Here's the lowdown on the 73-year-old who has fathered eight children, been knighted by the Queen, survived thyroid cancer, and made an emotional return to the music scene in summer 2018…
Who is Rod Stewart? What's his background?
Rod Stewart was born in Highgate, North London, in 1945.
The youngest of five children by eight years, Rod was born at home during World War II.
A strong supporter of Arsenal FC, both then and now, Rod and his family were football obsessed and Rod pursued professional football at the encouragement of his father.
In the summer of 1960, he attended trials for Brentford FC (a third division club at the time) but never received a call back so started pursuing music instead.
In his 2012 autobiography, Rod spoke of his attempt to be a professional footballer: "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."
How did Rod Stewart's music career start?
The singer's musical career began by touring Europe alongside folk singer Wizz Jones in the early 60s.
However, during this time he found himself deported from Spain for vagrancy in 1963.
Upon his return to the UK, he joined Birmingham based blues group Jimmy Powell & the Five Dimensions as a vocalist/harmonica player.
It was also in 1963 that Rod Stewart started sporting his signature spiky-haired look while touring with the band.
After moving back to London in 1964, Rod joined Long John Baldry's band, the Hoochie Coochie Men.
They recorded one song "Good Morning Little Schoolgirl" but it failed to chart. The band then evolved into Steampacket who supported the likes of the Rolling Stones and the Walker Brothers before disbanding in the mid-60s.
He then joined Shotgun Express, who split, and following that he joined the Jeff Beck Group which is where his rise to fame began; they pioneered what is now known as heavy metal.
After two albums and countless hit records the group disbanded in 1969 and Rod replaced the departed guitarist and vocalist for Small Faces- later shortened to just Faces.
At this time he also had a solo contract and released his first solo album, An Old Raincoat Won't Ever Let You Down, in 1969, which failed to chart in the UK.
Rod continued as part of Faces alongside releasing his own solo work. Faces were popular but it was Rod's third solo album, Every Picture Tells a Story, that made him a household name by reaching no.1 in the US and UK charts.
His solo success proved too much for Faces and in 1975 (Rod had released his third and fourth solo albums by this point, both of which mirrored the success of his second) the band split.
Rod continued to work in the music business both in the UK and America for many years.
In 2000 he was diagnosed with thyroid cancer and underwent surgery, then in 2007, he received a CBE from the Queen.
For a number of years, he released cover albums but returned to original songs with his album Time in 2013.
Rod is still writing and performing. His latest album, Another Country, was released in 2015 and he performed at the Isle of Wight Festival last year.
After a three-year break from music, the singer made an emotional return to the music scene with new single Didn’t I, which describes the devastating effects of drug-taking from a parent's perspective.
It's the lead single from upcoming album Blood Red Roses, which is due to be released on September 28.
Does Rob Stewart have a family?
When he was 17 Rod had a child out of wedlock. He and his then love, Susannah Boffey, put the child up for adoption.
Since then he has been married three times and has fathered eight children by five different mothers.
His first marriage was to Alana Hamilton. The marriage lasted from 1979-1984 and produced two children; Kimberley and Sean Stewart.
His second marriage was to model Rachel Hunter from 1990-2006. Two children resulted from that union, Renée and Liam Stewart, and in the time between his first and second marriage he had baby Ruby Stewart with model girlfriend Kelly Emberg.
He is currently married to model Penny Lancaster-Stewart.
They wed in 2007 and have since had sons Alastair and Aiden Stewart.
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