Ron Wood

Guitarist Ron Wood built his reputation across multiple storied British rock ensembles, yet the Rolling Stones remain the ensemble with which he has been most closely identified since joining their ranks in 1976. He helped establish the London R&B combo the Birds, later signed on with the Creation in 1968, and subsequently entered Jeff Beck’s circle first on second guitar and later on bass. During that stint he encountered vocalist Rod Stewart, and the two musicians soon teamed with three ex-Small Faces to form the Faces, who rose to international prominence in the early 1970s. Wood also launched a parallel solo trajectory, issuing 1974’s I’ve Got My Own Album to Do, which featured George Harrison and Keith Richards; Richards would shortly thereafter invite Wood to replace departing guitarist Mick Taylor in the Rolling Stones. Wood maintained his solo output with 1979’s Gimme Some Neck, whose single “Seven” was written by Bob Dylan.

Born June 1, 1947, in Hillingdon, London, Wood first appeared on disc in the mid-1960s, playing guitar with the Birds and then joining the under-recognized mod group the Creation, whose handful of singles were later anthologized on Complete Collection, Vol. 1: Making Time. Immediately after leaving the Creation, he was asked to handle bass duties in the Jeff Beck Group, whose lineup also featured the then-unknown Rod Stewart on vocals. Although the band was widely regarded as an early architect of hard rock and heavy metal, it released only two albums—1968’s Truth and 1969’s Beck-Ola—before disbanding on the eve of the Woodstock festival. Wood and Stewart remained together and entered the Small Faces that same year, with Wood reverting to guitar.

After issuing 1970’s First Step under the Small Faces name, the group shortened its moniker to the Faces and quickly became one of rock’s most celebrated party-centric acts, later influencing outfits such as the Sex Pistols and the Replacements. Subsequent releases included 1971’s Long Player and A Nod Is as Good as a Wink…to a Blind Horse plus 1973’s Ooh La La before the band dissolved in 1975. Throughout the mid-1970s Wood also found time for solo projects—1974’s I’ve Got My Own Album to Do, 1975’s Now Look, and the 1976 collaboration with former Faces colleague Ronnie Lane titled Mahoney’s Last Stand—yet this period is chiefly remembered for his integration into the Rolling Stones.

Following Mick Taylor’s 1974 departure, the Stones auditioned numerous guitarists, though founding member Keith Richards had long recognized that his friend Wood was the appropriate choice. Wood contributed to half of the Stones’ 1976 album Black and Blue before becoming a permanent member and appearing on 1977’s Love You Live and 1978’s Some Girls. Although the Stones released no new studio material in 1979, Wood issued his fourth solo effort, Gimme Some Neck, and joined Richards for a short-lived side project, the New Barbarians. The Stones returned to the charts with 1980’s Emotional Rescue and 1981’s Tattoo You, yet friction between Richards and Mick Jagger kept the band off U.S. stages from 1982 through 1988 and yielded only the uneven studio sets Undercover (1983) and Dirty Work (1986).

During those years Wood continued his solo work with 1981’s 1234 and 1988’s Live at the Ritz, a collaboration with Bo Diddley, while also devoting himself to painting. Jagger and Richards reconciled by the late 1980s, allowing the Stones to resume sporadic studio releases and touring beginning with 1989’s Steel Wheels, followed by 1994’s Voodoo Lounge and 1997’s Bridges to Babylon. Wood persisted with solo recordings through the 1990s and into the new century, delivering 1992’s Slide on This, 1994’s Slide on Live: Plugged in and Standing, and two 2002 titles, Not for Beginners and Live & Eclectic. He also contributed to numerous sessions by other artists, among them the Band, David Bowie, Eric Clapton, Donovan, Bob Dylan, Aretha Franklin, B.B. King, and Rod Stewart, with whom he recorded the 1993 MTV Unplugged performance that produced the hit album Unplugged… and Seated.

Wood’s seventh solo album, I Feel Like Playing, surfaced in 2010 on Eagle Records and included appearances by Slash, Flea, Billy Gibbons, Bobby Womack, Jim Keltner, and former Faces keyboardist Ian McLagan. Throughout the 2010s he balanced Stones commitments with personal endeavors such as his artwork and the radio program The Ronnie Wood Show. In 2019 he paid homage to one of his influences on Mad Lad: A Live Tribute to Chuck Berry; that release inaugurated a trilogy of live tribute recordings, the second of which, Mr. Luck: A Tribute to Jimmy Reed Live at the Royal Albert Hall, appeared in 2021.