin was used in several parts of the movie. The music became quite famous. Adoption of the mandolin in Carnatic music is recent and, being essentially a very small electric guitar, the instrument itself bears rather small resemblance to European and American mandolins. U. Srinivas has, over the last couple of decades, made his version of the mandolin very popular in India and abroad. Many adaptations of the instrument have been done to cater to the special needs of Indian Carnatic music.

This type of mandolin is also used in Bhangra, dance music popular in Punjabi culture.

Ireland[link]

The mandolin is becoming a somewhat more common instrument amongst Irish traditional musicians. Fiddle tunes are readily accessible to the mandolin player because of the equivalent range of the two instruments and the practically identical (allowing for the lack of frets on the fiddle) left hand fingerings.

Although almost any variety of acoustic mandolin might be adequate for Irish traditional music, virtually all Irish players prefer flat-backed instruments with oval sound holes to the Italian-style bowl-back mandolins or the carved-top mandolins with f-holes favoured by bluegrass mandolinists. The former are often too soft-toned to hold their own in a session (as well as having a tendency to not stay in place on the player's lap), whilst the latter tend to sound harsh and overbearing to the traditional ear. The f-hole mandolin, however, does come into its own in a traditional session, where its brighter tone cuts through the sonic clutter of a pub. Greatly preferred for formal performance and recording are flat-topped "Irish-style" mandolins (reminiscent of the WWI-era Martin Army-Navy mandolin) and carved (arch) top mandolins with oval soundholes, such as the Gibson A-style of the 1920s. Noteworthy Irish mandolinists include Andy Irvine (who almost always tunes the E down to D), Mick Moloney, Paul Kelly, and Claudine Langille. John Sheahan and Barney McKenna, fiddle player and tenor banjo player respectively, with The Dubliners are also accomplished Irish mandolin players. The Dubliners "Live at the Gaiety" DVD features an extensive mandolin duet of a three-tune "set," two hornpipes and a reel. The instruments used are flat-backed, oval hole examples as described above: in this case made by UK luthier Roger Bucknell of Fylde Guitars. The Irish guitarist Rory Gallagher often played the mandolin on stage, and he most famously used it in the song "Going To My Hometown."

Japan[link]

Instruments of the mandolin family are popular in Japan, particularly Neapolitan (round-back) style instruments. Morishige Takei (1890–1949), who studied Italian in Tokyo College of Language and was a member of the court of Emperor Hirohito, established the mandolin orchestra in the Italian style before World War II. The military government could not persecute Japanese mandolinists by the authority of Takei^{[citation needed]} and Italy as the Axis. So the Japanese mandolin orchestras continued to perform old Italian works after World War II, and they are prosperous today. In addition, Jiro Nakano (1902–2000) arranged many of the Italian works for regular orchestras or winds composed before World War II as new repertoires for Japanese mandolin orchestras.

Original compositions for mandolin orchestras were more and more composed after World War II. Seiichi Suzuki (1901–1980) and Tadashi Hattori (1908–2008) composed music for early Kurosawa films and many symphonic works for mandolin orchestras. Hiroshi Ohguri (1918–1982) was influenced by Béla Bartók. Yasuo Kuwahara (1946–2003) used German techniques.

Japanese mandolin orchestras consist of up to 40 or 50 members, and often include wind or percussion instruments.

New Zealand[link]

The Auckland Mandolinata mandolin orchestra was formed in 1969 by Doris Flameling (1932–2004). Soon after arriving from Holland with her family, Doris started teaching guitar and mandolin in West Auckland. In 1969, she formed a small ensemble for her pupils. This ensemble eventually developed into a full size mandolin orchestra, which survives today. Doris was the musical director and conductor of this orchestra for many years. The orchestra is currently led by Bryan Holden (conductor).

The early history of the mandolin in New Zealand is currently being researched by members of the Auckland Mandolinata.

Portugal[link]

The bandolim (Portuguese for mandolin) was a favorite instrument within the Portuguese bourgeoisie of the 19th century, but its rapid spread took it to other places, joining other instruments. Today you can see mandolins as part of the traditional and folk culture of Portuguese singing groups and the majority of the mandolin scene in Portugal is in Madeira Island. Madeira has over 17 active mandolin Orchestras and Tunas. The mandolin virtuoso Fabio Machado is one of Portugal's most accomplished mandolin players. The Portuguese influence brought the mandolin to Brazil.

United Kingdom[link]

The mandolin has been used extensively in the traditional music of England and Scotland for generations, but the instrument has also found its way into British rock music. The mandolin was played by Mike Oldfield (and introduced by Vivian Stanshall) on Oldfield's album Tubular Bells, as well as on a number of his subsequent albums (particularly prominently on Hergest Ridge (1974) and Ommadawn (1975)). It was used extensively by the British folk-rock band Lindisfarne, who featured two members on the instrument, Ray Jackson and Simon Cowe, and whose "Fog on the Tyne" was the biggest selling UK album of 1971-1972. The instrument was also used extensively in the UK folk revival of the 1960s and 1970s with bands such as Fairport Convention and Steeleye Span taking it on as the lead instrument in many of their songs. "Maggie May" by Rod Stewart, which hit No. 1 on both the British charts and the Billboard Hot 100, also featured Jackson's playing. It has also been used by other British rock musicians. Led Zeppelin's bassist John Paul Jones is an accomplished mandolin player and has recorded numerous songs on mandolin including "Going to California" and "That's the Way"; the mandolin part on "The Battle of Evermore" is played by Jimmy Page, who composed the song. Other Led Zeppelin songs featuring mandolin are "Hey Hey What Can I Do," and "Black Country Woman." Pete Townshend of The Who played mandolin on the track "Mike Post Theme," along with many other tracks on Endless Wire. McGuinness Flint, for whom Benny Gallagher played the mandolin on their most successful single, "When I'm Dead And Gone," is another example. Gallagher was also briefly a member of Ronnie Lane's Slim Chance, and played mandolin on their hit "How Come." One of the more prominent early users of the mandolin in popular music were The Incredible String Band, in which Robin Williamson played the instrument extensively throughout the band's musical career. Ian Anderson of Jethro Tull is a highly accomplished mandolin player (beautiful track "Pussy Willow"), as is his guitarist Martin Barre. The popular song "Please Please Please Let Me Get What I Want" by The Smiths featured a mandolin solo played by Johnny Marr. More recently, the Glasgow-based band Sons and Daughters have featured the mandolin, as played by Ailidh Lennon, on tracks such as "Fight," "Start to End," and "Medicine." British folk-punk icons the Levellers also regularly use the mandolin in their songs. Current bands are also beginning to use the Mandolin and its unique sound - such as South London's Indigo Moss who use it throughout their recordings and live gigs. The mandolin has also featured in the playing of Matthew Bellamy in the rock band Muse. It also forms the basis of Paul McCartney's 2007 hit "Dance Tonight." That was not the first time a Beatle played a mandolin, however; that distinction goes to George Harrison on "Gone Troppo," the title cut from the 1982 album of the same name. The mandolin is taught in Lanarkshire by the Lanarkshire Guitar and Mandolin Association to over 100 people. Also more recently hard rock supergroup Them Crooked Vultures have been playing a song based primarily using a mandolin. This song was left off their recent debut album, and features former Led Zeppelin bassist John Paul Jones.^{[citation needed]}

In the Classical style, performers such as Hugo D'Alton, Alison Stephens and Michael Hooper have continued to play music by British composers such as Michael Finnissy, James Humberstone and Elspeth Brooke.

United States[link]

The mandolin's popularity in the United States was spurred by the success of a group of touring young European musicians known as the Estudiantina Figaro, or in the United States, simply the "Spanish Students." The group landed in the U.S. on January 2, 1880 in New York City, and played in Boston and New York to wildly enthusiastic crowds. Ironically, this ensemble did not play mandolins but rather Bandurrias, which are also small, double-strung instruments that resemble the mandolin. The success of the Figaro Spanish Students spawned several groups who imitated their musical style and colorful costumes. In many cases, the players in these new musical ensembles were Italian-born Americans who had brought mandolins from their native land. Thus, the Spanish Student imitators did primarily play mandolins and helped to generate enormous public interest in an instrument previously relatively unknown in the United States.

Native American girls' mandolin orchestra, 1905

Mandolins were a fad instrument from the turn of the 20th century to the mid-1920s. Instruments were marketed by teacher-dealers, much as the title character in the popular musical The Music Man. Often these teacher-dealers would conduct mandolin orchestras: groups of 4-50 musicians who would play various mandolin family instruments together. One musician and director who made his start with a mandolin orchestra was pioneer African-American composer James Reese Europe. The instrument was primarily used in an ensemble setting well into the 1930s, although the fad died out at the beginning of the 1930s; the famous Lloyd Loar Master Model from Gibson (1923) was designed to boost the flagging interest in mandolin ensembles, with little success. The true destiny of the "Loar" as the defining instrument of bluegrass music did not appear until Bill Monroe purchased F-5 S/N 73987^[10] in a Florida barbershop in 1943 and popularized it as his main instrument.

The mandolin orchestras never completely went away, however. In fact, along with all the other musical forms the mandolin is involved with, the mandolin ensemble (groups usually arranged like the string section of a modern symphony orchestra, with first mandolins, second mandolins, mandolas, mandocellos, mando-basses, and guitars, and sometimes supplemented by other instruments) continues to grow in popularity. Since the mid-nineties, several public-school mandolin-based guitar programs have blossomed around the country, including Fretworks Mandolin and Guitar Orchestra, the first of its kind. The national organization, Classical Mandolin Society of America represents these groups.

Single mandolins were first used in southern string band music in the 1930s, most notably by brother duets such as the sedate Blue Sky Boys (Bill Bolick and Earl Bolick) and the more hard-driving Monroe Brothers (Bill Monroe and Charlie Monroe). However, the mandolin's modern popularity in country music can be directly traced to one man: Bill Monroe, the father of bluegrass music. After the Monroe Brothers broke up in 1939, Bill Monroe formed his own group, after a brief time called the Blue Grass Boys, and completed the transition of mandolin styles from a "parlor" sound typical of brother duets to the modern "bluegrass" style. He joined the Grand Ole Opry in 1939 and its powerful clear-channel broadcast signal on WSM-AM spread his style throughout the South, directly inspiring many musicians to take up the mandolin. Monroe famously played Gibson F-5 mandolin, signed and dated July 9, 1923, by Lloyd Loar, chief acoustic engineer at Gibson. The F-5 has since become the most imitated tonally and aesthetically by modern builders. Monroe's style involved playing lead melodies in the style of a fiddler, and also a percussive chording sound referred to as "the chop" for the sound made by the quickly struck and muted strings. He also perfected a sparse, percussive blues style, especially up the neck in keys that had not been used much in country music, notably B and E. He emphasized a powerful, syncopated right hand at the expense of left-hand virtuosity. Monroe's most influential follower of the second generation is Frank Wakefield and nowadays Mike Compton of the Nashville Bluegrass Band and David Long, who often tour as a duet. Tiny Moore of the Texas Playboys developed an electric five-string mandolin and helped popularize the instrument in Western Swing music.^[11]

The other major original bluegrass stylists, both emerging in the early 1950s and active still, are generally acknowledged to be Jesse McReynolds (of Jim and Jesse) who invented a syncopated banjo-roll style called crosspicking and Bobby Osborne of the Osborne Brothers, who is a master of clarity and sparkling single-note runs. Highly respected and influential modern bluegrass players include Herschel Sizemore, Doyle Lawson, and the multi-genre Sam Bush, who is equally at home with old-time fiddle tunes, rock, reggae, and jazz. Ronnie McCoury of the Del McCoury Band has won numerous awards for his Monroe-influenced playing. The late John Duffey of the original Country Gentlemen and later the Seldom Scene did much to popularize the bluegrass mandolin among folk and urban audiences, especially on the east coast and in the Washington, D.C. area.

Jethro Burns, best known as half of the comedy duo Homer and Jethro, was also the first important jazz mandolinist. Tiny Moore popularized the mandolin in Western swing music. He initially played an 8-string Gibson but switched after 1952 to a 5-string solidbody electric instrument built by Paul Bigsby. Modern players David Grisman, Sam Bush, and Mike Marshall, among others, have worked since the early 1970s to demonstrate the mandolin's versatility for all styles of music. Chris Thile of California is a well known player, and has accomplished many feats of traditional bluegrass, classical, contemporary pop and rock; the band Nickel Creek featured his playing in its blend of traditional and pop styles, and he now plays in his band Punch Brothers. Most commonly associated with bluegrass, mandolin has been used a lot in country music over the years. Some well-known players include Marty Stuart and Vince Gill. Kristian Bush of the country band Sugarland plays the mandolin frequently, though only as a rhythm instrument.

The mandolin has been used occasionally in rock music, first appearing in the psychedelic era of the late 1960s. Levon Helm of The Band occasionally moved from his drum kit to play mandolin, most notably on "Rag Mama Rag," "Rockin' Chair," and "Evangeline." Ian Anderson of Jethro Tull played mandolin on "Fat Man," from their second album, Stand Up, and also occasionally on later releases. Rod Stewart's still-played 1971 No. 1 hit "Maggie May" features a significant mandolin riff in its motif. Ray Jackson of Lindisfarne played this, and also on "Mandolin Wind," although credited in the liner notes (written by Stewart) thusly: "The mandolin was played by the mandolin player in Lindisfarne. The name slips my mind." Released as the B-side of "Reason to Believe," the unexpected success of this song led to Jackson's resentment over the lack of credit.^[12] David Grisman played mandolin on two Grateful Dead songs on the American Beauty album, "Friend of the Devil" and "Ripple," which became instant favorites among amateur pickers at jam sessions and campground gatherings. John Paul Jones and Jimmy Page both played mandolin on a few Led Zeppelin songs. Dash Croft of the soft rock duo Seals and Crofts extensively used mandolin in their repertoire during the 1970s.

Some rock musicians today use mandolins, typically single-stringed electric models rather than double-stringed acoustic mandolins. One example is Tim Brennan of the Irish-American punk rock band Dropkick Murphys. In addition to electric guitar, bass, and drums, the band uses several instruments associated with traditional Celtic music, including mandolin, tin whistle, and Great Highland bagpipes. The band explains that these instruments accentuate the growling sound they favor. The 1991 R.E.M. hit "Losing My Religion" was driven by a few simple mandolin licks played by guitarist Peter Buck, who also played the mandolin in nearly a dozen other songs. The single peaked at No. 4 on the Billboard Hot 100 chart (#1 on the rock and alternative charts),^[13] the highest ranking for a song featuring mandolin in twenty years. Jack White of The White Stripes played mandolin for the film Cold Mountain, and plays mandolin on the song "Little Ghost" on the White Stripes album Get Behind Me Satan; he also plays mandolin on "Prickly Thorn, But Sweetly Worn" on Icky Thump. David Immerglück of Counting Crows, Monks of Doom, and Glider is also known to feature the mandolin in many of his recordings, especially those with the Counting Crows. Tommy Shaw of Styx has used the mandolin in the their international hit "Boat on the River" (1979) and on the Shaw/Blades album Influence in the song "Dance with Me." Luther Dickinson of North Mississippi Allstars and The Black Crowes has made frequent use of the mandolin, most notably on the Black Crowes song "Locust Street." Pop punk band Green Day has used a mandolin in several occasions, especially on their 2000 album, Warning. Boyd Tinsley, violin player of the Dave Matthews Band has been using an electric mandolin since 2005. Nancy Wilson, rhythm guitarist of Heart, uses a mandolin in Heart's song "Dream of the Archer" from the album Little Queen, as well as in Heart's cover of Led Zeppelin's song "The Battle of Evermore." "Show Me Heaven" by Maria McKee, the theme song to the film Days of Thunder, prominently features a mandolin. Michael Kang, of The String Cheese Incident (a bluegrass/rock/jazz-fusion jam band from Colorado), plays an electric 5-string baritone mandolin as his primary instrument.

Mandolin has also been used in blues music, most notably by Ry Cooder, who performed outstanding covers on his very first recordings, Yank Rachell, Johnny Young, Carl Martin, and Gerry Hundt. It saw some use in jug band music, since that craze began as the mandolin fad was waning, and there were plenty of instruments available at relatively low cost. Very rarely mandolins are played with bottlenecks or slides. Sam Bush plays with a slide, mostly on a four string mandolin.

Venezuela[link]

As in Brazil, the Mandolin has played an important role in the Music of Venezuela. It has enjoyed a privileged position as the main melodic instrument in several different regions of the country. Specifically, the eastern states of Sucre, Nueva Esparta, Anzoategui and Monagas have made the mandolin the main instrument in their versions of Joropo together with Puntos, Jotas, Polos, Fulias, Merengues and Malagueñas. Also; in the west of the country the sound of the Mandolin is intrinsically associated with the regional genres of the Venezuelan Andes: Bambucos, Pasillos, Pasodobles, and Waltzes. In the western city of Maracaibo the Mandolin has been played in Decimas, Danzas and Contradanzas Zulianas as well as in the capital of the country Caracas; where the Merengue Rucaneao, Pasodobleas and Waltzes have been played with mandoline for almost a century. Today, the Mandoline in Venezuela have developed an important group of virtuoso players and ensembles such as Alberto Valderrama, Jesus Rengel, Ricardo Sandoval, Saul Vera, and Cristobal Soto.

See also[link]

• List of mandolinists
• Stringed instrument tunings

References[link]

Further reading[link]

Chord dictionaries

• Johnson, Chad (2003). Hal Leonard Mandolin Chord Finder. United States: Hal Leonard. ISBN 978-0-634-05422-8.  A comprehensive chord dictionary.
• Major, James (2002). Mandolin Chord Book. United States: Music Sales Ltd. ISBN 978-0-8256-2296-0.  A case-style chord dictionary.
• Richards, Tobe A. (2007). The Mandolin Chord Bible: 2,736 Chords. United Kingdom: Cabot Books. ISBN 978-1-906207-01-4.  A very comprehensive chord dictionary.

Method and instructional guides

• Bay, Mel (1987). Complete Mandolin Method. United States: Mel Bay. ISBN 978-0-87166-763-2.  Instructional guide.

External links[link]

Wikimedia Commons has media related to: Mandolins

Wikisource has the text of the 1911 Encyclopædia Britannica article Mandoline.

• Accademia Mandolinistica Pugliese (Puglia-Italy)
• Mandolin at the Open Directory Project
• The Mandolin, The Serenade of Italy, podcast and slideshow [1]
• The Mandolin Tools, Freeware Windows application with chords and scales [2]
• Mandolin Cafe, a popular and eclectic website focusing on mandolin culture and community [3]

Sierra Hull
Background information
Born	(1991-09-27) September 27, 1991 (age 20)
Occupations	Musician, Songwriter
Instruments	Vocals, Mandolin, Guitar
Years active	2007–present
Labels	Rounder
Associated acts	Alison Krauss, Barry Bales, Ron Block, Chris Thile
Website	http://www.sierralhull.com Sierra Hull discography at MusicBrainz

Sierra Hull (born September 27, 1991) is an American bluegrass singer and mandolinist and guitarist.

Hull was signed to Rounder Records at the age of 13^[1] and released her debut album, Secrets, in 2008 at the age of 16. The album peaked at #2 on the Billboard Top Bluegrass Albums chart.^[2] Her second album, Daybreak, was released on March 8, 2011.^[3]

Biography[link]

Sierra Hull was born and raised in Byrdstown, Tennessee and attended Pickett County High School before accepting a Presidential Scholarship^[4] to study at the Berklee College of Music.

Hull began playing the mandolin at the age of eight and put out the album Angel Mountain at 10. Hull was soon playing jam sessions with other musicians in her family, and by 2001 she was entering local talent contests. Her parents, Stacy and Brenda, took her to numerous bluegrass festivals and it was during an International Bluegrass Music Association festival that she came to the attention of Rounder Records chief talent scout Ken Irwin.^[5] At age 11 she was mentored and befriended by Alison Krauss, herself once a child prodigy on the fiddle.^[6]

She has a brother, Cody, and is a distant cousin of former United States Secretary of State Cordell Hull.^[7] Hull has already received five International Bluegrass Music Association nominations in the past three years.

Music career[link]

[edit] Secrets

Hull's debut album on Rounder Records, released in May 2008, was co-produced by Alison Krauss and Ron Block which follows a self-released CD Angel Mountain, in 2002. The production by Hull and Ron Block paid tribute and honored the tradition and style of bluegrass music. The album contained 3 original songs penned by Hull. She was just 15 when she recorded the album and released at just 16.

[edit] Daybreak

On her 2011 second release on Rounder Records, the 20-year-old has composed seven of the 12 songs and it was produced by Alison Krauss & Union Station bassist Barry Bales. The album features collaborations with Bryan Sutton on guitar and Randy Kohrs on dobro. Guest singers include Dan Tyminski, Shawn Lane and Ronnie Bowman.

The themes on Daybreak are largely relationship oriented and surround universal subjects like love won and lost.^[8]

Discography[link]

Albums[link]

Other singles[link]

Music videos[link]

References[link]

This article may need to be wikified to meet Wikipedia's quality standards. Please help by adding relevant internal links, or by improving the article's layout. (July 2011) Click [show] on right for more details. No reason has been cited for the Wikify tag on this article.You can insert a reason using the |reason= parameter, like this: {{Wikify|reason=Your reason here}} Please replace HTML markup with wiki markup where appropriate. Add wikilinks. Where appropriate, make links to other articles by putting "[[" and "]]" on either side of relevant words (see WP:LINK for more information) and check that your links work as expected. Please do not link terms that most readers are familiar with, such as common occupations, well-known geographical terms, and everyday items. Format the lead. Create or improve the lead paragraph. Arrange section headers as described at Wikipedia:Guide to layout. Add an infobox if it is appropriate for the article. Clean up / format the references and footnotes, using citation templates when appropriate. Remove this tag.

Evan Marshall is a literary agent and an author.^[1]

He is noteworthy for writing the book The Marshall Plan for Novel Writing (playing off of the name of the Marshall Plan). Software that assists in the process of writing fiction has been developed around his plan. Some writers praise the system described in the book and in the software as helping to create well structured novels; others deprecate the system as resulting in "canned" or "formulaic" books.^{[citation needed]}

References[link]

External links[link]

• Evan Marshall website

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Rod Stewart
Stewart performing in Zaragoza, Spain, 5 November 2006.
Background information
Birth name	Roderick David Stewart
Also known as	"Rod the Mod"
Born	(1945-01-10) 10 January 1945 (age 67) Highgate, North London, England[1]
Genres	Rock, pop, blues rock, soul
Occupations	Singer-songwriter
Instruments	Vocals, guitar, harmonica
Years active	1964–present
Labels	Mercury, Warner Bros., RCA,[2] J
Associated acts	Shotgun Express, The Steampacket, The Jeff Beck Group, Faces
Website	RodStewart.com

Roderick David "Rod" Stewart, CBE (born 10 January 1945)^[3] is a British singer-songwriter, born and raised in North London, England, and currently residing in Epping. He is of Scottish and English^[4] ancestry.

With his distinctive raspy singing voice, Stewart came to prominence in the late 1960s and early 1970s with The Jeff Beck Group and then Faces. He launched his solo career in 1969 with his debut album An Old Raincoat Won't Ever Let You Down (US: The Rod Stewart Album). His work with The Jeff Beck Group and Faces influenced heavy metal genres.^[5][6]

With his career in its fifth decade, Stewart has sold over 100 million records worldwide, making him one of the best selling artists of all time.^[7] In the UK, he has had six consecutive number one albums, and his tally of 62 hit singles include 31 that reached the top 10, six of which gained the number one position.^[8] He has had 16 top ten singles in the U.S, with four of these reaching number one on the Billboard Hot 100. In 2008, Billboard magazine ranked him the 17th most successful artist on the "The Billboard Hot 100 Top All-Time Artists".^[9] He was voted at #33 in Q Magazine's list of the top 100 Greatest Singers of all time,^[10] and #59 on Rolling Stone 100 Greatest Singers of all time.^[11] As a solo artist, Stewart was inducted into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame in 1994, and was inducted a second time, as a member of Faces, in April 2012.^[12][13]

Early life[link]

Roderick David Stewart was born at 507 Archway Road, Highgate, North London, the youngest of the five children of Robert Stewart and Elsie Gilbart.^[14] His father was Scottish and had been a master builder in Leith, Edinburgh, while Elsie was English and had grown up in Upper Holloway in North London.^[15] Married in 1928,^[15] the couple had two sons and two daughters while living in Scotland, then they moved to Highgate.^[14] Stewart came after an eight-year gap following his youngest sibling; he was born at home during World War II, half an hour after a German V-2 missile warhead fell on the local Highgate police station.^[14][15]

The family was neither affluent nor poor, and by all accounts Stewart was a spoiled child as the youngest;^[14][15] Stewart has called his childhood "fantastically happy".^[15] He had an undistinguished record at Highgate Primary School and failed the eleven plus exam.^[16] He then attended the William Grimshaw Secondary Modern School in Hornsey.^[17] His father retired from the building trade at age 65, then opened a newsagent's shop on the Archway Road when Stewart was in his early teens; the family lived over the shop.^[14][15] Stewart's main hobby was railway modelling.^[18]

The Stewart family was mostly focused on football;^[19] Robert had played on a local amateur side and managed some as well, and one of Stewart's earliest memories were the pictures of Scottish players such as George Young and Gordon Smith that his brothers had on the wall.^[20][21] Rod was the most talented footballer in the Stewart family and was a strong supporter of Arsenal F.C..^[20][22] Combining natural athleticism with near-reckless aggression, he became captain of the school football team and played for Middlesex Schoolboys as centre-half.^[20]

The family were also great fans of the singer Al Jolson and would sing and play his hits.^[19][23] Stewart collected his records and saw his films, read books about him, and was influenced by his performing style and attitude towards his audience.^[19][21][24] His introduction to rock and roll was hearing Little Richard's 1956 hit "The Girl Can't Help It" and seeing Bill Haley & His Comets in concert.^[23] His father bought him a guitar in January 1959; the first song he learned was the folk tune "It Takes a Worried Man to Sing a Worried Song" and the first record he bought was Eddie Cochran's "C'mon Everybody".^[18] In 1960, he joined a skiffle group with schoolfriends called the Kool Kats, playing Lonnie Donegan and Chas McDevitt hits.^[18][25]

Stewart left school at age 15^[26] and worked briefly as a silk screen printer.^[27] Spurred on by his father, his ambition was to become a professional footballer.^[22][26] In 1961 he joined on as an apprentice with Brentford F.C.,^[26][28][29] a Third Division club at the time.^[30] However, he disliked the early morning travel to West London and the daily assignment to clean the first team's boots.^[26] His playing effectiveness at centre-half was hindered by his slight build — 5 feet 11 inches (1.80 m) but only 9 stone (130 lb; 57 kg) — and he pushed himself so much that he sometimes vomited at the side of the pitch.^[26] After up to two months of play in pre-season fixtures,^{[nb 1]} Stewart left the team, to the great disappointment of his father.^[26] Stewart later reflected that: "I had the skill but not the enthusiasm."^[26] Regarding possible career options, Stewart concluded, "Well, a musician's life is a lot easier and I can also get drunk and make music, and I can't do that and play football. I plumped for music ... They're the only two things I can do actually: play football and sing."^[19][26]

Music career[link]

1961–63: Early efforts[link]

Stewart worked in the family shop and as a newspaper delivery boy,^[31] then as a grave digger at Highgate Cemetery,^[32] partly to face a childhood fear of death.^[31] He worked in a North Finchley funeral parlour^[31] and as a fence erector and sign writer.^[27] In 1961 he went to Denmark Street with The Raiders and got a singing audition with well-known record producer Joe Meek, but Meek stopped the session with a rude sound.^[33] Stewart began listening to British and American topical folk artists such as Ewan MacColl, Alex Campbell, Woody Guthrie, Ramblin' Jack Elliot, and especially Derroll Adams and the debut album of Bob Dylan.^[33][34] He became attracted to beatnik attitudes and left-wing politics, living for a while in a beatnik houseboat at Shoreham-by-Sea.^[33] Stewart was an active supporter of the Campaign for Nuclear Disarmament at this time, joining the annual Aldermaston Marches from 1961 to 1963 and being arrested on three occasions when he took part in sit-ins at Trafalgar Square and Whitehall for the cause.^[27][33] He also used the marches as a way to meet and bed girls.^[33][35] In 1962 he had his first serious relationship, with London art student Suzannah Boffey (and a friend of future model and actress Chrissie Shrimpton); he moved to a bed-sit in Muswell Hill to be near her.^[36] She became pregnant, but neither Rod nor his family wanted him to enter marriage; the baby girl was given for adoption and Rod's and Suzannah's relationship ended.^[36]

In 1962, Stewart began hanging around folk singer Wizz Jones, busking at Leicester Square and other London spots.^[37] Stewart took up playing the then-fashionable harmonica.^[38] On several trips over the next 18 months Jones and Stewart took their act to Brighton and then to Paris, sleeping under bridges over the River Seine, and then finally to Barcelona.^[37] Finally this resulted in Stewart being rounded up and deported from Spain for vagrancy during 1963.^[29][37][39]

In early 1962, Stewart joined The Ray Davies Quartet, later known as the successful British band The Kinks, as their lead singer. He had known three of their members at William Grimshaw School^[16][34] and at the time, Ray Davies was uncomfortable with the lead vocalist role.^[40] He performed with the group on at least one occasion, but was soon dropped due to complaints about his voice from then-drummer John Start's mother as well as musical differences with the band and (as Pete Quaife later recalled) Davies' fear that Stewart would take over.^[40][41]

In 1963, Stewart adopted the Mod lifestyle and look, and began fashioning the spiky rooster hairstyle that would become his trademark.^[42] (It originated from large amounts of his sisters' hair lacquer, backcombing, and his hands holding it in place to protect it from the winds of the Highgate Underground station.^[42][43]) Disillusioned by rock and roll, he saw Otis Redding perform in concert and began listening to Sam Cooke records; he became fascinated by rhythm and blues and soul music.^[42]

After returning to London, Stewart joined a rhythm and blues group, the Dimensions, in October 1963 as a harmonica player and part-time vocalist.^[28][44] It was his first professional job as a musician, although Stewart was still living at home and working in his brother's painting and picture frame shop.^[45][46] A somewhat more established singer from Birmingham, Jimmy Powell, then hired the group a few weeks later, and it became known as Jimmy Powell & the Five Dimensions, with Stewart being relegated to harmonica player.^[28][44] The group performed weekly at the famed Studio 51 club on Great Newport Street in London, where The Rolling Stones often headlined;^[44] this was Stewart's entrée into the thriving London R & B scene,^[47] and his harmonica playing improved in part from watching Mick Jagger on stage.^[38] Relations soon broke down between Powell and Stewart over roles within the group^[45] and Stewart departed.^{[nb 2]}

1964–67: Long John Baldry, Steampacket, and "Rod the Mod"[link]

On or around 5 January 1964,^{[nb 3]} Stewart was drunk and waiting on the Twickenham railway station platform, playing "Smokestack Lightnin'" on his harmonica after having seen a rhythm and blues show by Cyril Davies and the All Stars at Eel Pie Island.^[28][48][49] All Stars singer Long John Baldry discovered him and invited him to sit in with the group (which passed into his hands and was renamed the Hoochie Coochie Men when Davies died of leukaemia on 7 January); when Baldry discovered Stewart was a singer as well, he offered him a job for £35 a week, after securing the approval of Stewart's mother.^[48] Quitting his day job at age nineteen, Stewart gradually overcame his shyness and nerves and became a visible enough part of the act that he was sometimes added to the billing as "Rod the Mod" Stewart,^[38][48][50] the nickname coming from his dandyish style of grooming and dress.^[34] Baldry touted Stewart's abilities to Melody Maker magazine and the group enjoyed a weekly residence at London's fabled Marquee Club.^[50] In June 1964, Stewart made his recording début (without label credit) on "Up Above My Head", the B-side to a Baldry and Hoochie Coochie Men single.^[51]

While still with Baldry, Stewart embarked on a simultaneous solo career.^[52] He made some demo recordings,^{[nb 4]} was scouted by Decca Records at the Marquee Club and signed to a solo contract in August 1964.^[53] He appeared on several regional television shows around the country and recorded his first single in September 1964.^[52][53] Turning down Decca's recommended material as too commercial, Stewart insisted that the experienced session musicians he was given, including John Paul Jones, learn a couple of Sonny Boy Williamson songs he had just heard.^[54] The resulting single, "Good Morning Little Schoolgirl", was recorded released in October 1964; despite Stewart performing it on the popular television show Ready Steady Go!, it failed to enter the charts.^[53] Also in October Stewart left the Hoochie Coochie Men after having a row with Baldry.^[53]

Stewart played some dates on his own in late 1964 and early 1965, sometimes backed by the Southampton R & B outfit The Soul Agents.^[55] The Hoochie Coochie Men broke up, Baldry and Stewart patched up their differences (and indeed became lifelong friends),^[56] and legendary impresario Giorgio Gomelsky put together Steampacket, which featured Baldry, Stewart, Brian Auger, Julie Driscoll, Micky Waller, Vic Briggs, and Rick Brown; their first appearance was in support of The Rolling Stones in July 1965.^[57] The group was conceived as a white soul revue, analogous to The Ike & Tina Turner Revue, with multiple vocalists and styles ranging from jazz to R & B to blues.^[58] Steampacket toured with the Stones and The Walker Brothers that summer, ending in the London Palladium;^[58] seeing the audience react to the Stones gave Stewart his first exposure to crowd hysteria.^[59] Stewart, who had been included in the group upon Baldry's insistence, ended up with most of the male vocal parts.^[58] Steampacket was unable to enter the studio to record any material due to its members all belonging to different labels and managers,^[58][60] although Gomelsky did record one of their Marquee Club rehearsals.^{[nb 5]}

Stewart's "Rod the Mod" image gained wider visibility in November 1965, when he was the subject of a 30-minute Rediffusion, London television documentary titled "An Easter with Rod" that portrayed the Mod scene.^[29][61] His parallel solo career attempts continued on EMI's Columbia label with the November 1965 release of "The Day Will Come", a more heavily arranged pop attempt, and the April 1966 release of his take on Sam Cooke's "Shake", with the Brian Auger Trinity.^[61] Both failed commercially and neither gained positive notices.^[62] Stewart had spent the better part of two years listening mostly to Cooke; he later said, "I didn't sound like anybody at all ... but I knew I sounded a bit like Sam Cooke, so I listened to Sam Cooke."^[46] This recording solidified that singer's position as Stewart's idol and most enduring influence; he called it a "crossing of the water."^[34][46][58]

Stewart departed from Steampacket in March 1966,^[61] with Stewart saying he had been sacked and Auger saying he had quit.^[58] Stewart then joined a somewhat similar outfit, Shotgun Express, in May 1966 as co-lead vocalist with Beryl Marsden.^[58][61] Amongst the other members were Mick Fleetwood and Peter Green (who would go on to form Fleetwood Mac), and Peter Bardens.^[61] Shotgun Express released one unsuccessful single in October 1966, the orchestra-heavy "I Could Feel The Whole World Turn Round", before disbanding.^[58][61] Stewart later disparaged Shotgun Express as a poor imitation of Steampacket, and said "I was still getting this terrible feeling of doing other people's music. I think you can only start finding yourself when you write your own material."^[61] By now, Stewart had bounced around without achieving much success, with little to distinguish himself among other aspiring London singers other than the emerging rasp in his voice.^[47]

1967–69: Jeff Beck Group[link]

Guitarist Jeff Beck recruited Stewart for his new post-Yardbirds venture,^[63] and in February 1967, Stewart joined the Jeff Beck Group as vocalist and sometime songwriter.^[64] This would become the big break of his early career.^[34] There he first played with Ronnie Wood^[58] whom he had first met in a London pub in 1964;^[53] the two soon became fast friends.^[63] During its first year, the group experienced frequent changes of drummers and conflicts involving manager Mickie Most wanting to reduce Stewart's role; they toured the UK, and released a couple of singles that featured Stewart on their B-sides.^[64][65] Stewart's sputtering solo career also continued, with the March 1968 release of non-hit "Little Miss Understood" on Immediate Records.^[64] The Jeff Beck Group toured Western Europe in spring 1968, recorded, and were nearly destitute; then assistant manager Peter Grant booked them on a six-week tour of the United States starting in June 1968 with the Fillmore East in New York.^[64][66][67] The first-time-in-America Stewart suffered terrible stage fright during the opening show and hid behind the amplifier banks while singing; only a quick shot of brandy brought him out front.^[64] Nevertheless, the show and the tour were a big success,^[34][67] with Robert Shelton of The New York Times calling the group exciting and praising "the interaction of Mr. Beck's wild and visionary guitar against the hoarse and insistent shouting of Rod Stewart,"^[66] and New Musical Express reporting that the group was receiving standing ovations and pulling receipts equal to those of Jimi Hendrix and The Doors.^[64]

In August 1968, their first album Truth was released; by October it had risen to number 15 on the US albums chart but failed to chart in the UK.^[64] The radical, groundbreaking, landmark album featured Beck's masterly guitar technique and manipulated sounds as Stewart's dramatic vocalising tackled the group's varied repertoire of blues, folk, rock, and proto-heavy metal.^[47][65][68] Stewart also co-wrote three of the songs,^[68] and credited the record for helping to develop his vocal abilities and the sandpaper quality in his voice.^[46] The group toured America again at the end of the year to a very strong reception, then suffered from more personnel upheaval^[64][69] (something that would continue throughout Beck's career). In July 1969, Stewart left, following his friend Wood's departure.^[46][70] Stewart later recalled: "It was a great band to sing with but I couldn't take all the aggravation and unfriendliness that developed.... In the two and a half years I was with Beck I never once looked him in the eye – I always looked at his shirt or something like that."^[64] The group's second album, Beck-Ola, was released in June 1969 in the US and September 1969 in the UK, bracketing the time the group was dissolving; it also made number 15 in the US albums chart and placed to number 39 in the UK albums chart.^[34][70][71] During his time with the group, Stewart initially felt overmatched by Beck's presence, and his style was still developing; but later Stewart felt the two developed a strong musical, if not personal, rapport.^[64][72] Much of Stewart's sense of phrasing was developed during his time with the Jeff Beck Group.^[46] Beck sought to form a new supergroup with Carmine Appice and Tim Bogert (of the similarly just-breaking-up Vanilla Fudge) joining him and Stewart, but Stewart had other plans.^[73]

1969–71: Solo Career establishment[link]

Stewart performing in Oslo, Norway, 5 November 1976.

Mercury Records A&R man Lou Reizner had seen Stewart perform with Beck, and in October 1968 signed him to a solo contract;^[64] but contractual complexities delayed Stewart's recording for him until July 1969.^[70][74] Meanwhile, in May 1969, guitarist and singer Steve Marriott left English band The Small Faces.^[70] Ron Wood was announced as the replacement guitarist in June and in October 1969 Stewart followed his friend and was announced as their new singer.^[70] The two joined existing members Ronnie Lane, Ian McLagan, and Kenney Jones, who soon decided to call the new line-up Faces.

An Old Raincoat Won't Ever Let You Down became Stewart's first solo album in 1969 (it was known as The Rod Stewart Album in the US). It established the template for his solo sound: a heartfelt mixture of folk, rock, and country blues, inclusive of a British working-class sensibility, with both original material ("Cindy's Lament" and the title song) and cover versions (Ewan MacColl's "Dirty Old Town" and Mike d'Abo's "Handbags and Gladrags").

Faces released their debut album First Step in early 1970 with a rock and roll style similar to the Rolling Stones. While the album did better in the UK than in the US, the Faces quickly earned a strong live following. Stewart released his second album, Gasoline Alley that autumn (Elkie Brooks later achieved a hit with a version of the title track in 1983). Rod's approach was similar to his first album, as exemplified by the title track; and mandolin was introduced into the sound. He then launched a solo tour. Stewart sang guest vocals for the Australian group Python Lee Jackson on "In a Broken Dream", recorded in April 1969 but not released until 1970. His payment was a set of seat covers for his car. It was re-released in 1972 to become a worldwide hit.

[edit] 1971–74: Every Picture Tells a Story

Stewart's 1971 solo album Every Picture Tells a Story made him a household name when the B-side of his minor hit "Reason to Believe", "Maggie May", (co-written with Martin Quittenton) started receiving radio play. The album and the single hit number one in both the US and the UK simultaneously, a chart first, in September. A loss of innocence tale set off by a striking mandolin part (by Ray Jackson of Lindisfarne), "Maggie May" was also named in The Rock and Roll Hall of Fame's 500 Songs that Shaped Rock and Roll, which is one of three songs by him to appear on that list. The rest of the album was equally strong, with "Mandolin Wind" again showcasing that instrument; "(I Know) I'm Losing You" adding hard-edged soul to the mix; and "Tomorrow Is a Long Time", a cover of a Bob Dylan song. But the ultimate manifestation of the early Stewart solo style was the Stewart-Wood-penned "Every Picture Tells a Story" itself: powered by Mick Waller's drumming, Pete Sears's piano, and Wood's guitar work in a largely acoustic arrangement; it is a fast, rocking, headlong romp relating the picaresque adventures of the singer.

The second Faces album, Long Player, was released in early 1971 and enjoyed greater chart success than First Step. The Faces also got their only US Top 40 hit with "Stay With Me" from their third album A Nod Is as Good as a Wink...To a Blind Horse released in late 1971.^[75] This album reached the Top 10 on both sides of the Atlantic on the back of the success of Every Picture Tells A Story.^[75][76] Steve Jones from The Sex Pistols regarded The Faces very highly and named them as a main influence on the British punk rock movement.^[77]

The Faces toured extensively in 1972 with growing tension in the band over Stewart's solo career enjoying more success than the band's. Stewart released Never a Dull Moment in the same year. Repeating the Every Picture formula for the most part, it reached number two on the US album charts and number one in the UK,^[78] and enjoyed further good notices from reviewers. "You Wear It Well" was a hit single that reached number 13 in the US and went to number one in the UK, while "Twisting the Night Away" made explicit Stewart's debt to Sam Cooke. For the body of his early solo work Stewart earned tremendous critical praise. Rolling Stone's 1980 Illustrated History of Rock & Roll includes this in its Stewart entry:^[47]

Rarely has a singer had as full and unique a talent as Rod Stewart; rarely has anyone betrayed his talent so completely. Once the most compassionate presence in music, he has become a bilious self-parody — and sells more records than ever [...] a writer who offered profound lyricism and fabulous self-deprecating humour, teller of tall tales and honest heartbreaker, he had an unmatched eye for the tiny details around which lives turn, shatter, and reform [...] and a voice to make those details indelible. [... His solo albums] were defined by two special qualities: warmth, which was redemptive, and modesty, which was liberating. If ever any rocker chose the role of everyman and lived up to it, it was Rod Stewart.

The Faces released their final album Ooh La La, which reached number one in the UK and number 21 in the US in 1973.^[75][76] The band toured Australasia, Japan, Europe and the UK in 1974^[79] to support the album and the single "Pool Hall Richard".

Stewart (right) whilst in Faces, with Ronnie Wood (left)

[edit] 1974–75: Smiler and Faces tour

In late 1974 Stewart released his Smiler album. In Britain, it reached number one, and the single "Farewell" number seven, but only number 13 on the Billboard pop album charts and the single "Mine for Me" only number 91 on the Billboard pop singles charts. It was his last original album for Mercury Records. After the release of the double album compilation The Best of Rod Stewart he switched to Warner Bros. Records and remained with them throughout the vast majority of his career (Faces were signed to Warners, and Stewart's solo releases in the UK appeared on the Riva label until 1981).

In 1975 the Faces toured the US twice (with Ronnie Wood joining The Rolling Stones' US tour in between)^[79] before Stewart announced the Faces' break-up at the end of the year.^[80]

[edit] 1975–77: Atlantic Crossing and further releases

In 1975, Rod Stewart moved to Los Angeles, due in part to his love affair with Britt Ekland, and as a protest against the UK tax authorities who were taking approximately 83% of his income. He released the Atlantic Crossing album for his new record company, using producer Tom Dowd and a different sound based on the Muscle Shoals Rhythm Section. Atlantic Crossing marked both a return to form and a return to the Top 10 of the Billboard album charts. The first single, a cover of the Sutherland Brothers song "Sailing", was a number one hit in the UK, but it only reached the Top 60 of the US charts. The single returned to the UK Top 10 a year later when used as the theme music for a BBC documentary series about HMS Ark Royal, and having been a hit twice over became, and remains, Stewart's biggest-selling single in the UK. His Holland-Dozier-Holland cover "This Old Heart Of Mine" was also a Top 100 hit in 1976.^[75] Additionally in 1976 Stewart covered The Beatles' song "Get Back" for the ephemeral musical documentary All This and World War II.^[81]

Later in 1976, Stewart topped the US Billboard Hot 100 for eight weeks and the Australian ARIA chart with the ballad "Tonight's the Night", with an accompanying music video featuring Ekland.^[75] It came from the A Night on the Town album, which went to number two on the Billboard album charts and was Stewart's first album to go platinum. By explicitly marking the album as having a "fast side" and a "slow side", Stewart continued the trend started by Atlantic Crossing. "The First Cut Is the Deepest", a cover of a Cat Stevens song, went number one in the UK in 1977, and top 30 in the US.^[78][75] "The Killing of Georgie (Part 1 and 2)", about the murder of a gay man, was also a Top 40 hit for Stewart during 1977.^[75]

[edit] 1977–81: Blondes Have More Fun

Foot Loose & Fancy Free featured Rod's own band, the original Rod Stewart Group that featured Carmine Appice, Phil Chen, Jim Cregan, Billy Peek, Gary Grainger and John Jarvis, from 1977 continued Stewart's run of chart success, again reaching number two. "You're In My Heart" was the hit single, reaching number four in the US.^[75] The rocker "Hot Legs" achieved a lot of radio airplay as did the confessional "I Was Only Joking". In appearance, Stewart's look had evolved to include a glam element, including make-up and spandex clothes. Stewart scored another UK number one and US number one single with "Da Ya Think I'm Sexy?", which was a crossover hit reaching number five on the Billboard black charts due to its disco sound.^[75] This was the lead single from 1978's Blondes Have More Fun...or do they?, which went to number one on the Billboard album charts and sold 4 million albums. It was to be Stewart's last number one album for 25 years.

A focal point of criticisms about this period was his biggest-selling 1978 disco hit "Da Ya Think I'm Sexy?", which was atypical of his earlier output, and disparaged by critics.^[82] In interviews, Stewart, while admitting his accompanying look had become "tarty", has defended the lyrics by pointing out that the song is a third-person narrative slice-of-life portrayal, not unlike those in his earlier work, and that it is not about him. However, the song's refrain was identical to Brazilian Jorge Ben Jor's earlier "Taj Mahal" and a lawsuit ensued. Stewart donated his royalties from the song to UNICEF, and he performed it with his band at the Music for UNICEF Concert at the United Nations General Assembly in 1979.

Rod moved a bit to a more New Wave direction in 1980 by releasing the album Foolish Behaviour. The album produced one hit single, "Passion", which proved particularly popular in South Africa (reaching no. 1 on the Springbok Top 20 Charts and Radio 5 Charts in early 1981). It also reached No. 5 on the US Billboard Charts. Later in 1981, Stewart added further elements of New Wave and synth pop to his sound for the Tonight I'm Yours album. The title song reached #20 in the U.S., while "Young Turks" reached the Top 5 with the album going platinum.^[75] In August 1981, MTV was launched in the US with several of Stewart's videos in heavy rotation. On 18 December 1981, Stewart played the Los Angeles Forum, along with Kim Carnes and Tina Turner. This show was broadcast around the world to a television audience of 35 million.

[edit] 1982–2001: Body Wishes, and continued success

Stewart performing in Dublin Ireland, in 1981

Stewart's career then went into a relative slump, and his albums between Tonight I'm Yours (1981) and Out of Order (1988) received harsh criticism from many critics. He was also criticised for breaking the widely observed cultural boycott of apartheid South Africa by performing at the Sun City resort complex in the bantustan of Bophuthatswana as part of his Body Wishes (1983) and Camouflage (1984) tours. He only had four Top 10 singles between 1982 and 1988, "Young Turks" (#5,1982), "Some Guys Have All the Luck" (#10, 1984), "Infatuation" (#6, 1984) and "Love Touch" (#6, 1986), although "Baby Jane" became his sixth and final UK number one in 1983. It reached #14 in the US.^[75] The corresponding Camouflage album went gold in the UK, and the single "Infatuation" (which featured his old friend Jeff Beck on the guitar) received considerable play on MTV. The second single "Some Guys Have All The Luck" reached #15 in the UK and #10 in the US.^[75] A reunion with Jeff Beck produced a successful take on Curtis Mayfield's "People Get Ready", but an attempt to tour together fell apart after a few dates. He reached UK number two in 1986 with "Every Beat Of My Heart".^[76]

In January 1985, he performed at the Rock in Rio festival in Rio de Janeiro before an estimated audience of over 100,000. In 1988, he returned with Out Of Order, produced by Duran Duran's Andy Taylor and by Bernard Edwards of Chic. "Lost in You", "Forever Young", "Crazy About Her", and "My Heart Can't Tell You No" from that album were all top 15 hits on the Billboard Hot 100 and mainstream rock charts, with the latter even reaching the Top Five. "Forever Young" was an unconscious revision of Bob Dylan's song of the same name; the artists reached an agreement about sharing royalties. The song reached #12 in the U.S.^[75] In September 1988, Stewart performed "Forever Young" at the 1988 MTV Video Music Awards at the Universal Amphitheatre in Los Angeles.^[83]

In January 1989, Stewart set out on the South American leg of the Out of Order Tour playing to sell-out audiences throughout Americas. There were 80,000 people at his show at Corregidora Stadium, Querétaro, México (9 April), and 50,000 at Jalisco Stadium, Guadalajara, Jalisco (12 April). In Buenos Aires, the audience at the River Plate Stadium, which seats 70,000+, was at over 90,000, with several thousand outside the stadium. Firehoses were sprayed on the crowd to avoid heat prostration.

Stewart's version of the Tom Waits song "Downtown Train" went to number three on the Billboard Hot 100 in 1990.^[75] This song was taken from a four-CD compilation set called Storyteller - The Complete Anthology: 1964–1990. The Vagabond Heart album continued his comeback with "Rhythm of My Heart" reaching #5 on Billboard, and "The Motown Song" reaching the top 10.^[75] Also in 1990 he recorded "It Takes Two" with Tina Turner, which reached number five on the UK charts. In 1991 Stewart contributed guest lead vocals to the song "My Town" by the Canadian band Glass Tiger.

At the 1993 Brit Awards in London, Stewart picked up the prize for Outstanding Contribution to Music.^[84] Stewart brought back The Faces on stage for an impromptu reunion.^[84] In 1993 Stewart recorded "All For Love" with Sting and Bryan Adams for the soundtrack to the movie The Three Musketeers; the single reached number one in the US and number two in the UK.^[76] Also in 1993, Stewart reunited with Ronnie Wood to record an MTV Unplugged special that included "Handbags and Gladrags", "Cut Across Shorty", and four selections from Every Picture Tells A Story. The show also featured an acoustic version of Van Morrison's "Have I Told You Lately", which topped the Billboard adult contemporary chart and #5 on the Billboard Hot 100.^[75] A rendition of "Reason to Believe" also garnered considerable airplay. The resulting Unplugged...and Seated album reached number two on the Billboard 200 album charts.^[75]

Stewart was inducted into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame in 1994, presented by Jeff Beck.^[78] On 31 December 1994, Stewart played in front on 4.2 million people on Copacabana beach in Rio, and made it into the Guinness Book of World Records for staging the largest free rock concert attendance in history.^[85]

By the early 1990s, Stewart had mostly abandoned creating his own material, saying that he was not a natural songwriter and that the tepid response to his recent efforts was not rewarding.^[86] In 1995, Stewart released A Spanner in the Works containing a single written by Tom Petty "Leave Virginia Alone," which reached the Top 10 of the adult contemporary charts. The latter half of the 1990s was not so commercially successful, though the 1996 album If We Fall in Love Tonight managed to ship gold and hit #19 on the Billboard album chart, thanks in large part to an appearance on the Oprah Winfrey show.

When We Were the New Boys, his final album on the Warner Bros. label released in 1998, contained versions of songs by Britpop acts such as Oasis and Primal Scream, and reached number two on the UK album charts. In 2000, Stewart decided to leave Warner Bros. and moved to Atlantic Records, another division of Warner Music Group. In 2001, he released Human, his only album for Atlantic. Human only just reached the Top 50 in 2001 with the single "I Can't Deny It" going Top 40 in the UK and Top 20 in the adult contemporary.

Stewart then signed to Clive Davis' new J Records label. The Story So Far: The Very Best Of Rod Stewart, a greatest hits album compiled from his time at Warner Bros., went to the Top 10 in the UK and reached number one in places like Belgium and France in 2001.

[edit] 2002–09: The Great American Songbook releases

By 2002, Stewart had sold over 100 million records during his career.^[87] Stewart then concentrated on singing 1930s and 1940s pop standards from the "Great American Songbook", written by songwriters such as Irving Berlin, Cole Porter, and George and Ira Gershwin, with great popular success. These albums have been released on Clive Davis's J Records label and have seen Stewart enjoy album sales equal to the 1970s.

The first album from the songbook series, It Had to Be You: the Great American Songbook, reached number four on the US album chart, number eight in the UK and number ten in Canada when released in late 2002. The track "These Foolish Things" (which is actually a British, not American, song) reached number 13 on the Billboard adult contemporary charts and number two in Taiwan. "They Can't Take That Away From Me" went Top 20 on the world Internet charts and Top 30 on the adult contemporary charts.

The second series album, As Time Goes By: the Great American Songbook 2, reached number two in the US, number four in the UK and number one in Canada. "Bewitched, Bothered and Bewildered", a duet with Cher, went Top 20 on the US adult contemporary charts and Top 5 in Taiwan. "Time After Time" was another Top 30 track on the US adult contemporary charts. A musical called Tonight's The Night, featuring many of Stewart's songs opened, 7 November 2003 at London's Victoria Palace Theatre. It is written and directed by Ben Elton, who previously created a similar production; We Will Rock You, with music by Queen.

In 2004, Stewart reunited with Ronnie Wood for concerts of Faces material. A Rod Stewart and the Faces best of Changing Faces reached the Top 20 of the UK album charts. Five Guys Walk into a Bar..., a Faces box set compilation, went into the shops. Stewart has also mentioned working with Wood on an album to be entitled You Strum, I'll Sing. In late 2004, Stardust: the Great American Songbook 3, the third album in Stewart's songbook series, was released. It was his first US number one album in 25 years, selling over 200,000 albums in its first week. It also debuted at number one in Canada, number three in the UK and Top 10 in Australia. His version of Louis Armstrong's "What a Wonderful World", featuring Stevie Wonder, made the Top 20 of the world adult charts. He also recorded a duet with Dolly Parton for the album - "Baby, It's Cold Outside". Stewart won his first ever Grammy Award for this album.

The year 2005 saw the release of the fourth songbook album, Thanks for the Memory: The Great American Songbook 4; it included duets with Diana Ross and Elton John. Within weeks of its release, the CD made it to number two on the Top 200 list. In late 2006, Stewart made his return to rock music and his new approach to country music with the release of Still the Same... Great Rock Classics of Our Time, a new album featuring rock and southern rock milestones from the last four decades, including a cover of Creedence Clearwater Revival's "Have You Ever Seen the Rain?", which was released as the first single. The album debuted at number one on the Billboard charts with 184,000 copies in its first week. The number one debut was helped by a concert in New York City that was on MSN Music and an appearance on Dancing with the Stars. He performed tracks from his new album Live from the Nokia Theater on 9 October. Control Room broadcast the event Live on MSN and in 117 movie theatres across the country via National CineMedia. In November 2006, Stewart was inducted into the UK Music Hall of Fame.^[88]

On 12 December, he performed for the first time at the Royal Variety Performance at the London Coliseum in front of HRH Prince of Wales and The Duchess of Cornwall, singing another Cat Stevens number, "Father and Son", and Glasgow singer/songwriter Frankie Miller's song It's a Heartache, made famous by Bonnie Tyler. On 22 December 2006 Stewart hosted the 8th Annual A Home for the Holidays special on CBS at 8:00 pm (PST). In 2007, Rod's son Sean starred in the A&E television show Sons of Hollywood, in which Rod's role as a parent is a major theme. On 1 July 2007, Rod Stewart performed "Sailing", "Baby Jane" and "Maggie May" at the memorial concert for Princess Diana at Wembley Stadium in London.^[89] On 11 June 2008, Stewart announced that the Faces had discussed a reunion for at least one or two concerts.^[90]

[edit] 2009–present: Songbook

On 20 May 2009, Stewart performed "Maggie May" on the grand finale of American Idol season 8. On 2 July 2009 Stewart performed his only UK date this year at Home Park, Plymouth. On 29 September 2009 a 4-CD, 65-track compilation entitled Rod Stewart Sessions 1971-1998 was released; it is composed of previously-unreleased tracks and outtakes from the bulk of his career. Stewart has also mentioned plans for a compilation of covers of soul classics, the possible release of another edition of the Great American Songbook album and a country covers album.^[91]

On 14 November 2009, Stewart recorded a TV program in the UK for ITV that was screened on 5 December 2009. The music in the programme featured tracks from his new album and some old favourites. On 14 Jan 2010, Rhino records released Stewart's "Once in a Blue Moon" a "lost album" originally recorded in 1992, featuring ten cover songs including the Rolling Stones' "Ruby Tuesday", Dylan's "The Groom's Still Waiting at the Altar" and Stevie Nicks' "Stand Back", as well as Tom Waits' "Tom Traubert's Blues." On 19 October 2010, Stewart released another edition of his Great American Songbook series titled "Fly Me to the Moon...The Great American Songbook Volume V" on J Records.

Stewart performed with Stevie Nicks on The Heart & Soul Tour. Starting 20 March 2011 in Fort Lauderdale, Florida, the tour visits arena concerts in North America – with performances in New York, Toronto, Los Angeles, Philadelphia, Chicago, Detroit, Tampa and Montreal confirmed.^[92]

Stewart headlined the Sunday show at the 2011 Hard Rock Calling Festival on 26 June at London's Hyde Park.^[93] Stewart signed on to a two year residency at the Colosseum at Caesars Palace, Las Vegas, commencing on 24 August.^[94][95] Performing his greatest hits, the residency also sees him perform selected tracks from his upcoming, untitled blues album.^[95]

On October 7, RCA Music Group announced it was disbanding J Records along with Arista Records and Jive Records. With the shutdown, Stewart (and all other artists previously signed to these three labels) will release his future material on the RCA Records brand.^[96]

Personal life[link]

In May 2000, Stewart was diagnosed with thyroid cancer, for which he underwent surgery in the same month. It had been previously reported he suffered from a benign vocal cord nodule.^[97] Besides being a major health scare, the resulting surgery also threatened his famous voice, and he had to re-learn how to sing.^[98] Since then he has been active in raising funds for The City of Hope Foundation charity to find cures for all forms of cancer, especially those affecting children.^[97]

Stewart plays for his LA Exiles team made up of mostly English expatriates plus a few celebrities, including Billy Duffy of The Cult, in a senior soccer league in Palos Verdes, California,^[99] He still kicks footballs into the audience during concerts. He is a well-known supporter of Celtic F.C., which he mentions in his hit "You're in My Heart", and the Scotland national team. Stewart also follows Manchester United as his English side, and he explains his love affair with both Celtic and Man United in Frank Worrall's book Celtic United.^[100]

Stewart is a keen model railway enthusiast. His 23 x 124-foot HO scale layout in his Los Angeles home is modelled after the New York Central and the Pennsylvania Railroads during the 1940s. Called the Three Rivers City, the layout was featured in the cover story of the December 2007 and December 2010 issues of Model Railroader Magazine. In the 2007 article Stewart said that he would rather be in a model railroad magazine than a music magazine.^[101] He has a second layout at his UK home. That layout is based on Britain's East Coast Main Line. Stewart's home is located in Epping, Essex, on part of the Copped Hall estate ^[102]

A keen car enthusiast, Stewart owns one of the 400 Ferrari Enzos. In 1982, Stewart was car-jacked on Los Angeles' Sunset Boulevard, while he was parking his $50,000 Porsche.^[103] The car was subsequently recovered.

On 11 October 2005, Stewart received a star on the Hollywood Walk of Fame at 6801 Hollywood Boulevard (star number 2093). On 18 April and 19 April 2006 Stewart was the guest artist and celebrity vocal coach on American Idol, leading the remaining seven finalists in singing entries from the Great American Songbook.

In July 2007, Stewart collected his CBE for "services to music" at Buckingham Palace, commenting; "It's a marvellous occasion. We're the only country in the world to honour the common man."^[104] Stewart was estimated to have a fortune of £115 million in the Sunday Times Rich List of 2011, making him one of the 20 richest people in the British music industry.^[105]

Relationships and family[link]

Stewart is known for his liaisons with women (had eight children with five of them):