Ronald David "Ronnie" Wood (born 1 June 1947 in
Hillingdon, London) is an English
rock guitarist and bassist best known as a member of
The Rolling Stones and
Faces.
Music career
1960s
Wood began his career as a professional musician in 1964 as a guitarist with
The Birds, an
R&B band based in
Yiewsley, West London. A popular live act with a considerable fan base, The Birds released several singles in the mid-60s;
Wood wrote or co-wrote nearly half the songs the group recorded.
By 1967 the Birds had disbanded and Wood had joined the
Jeff Beck Group as a bassist. Along with vocalist
Rod Stewart, Wood did several tours with Beck, and recorded two albums:
Truth in 1968 and
Beck-Ola in 1969. In between Jeff Beck Group projects Wood also worked with
The Creation.
In 1969, after
Steve Marriott left the
Small Faces, Wood began working with the remaining members of that group, returning to his instrument of choice: the guitar. This line-up, plus Rod Stewart and ex-Bird
Kim Gardner, teamed up with Wood's brother
Art Wood in a formation called Quiet Melon, making a handful of recordings in May 1969.
After the Jeff Beck Group's fifth US tour in July, Wood and Stewart joined the former Small Faces full-time, and the band's name was changed to
Faces.
1970s
thumb|left|Wood (left) with Rod Stewart (right) onstageIn the first half of the 1970s, Faces released four studio albums and were among the top-grossing live acts of the period.
Besides his distinctive guitar work, Wood contributed harmonica, vocals and bass to the band's recordings, and co-wrote many of their songs, including "
Stay With Me" and "
Ooh La La". He also played on bandmate Stewart's first few solo albums, and is co-writer of the Rod Stewart classics "
Gasoline Alley" and "Every Picture Tells a Story",
as well as several songs on
Never a Dull Moment.
In 1972, Wood and Faces bassist
Ronnie Lane composed the soundtrack to the film
Mahoney's Last Stand;
, which was released as an LP in 1976, also features Faces bandmates
Ian McLagan and
Kenney Jones, along with contributions from
Pete Townshend and
Ric Grech. Wood also performed with Townshend, Grech,
Steve Winwood,
Jim Capaldi and
Eric Clapton at Clapton's
Rainbow Concert in 1973.
In December 1973, Wood collaborated with
Mick Jagger on the song "
It's Only Rock'n Roll (But I Like It)".
Both Jagger and
Keith Richards contributed to Wood's first solo album,
I've Got My Own Album to Do, released in 1974.
Following
Mick Taylor's departure from the Rolling Stones in December 1974, Wood participated in the band's March 1975 recording sessions for their forthcoming album
Black and Blue.
Although still a member of the Faces, he toured North America with the Rolling Stones in 1975; the Faces announced their break-up in December of that year, and Wood was officially declared a member of the Rolling Stones in February 1976.
[Wood 2007. pg. 137.]In the Rolling Stones, Wood specializes in playing
slide guitar,
lap steel and
pedal steel guitar, and contributes one half of the "ancient art of weaving",
Keith Richards' term for a style of interchange between guitarists that blurs the boundaries between
rhythm and
lead.
[Jagger, Richards, Watts & Wood 2003. pg. 180.] He also occasionally plays
bass guitar, as seen during 1975 concert performances of "
Fingerprint File", when
Mick Jagger played rhythm guitar and bassist
Bill Wyman moved to
synthesizer. The Rolling Stones single "
Emotional Rescue" also features Wood on bass. He has been given credit as a co-writer for a dozen songs, including "Dance", "
Black Limousine", "
One Hit (to the Body)" and "
Had It With You".
In 1975, Wood released his second solo album,
Now Look; his third,
Gimme Some Neck, came out in 1979. To promote it, Wood formed and toured with
The New Barbarians, playing 20 concerts in Canada and the US in April/May and the
Knebworth Festival in the UK in August.
[Wood 2007. pg. 187-192.][McLagan 2000. pg. 294-300.]1980s
Throughout the 1980s, Wood played as a member of the Rolling Stones; continued his solo career, releasing the album
1234 in 1981; painted; and collaborated with a number of other artists, including
Prince,
Bob Dylan,
David Bowie,
Eric Clapton,
Bo Diddley,
Ringo Starr and
Aretha Franklin.
At the 1985
Live Aid Concert in
Philadelphia, Wood along with
Keith Richards performed in the penultimate set with
Bob Dylan. During the performance of "
Blowin' in the Wind", one of Dylan's guitar strings broke. Wood gave Dylan his guitar in order to keep the performance seamless, and played
air guitar until a stagehand brought him a replacement.
[Wood 2007. pg. 251.]In 1988 Wood opened "Woody's on the Beach" in Miami, a club featuring a house band headed by
Bobby Keys, hosting performances by local acts, friends of Wood's and occasionally Wood himself. The defunct hotel which housed the club allowed Wood to set up a VIP area upstairs, displaying Wood's artwork and providing private party areas. The club was popular, but was closed due to complaints from neighbours who found it too loud.
[Wood 2007. pg. 262-263.]1990s
In 1990 Wood was made a fully-fledged partner in the Rolling Stones' financial organization.
[Jagger, Richards, Watts & Wood 2003. pg. 257.] During the '90s the Rolling Stones released two studio albums and three concert albums, as well as touring in 1990, 1994–95 and 1997–99.
In addition, Wood released his seventh solo album,
Slide On This, in 1992; he toured to promote this album in North America and Japan. His appearance in 1993 with former bandmate Rod Stewart on
MTV Unplugged resulted in a hit album entitled
Unplugged...and Seated; the concert album that Wood released in 1993 from his own tour was called
Slide On Live: Plugged In and Standing.
Wood also contributed to Bo Diddley's 1996 album
A Man Amongst Men, playing slide guitar on the tracks "Hey Baby", "A Man Amongst Men" and "Oops! Bo Diddley" and guitar on "I Can't Stand It".
2000s
175px|thumb|left|Ronnie Wood, Bill Wyman and Mick Hucknall at Faces reunion performance, 25 October 2009Since 2000 Wood has continued to combine solo work with his Rolling Stones schedule. Following the 2001 release of his album
Not For Beginners, Wood toured England and Ireland in 2001 and 2002 with his own group,
The Ronnie Wood Band. The band included members of his own family,
Slash and
Andrea Corr. After the tour a
DVD called
Far East Man was released.
Wood toured with the Rolling Stones in 2002 and 2003; in 2004 he performed several one-off concerts and guest appearances, including a number of appearances with Rod Stewart. Later in the year the two expressed intentions of finishing the studio work on a collaborative album to be entitled
You Strum and I'll Sing. In 2005, however, Wood was again busy with the Rolling Stones, recording their album
A Bigger Bang and then embarking on a world tour that would continue through August 2007.
In 2005 Wood launched his own record company, Wooden Records, which has released recordings by his daughter
Leah,
The New Barbarians and others.
In November 2006, during a break in the Rolling Stones'
A Bigger Bang tour, Wood played guitar on three tracks for British soul artist
Beverley Knight's album
Music City Soul, released in 2007.
On 11 August 2009 Wood joined
Pearl Jam on the stage of
Shepherd's Bush Empire in London for a performance of "
All Along the Watchtower".
On 25 October 2009, Wood, Ian McLagan and Kenny Jones joined forces for a
Faces performance at London's
Royal Albert Hall on behalf of the Performing Rights Society's Music Members' Benevolent Fund.
Bill Wyman played bass and lead vocals were shared by several performers, notably
Mick Hucknall.
Rod Stewart, who had earlier denied rumours of plans for a Faces reunion in 2009, was not present.
Ronnie Wood is featured on
Slash's 2009 release
Slash & Friends.
Personal life
Wood was born into a family of English "water gypsies" (river/canal barge operators, sometimes also called "bargees") and says that his generation was the first in the family to be born on dry land.
[Wood 2007. pg. 3.] He grew up in
Yiewsley and attended St Stephen's Primary School and St Martin's Church of England Secondary School,
West Drayton.
[Wood 2007]Both of his older brothers,
Art and Ted, were graphic artists as well as musicians. Ted Wood died in 2004, and Art Wood in 2006.
Wood has four children.
Jesse is his son with his first wife, Krissy (née Findlay), a former model to whom he was married from 1971 to 1978; Krissy died in 2005. In 1985 Wood married his second wife,
Jo Wood (née Karslake), mother of his daughter
Leah and son Tyrone; her son Jamie from a previous relationship completes the family. Also a former model, Jo Wood has developed a successful line of organic beauty products.
The Woods own homes in
Kingston Vale in Greater London and
County Kildare, Ireland.
Wood has been frank about his struggle with alcoholism; although reports between 2003 and 2006 had indicated that he had been sober since the Rolling Stones' 2002-03 tour, in June 2006 it was reported that Wood was entering rehab for a couple of weeks following a spell of increased alcohol abuse.
In July 2008 he was seen drinking with young Kazakh-Russian named Ekaterina Ivanova (variously reported to be between 18 and 21 years old), whom he had met in a London club, and there was speculation that they were involved in a romantic relationship. According to several sources, Wood checked into rehab again on 16 July 2008 amid concerns that his wife was going to file for divorce.
As of October 2008, Wood had moved out of the family home in Ireland and has been seen frequently with Ivanova; it has been rumoured that he has filed for divorce and is seeking legal assistance in splitting up his estimated £70 million fortune.
Artwork
Wood is an accomplished artist. When he was a child his drawings were featured on the
BBC television programme
Sketch Club; he won one of that programme's competitions, an achievement he refers to as his "awakening to art".
[Wood 2007. pg. 18-19.] He went on to train at the
Ealing Art College, as both his brothers had.
Wood's paintings, drawings and prints frequently feature icons of popular culture and have been exhibited all over the world. Several of his paintings, including a work commissioned by
Andrew Lloyd-Webber, are displayed at
London's Drury Lane Theatre.
[Wood 2007. pg. 319-324.] Art critic
Brian Sewell has called Wood "an accomplished and respectable artist";
and the
South Bank Show has devoted an entire programme to his artwork.
has produced a clothing line using fabrics printed with Wood's art.
Wood is also the co-owner (along with sons Jamie and Tyrone) of a London art gallery called Scream.
[Wood 2007. pg. 325.]Books, films & television appearances
To date, Wood has three books to his credit: a short collection of autobiographical anecdotes entitled
The Works, illustrated with Wood's artwork, co-authored by Bill German and published in 1988; a limited-edition art book entitled
Wood on Canvas: Every Picture Tells a Story, published in 1998; and his 2007 autobiography
Ronnie.
In addition to numerous Faces and Rolling Stones concert films, broadcasts and documentaries, Wood performed alongside
The Band,
Bob Dylan and many others in the finale of the documentary
The Last Waltz, filmed in 1976.
He has made cameo appearances in feature films including
The Deadly Bees (1967),
The Wild Life (1984) and
9½ Weeks (1986), as well as on television programmes including
The Rutles: All You Need Is Cash (1978).
[Wood 2007. pg. 180.] In October 2007 Wood appeared on the television motor show
Top Gear, achieving a celebrity lap time of 1:49.4.
Solo discography
See also
