Rod Stewart is set to perform at the U.K.’s prestigious Glastonbury Festival on Sunday, and ahead of that milestone performance, the location where he was standing when his music career officially began has been recognized with a special plaque.
The Evening Standard reports that the plaque has been unveiled at Twickenham train station, located in the suburbs of London. It reads “Music legend and train enthusiast Sir Rod Stewart started his career at Twickenham Station in 1964.”
So how was a train station the start of Rod’s career? In 1964 he went to see blues singer Long John Baldry in concert, and while waiting at the station for his train home, he started singing a Muddy Waters song on the platform. Baldry, it turns out, was also waiting for his train, heard Rod singing and offered him a job in his band right then and there.
Rod became the lead singer for Long John Baldry and his Hoochie Coochie Men, later known as Steampacket. He left in 1966 and joined a number of other bands, eventually landing in future Rock & Roll Hall of Famers band Faces in 1969. Rod simultaneously launched a successful solo career that ran parallel, until Faces split in 1975 and he became a full-time solo artist.
By the way, Long John Baldry is also partly responsible for the career of another British rock legend. After Steampacket broke up, he formed a band called Bluesology, which featured a guy named Reg Dwight on keyboards. When Reg went solo, he adopted the name Elton John, taking the “John” from Baldry and “Elton” from another member of the band, Elton Dean.
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