Ronnie Wood usually speaks very modestly about his talent. He is often called the "complete sideman", that is, a person who is not in the center of attention of the audience during concert performances. However, for all his modesty, Ronnie is an outstanding musician. He has an amazing technique for playing slide guitar. Wood is also very fluent in the lap style.
This is the name of the technique when the musician sets the guitar in a horizontal position. At the same time, he uses a slide to play on it - a device made of metal or some other material. Such a performing technique is considered one of the most complex.
Therefore, it is unfair to say that this musician plays a secondary role in the Rolling Stones.
Member of the famous team
After leaving the Rolling Stones, virtuoso guitarist Mick Taylor was replaced by Ronnie Wood. It happened on June 1, 1975, on the twenty-eighth birthday of the musician.
By then, Ronnie Wood (photo of the guitarist can be seen in the article) was already a rock veteran. He managed to participate in such legendary bands as Birds and Jeff Beck's band, in which he played bass. After this, Wood joined the band The Faces, in which, in addition to him, another British music star, Rod Stewart, participated.
"Faces"
This group before the arrival of Ronnie Wood was called The Small Faces ("Small Faces"). Due to the high growth of the hero of this article, the first word from the name of the team was excluded. In this composition, the group recorded four albums, two of which rose to the first lines of the English charts.
early years
Ronnie Wood was born in the English city of Hillingdon, in a family that highly appreciated music and art in general. His father Arthur played several instruments. He was of gypsy nationality (water or river gypsies). The ancestors of the musician led a nomadic life, swimming from place to place on barges. The guitarist has known his pedigree since the 18th century and often jokes that he belongs to the first generation born on land.
In his free time, Ronia's father and grandfather made music. At the age of ten, the hero of this article played his first public concert as a member of an ensemble organized by his father, which was called the Original London Skiffle Group. This performance was held in one of the cinemas. Ronnie Wood's two older brothers attended an art school, where he himself was accepted at age 6.
Cherished dream
Having visited the Rolling Stones concert for the first time at the Blues and Jazz Festival in Richmond in 1964, the 17-year-old boy realized that he wanted to play on this team. However, the young man could not even think that his dream would ever come true.
Ten years later, he played a solo guitar in the title track of the album It's only rock 'n' roll. And two years later, Wood became a regular member of the team.
Guest musician
Despite his enormous contribution to the work of the Rolling Stones, Ronnie Wood for many years was considered only a guest musician. Officially, he was not part of the team. And only in the late eighties the guitarist became a "real rolling". Since 1975, he participated in the recording of all the albums of the group.
Other entries
Among the many creative achievements of Ronnie Wood, one should note his play on Keith Richards' solo albums and performances with him in the seventies and eighties as part of The New Barbarians. He did not forget other teammates. Ronnie Wood participated in the recording of one of the solo albums of the Rolling Stones bass player Bill Wyman.
His guitar also sounds on Rod Stuart's solo records Gasoline alley and Every picture tells a story. The musician helped David Bowie create his Pin Aps CD. Ronnie has recorded over ten solo albums. The most famous of them: I've got my own album to do in 1974 and Feel like playing, recorded in 2010.
Painter
Guitarist Ronnie Wood is known to almost every rock lover. But far fewer people are familiar with his paintings.
Wood loves to devote his free time to painting. His portraits of friends, musicians, and colleagues in the group including, are sold at the most prestigious auctions.
Not all of his canvases are devoted to music. He often paints animals, as well as portraits of famous historical figures.
Ronnie Wood's personal life
The musician has six children and the same number of grandchildren.
Ronnie Wood's current wife is Sally Himfreys. Before her, he was twice married.