ET’s BOB GOEN was exclusively behind the scenes with ROD STEWART as the British rocker shot the video for his soon-to-be released album, As Time Goes By … The Great American Songbook, Vol. 2, in stores on Oct. 21.
The first album of standards, It Had To Be You … The Great American Songbook sold so well, it took Rod a bit by surprise. “We were happy to do 200,000 copies,” he says, “but we ended up doing 4 million, so we are doing another one.”
The new album features such timeless tunes as “I’m in the Mood for Love,” “‘Til There Was You,” a duet with CHER on “Bewitched, Bothered and Bewildered” and another with QUEEN LATIFAH on the title song, although the British rocker was not in the studio at the same time as the ladies. Each recorded separately as FRANK SINATRA did on his famous Duets album.
“Cher wanted to do a song and I was absolutely delighted,” Rod told Bob. “I have always loved her work — and that house she has at the beach. Queen Latifah wants to be taken seriously as a singer. She was in New York, I was in California, and she said, ‘Rod, I ain’t no singer, I’m a rapper.’ And she did really well.”
Rod, who began his career in the ’60s as a member of JEFF BECK AND THE FACES, and went on to record his first solo LP, The Rod Stewart Album in 1969, has always been a rocker. His hits are too numerous to mention, but they do include “Do Ya Think I’m Sexy,” “Hot Legs,” “Maggie May,” “Tonight’s The Night” and “Some Guys Have All The Luck.” So the Great American Songbook albums are quite a change.
“It is music that somehow entered my subconscious when I was a kid,” he shared. “It is unbelievable how I know all these songs, all these lyrics. Even when I was laying down the vocals, I was surprised at how many of the songs I really knew from my parents and my brothers and sisters.”
“It is going to be difficult to put the two genres together,” he explained. “But can you imagine a road show without ‘Hot Legs’ and ‘Maggie May’?
Courtesy Yahoo.com – Link to the story including video!