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Ronald David "Ronnie" Wood (born 1 June 1947 in Hillingdon, London) is an English rock guitarist and bassist best known as a member of Faces and The Rolling Stones.
1960s
Wood began his career as a professional musician in 1964 as a guitarist
with The Birds, a rhythm & blues 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
In the first half of the 1970s the 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; the soundtrack, 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.
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. 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.
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. 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.
1990s
In 1990 Wood was made a fully-fledged partner in the Rolling Stones'
financial organization. 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
Since 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 2002-03; 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 June 2008 Rod Stewart announced that he, Wood and the
other surviving Faces are discussing a reunion, at least for one or two
concerts.
From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
Official Homepage: www.ronniewood.com
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