Rod Stewart

He was the fifth and youngest child of Robert Joseph Stewart of Clan Stuart (b. Scotland, Great-Britain and Ireland, 26 December 1904, d. 1990), master builder in Leith, Edinburgh, Scotland, Great-Britain and Northern-Ireland, and wife (m. 1928) Elsa "Elsie" Rebecca Gilbart (b. England, Great-Britain and Ireland, 14 December 1905, d. 1996), who grew up in Upper Holloway, North London, London, Middlesex, England, Great-Britain and Ireland) who lived in Scotland, Great-Britain and Northern-Ireland, and in Highgate, North London, London, Middlesex, England, Great-Britain and Northern-Ireland.

A lifelong collector of model trains, Stewart maintains an elaborate outlay in an upstairs room of his Los Angeles home that stretches the length of his house. Bases his layout scale on the 1940s New York Central and Pennsylvania line.

Rod Stewart was born on January 10, 1945 in Highgate, London, England as Roderick David Stewart.

He was discovered busking in a train station in the early 1960s by British blues pioneer Long John Baldry. Baldry was so impressed with Stewart's vocal prowess, he invited him to join his band, The Hoochie Coochie Men. Stewart has often admitted in interviews that he owes his great success to that chance meeting with Baldry.

Contray to rumor, he did not play the harmonica on Millie Small's 1964 #2 hit "My Boy Lollipop", her credited as Millie.

He was the lead singer for the 1970s rock group The Faces.

He has eight children: Sarah Thubron Streeter (born 1963) born to art student Susannah Boffey; Kimberly Stewart (born 21 August 1979) and Sean Stewart (born 1 September 1980) born to Alana Stewart (ex-wife of actor George Hamilton); Ruby Stewart (born 17 June 1987), born to Kelly Emberg, his girlfriend at the time; Renee Stewart (born 1 June 1992) and Liam McAlister Stewart (born 4 September 1994), born to ex-wife Rachel Hunter, a model; Alistair Wallace Stewart (born 27 November 2005) and Aiden Stewart (born 16 February 2011), born to wife Penny Lancaster, all of Clan Stuart.

He was the first artist to record the Burt Bacharach and Carole Bayer Sager song "That's What Friends Are For" (for the movie Night Shift (1982)), four years before it became a number one hit for Dionne Warwick, Elton John, Gladys Knight and Stevie Wonder.

He put on the first concert at SkyDome in Toronto, Canada in 1989.

He married Rachel in Beverly Hills Presbyterian Church in 1990.

He has remained close to fellow Seventies and Eighties pop superstar Elton John and gave him the nickname "Sharon". In 1991, he recorded a cover of John's first UK chart hit, "Your Song", for the all-star tribute album "Two Rooms". John has described Stewart as "the best singer I've heard in rock 'n' roll".

He was the winner of the 1993 Brit Award for Outstanding Contribution.

He was inducted into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame in 1994 for his solo career and in 2012 as part of The Faces.

In 1998, he bought the Victorian mansion Stargroves in Hampshire, which had previously belonged to Mick Jagger of The Rolling Stones.

He underwent successful surgery for thyroid cancer in July 2000, and announced he was completely recovered in January 2001.

He was voted the sexiest male spectacles wearer in a 2004 poll by Specsavers opticians.

On March 9, 2005, he proposed to girlfriend Penny Lancaster at the top of the Eiffel Tower in Paris, France. They married according to their plan, on board his yacht "Lady Anne MaGee" in the Portofino harbor, Italy, after his divorce from Rachel Hunter was finalized.

On November 14, 2006, he was inducted into the UK Music Hall of Fame for his outstanding contribution to British music and integral part of British music culture.

He was awarded the CBE (Commander of the Most Excellent Order of the British Empire) in the 2007 Queen's New Years Honours List for his services to Music. He was awarded the Knight Bachelor in the 2016 Queen's Birthday Honours List for his services to Music and charity.

The 2009 Sunday Times List estimated his net worth at $164 million.

When asked what he had like to have as his epitaph on Piers Morgan Live: Episode dated 30 March 2011 (2011), Stewart quipped, "I'm a celebrity, get me out of here.".

In March 2017 he publicly apologized after he was filmed mimicking a beheading by ISIS.

Over his career Stewart has been Grammy-nominated 15 times (thru 2018) and won just once for "Best Traditional Pop Vocal Album - Stardust: The Great American Songbook, Volume III" (2004). Ironically for a rock 'n' roll artist, his only win was for an album of classic songs by such distinguished composers as, George Gershwin & Ira Gershwin, Cole Porter, Richard Rodgers & Lorenz Hart, Hoagy Carmichael, Oscar Hammerstein II, etc.