Rod Stewart is reinventing himself at age 79 with forays into new musical genres.
The rock legend lately teamed up with Jools Holland and the bandleader’s Rhythm & Blues Orchestra to create a brand new swing album titled “Swing Fever” that’s racing its manner up the Official U.Okay. Album Charts and on observe to assert the primary spot.
“Swing Fever” will mark Stewart’s first primary album in 5 years, following 2019’s “You’re In My Heart” and Holland’s first-ever launch to prime the charts. Throughout an interview with The Related Press, Stewart recalled sharing the imaginative and prescient he had for the album with Holland at first of their collaboration.
“I’m not going to do any slow songs,” Stewart stated. “I want all upbeat happy [claps his hands], which we need in these grim times that we live in.”
Rod Stewart is branching out into new musical genres. (Roberto Ricciuti/Redfern)
“Swing Fever” is a 13-track album that includes covers of basic songs from the Huge Band period of swing-jazz, together with “Pennies From Heaven,” “Almost Like Being in Love,” “Lullaby of Broadway,” “Aint’ Misbehavin’” and “Sentimental Journey.”
Paying homage to the Nice American Songbook, a canon of influential American jazz requirements, pop songs and showtunes from the early to mid twentieth century, was not unfamiliar territory for Stewart.
In 2003, Stewart launched “It Had to Be You: The Great American Songbook,” the primary in a five-part collection that includes the singer’s covers of American pop and jazz requirements.
Nevertheless, Stewart needed to faucet into the dancehall power of the swing period along with his newest launch.
“They make you tap your feet. They make you smile. Both of us [Holland] were brought up on this music. I did ‘The Great American Songbook,’ so for me this was a natural progression,” Stewart advised the AP.
Stewart and bandleader Jools Holland lately launched a brand new swing album. (Yui Mok/PA Pictures by way of Getty Pictures))
Previous to collaborating with Holland, Stewart had began recording a swing album in Los Angeles, however he wasn’t happy with the preliminary outcomes, noting that the music was “stale.”
“I’d already began making a swing album, but it surely didn’t prove how I needed it. It was extra Frank Sinatra than it was Louis Prima, let’s say…,” he advised the journal Radio Instances, by way of GBN.
He continued, “Nothing wrong with Frank at all, he’s the greatest. But the arrangements were very, very polite.”
“I could see while I was there [in the studio] the guys reading the music. And that’s not how I wanted it,” Stewart added.
“It’s OK to read the music. But it was stale, and it was White, to be quite honest with you. So I said to myself: now, who can I turn to?”
“And the Right Honourable Jools Holland OBE came up. And Jools will take it from there…”
The rock legend additionally stated he has a rustic album within the pipeline. (Don Arnold/WireImage)
Holland, 66, an unique member of the British rock band Squeeze, can also be a pianist, composer and vocalist who has collaborated with a lot of artists, together with Beatles legends Ringo Starr and George Harrison, Bono, Sting and Eric Clapton, amongst others.
Throughout his interview with the AP, Stewart enthused about working with Holland for the primary time.
“I love the whole process of doing live shows,” Stewart stated. “I love recording. I loved when we put this album together. It was such a joy.”
He continued, “We didn’t have any arguments or fights or anything like that. It was pure pleasure and I think that comes across when you listen to it. The whole thing was recorded live in Jools’ studio, which is not a big studio. We had 18 people crammed in there, so all the solos were played live.”
The Grammy Award winner advised the outlet that not having to put in writing any of the songs for “Swing Fever” was one other perk.
“I’ve always found songwriting a bit of an agony, really,” he admitted.
“It’s like going back to school. In fact, when I was in the Faces, they used to lock me in a hotel room with a bottle of wine and say, ‘You’re not coming out till it’s finished.’ Because I was notorious. I wanted to go out and enjoy myself alone.
“I didn’t wish to sit in a room and write lyrics and it’s all the time been a little bit of like pulling tooth for me. The enjoyment of this album, clearly, is I didn’t write any of the songs, I had a burning ambition to sing them and I picked the suitable man.”
Stewart and Holland’s album is on track to top the U.K. chart. (Noam Galai/Getty Images)
Ahead of “Swing Fever’s” release last Friday, Stewart and Holland embarked on a whirlwind tour in support of the album.
In one headline-making moment that emerged from the tour, Stewart stripped off his shirt to reveal the tattoo that he got in honor of his favorite soccer club Celtic F.C.
During an appearance on the Australian talk show “The Venture,” Stewart mentioned the “Glascow Celtic” tattoo that he had inked on his shoulder while in Melbourne.
“I can present it to you if you’d like however I’ll must get undressed,” he told host Sarah Harris.
“Go on, go on! I’ll say sure to that,” Harris replied.
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Stewart then removed his long-sleeved shirt and displayed the tattoo on his shoulder. “Do you see it?” he asked with a smile.
“Appears to be like good! You look good,” Harris said while laughing. “I received Rod Stewart to take his shirt off.”
“Don’t inform any of your viewers,” Stewart quipped.
When “Swing Fever” claims the number one spot on the U.K. chart, it will mark another milestone for Stewart. The singer will become the 10th on the U.K.’s list of artists with the most career number one albums and the fifth solo artist with that achievement.
In addition to venturing into swing, Stewart confirmed that he also has a country album in the works.
“I plan on doing it. We truly began it. We began making a rustic album. And I went off and made one other solo album, however yeah, it’s within the pipeline,” he told the AP.
“The report firm would really like me to do it,” he added. “They don’t push me to do it. , there’ll come a time.”
The U.Okay. native additionally shared his ideas on why the country music genre appealed to him.
“As soon as once more. it’s what I grew up with,” he said. “, not a lot nation music, however people music. , the likes of Woody Guthrie and Ramblin’ Jack Elliott and Bob Dylan.”
He continued, “After all, I beloved all that stuff. That’s all. That’s why I realized how one can play guitar, as a result of I needed to sing the songs.”
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Stewart’s musical pivot comes after he reportedly sold his interests in his publishing rights and recorded music, as well as some name and likeness rights, to music mogul Irving Azoff’s Iconic Artists Group for nearly $100 million earlier this month, according to the Wall Street Journal.
“This 12 months marks my sixtieth 12 months within the music business. The time is true, and I really feel lucky to have discovered companions in Irving and his staff at Iconic that I can entrust with my life’s work and future musical legacy,” Stewart said of the sale in press release.
“We’re thrilled to welcome some of the celebrated singer-songwriters of our time, Rod Stewart, to the Iconic household,” Chairman and CEO of Iconic Azoff said.
He continued, “Our new partnership with HPS gives us with the assets and suppleness to make blockbuster signings like this one and to proceed the success of our legendary artists and their legacies.”
Stewart dismissed any future retirement plans. (Samir Hussein/Getty Pictures)
Because the two-time Rock and Roll Hall of Fame inductee nears his eightieth birthday, Stewart has dismissed the likelihood that he has plans to retire anytime quickly.
“Probably not,” he told the AP of potential retirement plans. “I suppose, I imply it wouldn’t be for me to evaluate, however I think about if individuals cease shopping for tickets for live shows and don’t purchase data anymore, possibly that’s an indication. I don’t know.”
“The phrase retirement just isn’t in my vocabulary in the meanwhile as a result of I’m having fun with myself,” Stewart added.
During an interview with CBS, Stewart was even more emphatic when asked about whether he was slowing down.
“No, I am not winding down!” he replied.
When asked if he was instead “dashing up,” Stewart said, “No, I am not dashing up. I imply, I’ve received 60-odd live shows this 12 months. It isn’t time for the pipe and slipper membership but, you understand?”
After the interviewer noted, “Everyone appears to hit a degree the place they are saying, ‘All proper, sufficient’s sufficient, it has been enjoyable.'”
“No. In no way,” Stewart responded. “It is a drug. It is addictive in a option to stand up and sing in entrance of, you understand, 5, 10, 20 thousand individuals each evening, ship all of them dwelling pleased, smiling. It is great. What a job! I do not wish to give it up!”
