![\"Rod](\"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/08\/Rod-Stewart-1984-Singer-Publicity-Photo-Warner-Bros-Records-Far-Out-Magazine-1140x855.jpg\")
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(Credits: Far Out \/ Warner Bros. Records)<\/p>\n
Tue 19 August 2025 13:00, UK <\/p>\n
When looking at rock and roll, it\u2019s always about more than the typical blues structure that everyone goes back to. Bands like Cream and Led Zeppelin may have perfected what could be done with the blues on their albums, but Rod Stewart<\/a> felt that was only one piece of his sound when working in The Faces or The Jeff Beck Group. <\/p>\n He had more musical faces, and Every Picture Tells a Story was the first time most of us heard something more than rock and roll belting. Stewart had been inhabiting folk music on his breakout solo record, but throughout history, he hasn\u2019t really gotten enough credit for being a musical chameleon. <\/p>\n Some of the shapes that he shifted into might not have been celebrated by everyone, like \u2018Do Ya Think I\u2019m Sexy\u2019, but compared to every other 1970s crooner, he actually managed to pull off the transition to synthesisers a lot better than anyone thought on \u2018Young Turks\u2019.<\/p>\n But before rock, blues, or even folk music, Stewart\u2019s first love always came from listening to old soul classics. Many of the greatest crooners of his childhood held a special place in his heart, and while people like Sleepy John Estes<\/a> may have been a mainstay in many British kids\u2019 households at the time, he was cuing up The Temptations and trying to channel his inner David Ruffin.<\/p>\n The world of Motown Records already set up what was essentially the Avengers of soul music, but before there was a Marvin Gaye, Sam Cooke gave everyone a taste of what real soul could be. Ray Charles was practically the inventor of the genre, but if he was playing the tunes everyone wanted to hear, songs like \u2018A Change is Gonna Come\u2019 was the first time people got to hear a genuine form of protest music delivered with the same ethereal beauty as any other pop masterpiece.<\/p>\n While Stewart held Cooke in high regard, he had a different response when asked which of Cooke\u2019s songs he wished he could have written, saying<\/a>, \u201c\u2018You Send Me\u2019. I always find when I do a Sam Cooke song, I\u2019m a poor imitation of him. I just hear myself trying to sound like Sam Cooke. It\u2019s a waste of time. I\u2019ll never do a Sam Cooke song again. There\u2019s honesty for you!\u201d Listening to Stewart\u2019s voice, though, he does have a bit of that soulful croon in him.<\/p>\n That signature rasp is what everyone remembers when listening to his classics, but hearing the way that he holds on notes is truly reminiscent of Cooke\u2019s style. Whereas singers like Mariah Carey have created their own lane of melismatic notes that sound like they have been ripped out of a gospel choir, Cooke was always tasteful when he used it, often bringing that one smidge of spice to tracks like \u2018You Send Me\u2019.<\/p>\n