JUST REGULAR ROD
Do you think he’s sexy? It doesn’t matter.
Rod Stewart is a man who has everything: money, talent, beautiful women, five children, good health and even his sanity after more than 30 years in rock ‘n’ roll. Everything, that is, except a Grammy.
One of the legendary singers of our time, Stewart has sold millions of records and has a deep catalogue of hits including “Maggie May,” “Forever Young,” and the apropos “Some Guys Have All the Luck” — yet he can’t seem to snatch a brass ring from the Recording Academy.
Always the bridesmaid, the 59-year-old crooner has been nominated 13 times — and Sunday night, he’ll try again to claim one for his “American Songbook: Vol. II” — a contender for Traditional Pop Vocal Album against the Tony Bennett/k.d. lang duo, Bette Midler and Barbra Streisand.
“I’ve never won, but I’d like to get my hands on one,” he admitted to The Post. But the real reason Stewart wants his trophy is to quell family banter at the holiday dinner table.
“I need one for my kids,” he explained. “They’re always at me, ‘Hey, Dad, why don’t you have a Grammy? Sting’s got like 300 of them.’ I try to make out like I don’t care, but I do, really.”
Stewart, who’s heading to New York to play concerts at Madison Square Garden Feb. 25 and 26, says he’ll spend his off-hours in the studio recording songs for the third edition in his “American Songbook” series, due out later this year.
Post: So what do you think of your Grammy chances this time around?
Stewart: I think I should have won my Grammys in the ’70s and the ’80s, but if I win this year, I see it as a crowning moment in what’s been a wonderful career.
Post: You’re in the Guinness Book of World Records for the biggest concert ever, appearing in front of 4.2 million fans in Rio de Janeiro on New Year’s Eve. Is it true when you were young and first came to America you suffered from stage fright?
Stewart: Yes and no. It wasn’t really stage fright. When I was young, I was very determined to sound like a black blues singer. In London, I didn’t have much competition in the early days, because not many singers were trying for that sound. But I was worried when I came to New York that I was going to be found out. I was in the Jeff Beck Group then, and we were opening for the Grateful Dead at the Fillmore East. I was worried there were going to be all these black people in the audience shouting at me, “Fake, phony!” So I sang from the back of the stage.
Post: So what happened?
Stewart: We got a wonderful reception — I had no reason to worry.
Post: Through the years, you’ve dated and married some of the most beautiful women in the world. What’s your secret?
Stewart: There are no se crets — it’s a learning pro cess. I’ve never stopped learning about women. All the women I’ve been in love with have been different from one an other. There are no rules, except you must treat them with the re-
spect that you want to be treated yourself.
Post: In your music, you sound like a regular guy. Un derneath the money and fame, are you really a regular guy?
Stewart: I don’t have lots of friends in the music business. My best friends are regular people. It sounds ridicu lously boring. The guys I play football with don’t let me get away with any thing. I go into the locker room, get in a uniform and I’m just a guy on the team. I haven’t played in a couple of weeks, though — I’ve got knee problems. I’d give a million dollars for a new right knee.
Post: I’d sell you mine.
Stewart: I’d like a young knee.
Post: Ouch. How have you man aged to stay young?
Stewart: A man must have a sport he plays, a hobby to relax with, a good doctor, a good lawyer and an undertaker.
Post: Speaking of undertakers, is it true you once worked as a gravedigger?
Stewart: Yes, indeed, for a small period of time I worked at Highgate Cemetery. I had such ridiculously long hair no one else would give me a job. I also wanted to work there because at 16 I was absolutely petrified about dying. I though death was around every corner. By work ing at the cemetery, I was able to face up to death. I’m not sure if it cured me.
Post: Now that you’re an adult, what are your thoughts on death?
Stewart: I certainly don’t look forward to it, and I try not to think about it. What I do think about is trying to grow old gracefully.
Post: Is your work on the “American Songbook” al bums about growing old gracefully?
Stewart: It has nothing to do with it. These are albums I would have done 30 years ago if I was given the chance. My voice can caress these songs now like it could never do before.
Post: You had an operation on your throat three years ago. Has that affected your voice?
Stewart: It lowered my singing key slightly, and that put me in a good place to do these songs.
Post: You’re also an excellent songwriter. Could you write an old- fashioned song like “I’m in the Mood For Love”?
Stewart: I love these old songs, but I couldn’t write songs like these in a million years. My songs are three-chord tricks — there are chords in some of these songs that the accomplished players in my band still have to have work at because they are that complicated to play.
Courtesy of DAN AQUILANTE, New York Post
