Rod Stewart Says His Manager Prevented Live Aid Appearance
Rod Stewart said he only recently discovered why he wasn’t part of Live Aid in 1985.
Many expected to see him take part in the global charity event, especially since he just had a worldwide hit with his song “Some Guys Have All the Luck.” Rumors suggested that he was unable to get a band together in time to appear, but in a new interview with the BBC, he offered a different account.
“We actually were supposed to do it,” Stewart said. "But a few guys in the band told me that our ex-manager turned it down because I wasn’t getting the right news coverage. He only wanted me to do it if I got on the CBS news at 10 o’clock. He said, ‘If not, he’s not doing it.’ ... That’s not what it was about. It was to raise money for kids. It wasn’t about what news channel you were going to be on in America. I only just found this out – I thought it was weird that I didn’t do it.”
Stewart also discussed why his new album, The Tears of Hercules, includes a tribute to Marc Bolan with the track "Born to Boogie." “We were drinking buddies, and we had a lot of things in common," he explained. "We all liked the same blues artists, and we all shopped at the same place … so we'd bump into each other a lot. ... We were on a festival with him, called the Weeley Festival, in 1971. It was one of the first gigs for the Faces, and we wiped the floor with him. And he was brave enough to come in and say, ‘Guys, I can't follow you. You were that good.’ I was very impressed with that. I hope his fan club love this song.”
The singer also confounded the rumor - apparently started by Steve Marriott - that he used to use mayonnaise to style his hair. “Absolutely not true,” Stewart said. “The only thing I used to use when I first started getting this ‘bouffant,’ as they call it in France, was warm water and sugar. … I’ve never used mayonnaise. That's ridiculous. Can you imagine the smell?”