Rod Stewart

If you listen to Rod Stewart for the first time, the first thing that hits you is that raspy voice, as if each note were scraped raw by sandpaper. It’s no small detail: that almost harsh vocal texture has been his trademark since the 1960s, when he took to stages with a borrowed harmonica. He didn’t start as a star, but as a bar musician, playing in corners of London or touring Europe with bands that left no mark. Yet that voice, which he would later refine in groups like Faces or in his solo career, ended up defining a sound few could imitate. It’s not just a timbre: it’s an attitude, a way of singing that sounds like raw rock mixed with soul and a touch of folk he never fully abandoned.

The leap to fame came in 1971 with Every Picture Tells a Story, an album that not only topped the charts in the United Kingdom, the United States, Canada, and Australia, but also brought with it a timeless hit: Maggie May. It wasn’t a planned success: Stewart recorded the song as the B-side of Reason to Believe, but radio stations chose it instead. That same year, the album sold millions and catapulted him to another level. The curious thing is that it wasn’t a formulaic record, but a mix of rock, folk, and R&B that sounded fresh, as if each song had been written in a Highgate pub the night before. It was followed by Never a Dull Moment in 1972, which repeated the number-one spot in several countries with You Wear It Well, proving it wasn’t a fluke.