Rod Stewart and son Liam in front of Jonathan Heaps' ice cream parlour in 1996

The young Reinhard discovered his love of music when he was just three years old. It all began with a drum kit made by his father and the music of the Bee Gees. Today, as Robin Stone, his stage name, he can look back on a long career as a musician. The little Reinhard of yesteryear has turned his dream into a profession.He is a boy from the Ruhr region, having grown up between coal tips and collieries. Even as a young boy, young Reinhard discovered his love of music. ‘I've always found music fascinating,’ he says looking back. ‘At the very beginning, it was the early Bee Gees that completely fascinated me. When their songs came on the radio, I would have loved to crawl into that machine. And it was clear to me: I wanted to do that too’. His father built the little boy a drum kit, then little Reinhard sat on a pedestal, banged the drums like crazy and sang along to the Bee Gees' songs. Later, at the age of seven, his parents allowed him to take guitar lessons. However, this was not at all to the boy's taste. ‘I almost lost interest in music because I was always asked to play songs that I didn't really want to play. Folk songs and the like, that wasn't my thing at all,’ he says. Frustrated by his guitar teacher's instructions, Reinhard put his instrument back in the corner for a while. Until his brother, who is also very musical, picked it up and started strumming a few songs. Reinhard quickly got back into the swing of things and gradually taught himself to play the guitar. His career continued in a few school bands and at the end of the 70s Reinhard decided to perform as a solo artist. One, if not THE trigger for this decision was Neil Young's concerts in the late 60s. ‘He stood on stage all alone with his guitar and entertained the audience. I thought that was great, I wanted that too’.Over 50 years have passed since then and the young Reinhard, who now calls himself Robin Stone, still stands alone on stage with his guitar and entertains the audience, just like Neil Young did back then. Stone's repertoire includes his solo programme with numerous cover songs, plus he has a Neil Young tribute band called Rust, a Smokie tribute band CCSmokie, a country band and a Rod Stewart tribute show. Reinhard discovered his love for good old Rod quite late in life. ‘It wasn't really my music at first,’ he looks back. ‘But then someone in our band suggested that we should play a Rod Stewart song. That was the starting signal for me to take a closer look at Rod Stewart and his music. And then I realised that what the man has done over the years is quite good,’ grins Reinhard. More and more of the Brit's hits were added to his solo programme and he now even plays an exclusive Rod Stewart show several times a year at the Hansa Theatre in Dortmund entitled The Rhythm Of My Heart - A Tribute to Rod Stewart. It is not only noticeable that Reinhard, alias Robin, comes close to the superstar vocally, but also bears a visual resemblance to the Maggie May singer. ‘I've often been asked about this, but I can't help it if there are similarities in appearance,’ says the singer from Schwerte. ‘I'm also not someone who imitates others. I am who I am and that's important to me,’ emphasises Reinhard.

In its album review in May 1991, Rolling Stone wrote of a ‘personal testament’ and of ‘Stewart's most compelling work since the early 70s’. Indeed, the release of Rod Stewart's 16th studio album Vagabond Heart on 25 March 1991 was something like the dawn of a new era. In the 1980s, the entire music world was flooded with shallow synth-pop, a trend that Rod Stewart also followed, which did not go down well with all his fans who had been with him since the Faces days. Despite the number one hit Baby Jane, the singer somewhat lost touch with what made him strong and special at the beginning of his career with the Faces and also in his first years as a solo artist. With Vagabond Heart, ‘Stewart has wisely chosen to explore the connections between who he was and who he is,’ according to Rolling Stone. The result is a very well-coordinated mixture of full-throttle rock, such as ‘Rebel Heart’ and ‘Moment Of Glory’, and soulful ballads, where ‘No Holding Back’ and ‘If Only’ stand out. But the duet with Tina Turner (‘It Takes Two’) and the emotional ‘Have I Told You Lately’, both of which are still a permanent fixture on the 80-year-old's concert set lists, also contributed to the album's success. Not forgetting, of course, the opening track ‘Rhythm Of My Heart’, which is now regarded as Sir Rod's statement against the war in Ukraine and is played by the singer at almost every concert, always with its clear political message.

In March 2001, on 12 March 2001 to be precise, Rod Stewart released his 19th studio album ‘Human’. 

Katja Rieckermann, Rod Stewart's long-time saxophonist, is celebrating her 59th birthday today. Born in the northern German city of Lübeck, the musician was part of the music icon's band from 2001 to 2015 and toured the world with Sir Rod.

It's probably not going too far out on a limb to say that nowadays everyone knows the song Sailing, written by the Sutherland Brothers in 1972, or has at least heard it a few times on the radio. However, it was Sir Rod Stewart's 1975 version that made the song famous and turned it into the mega-hit it is today.

Sir Rod Stewart should be more than proud of his Celtic Football Club. Although the Bhoys in Green were eliminated late in the play-off second leg in Munich, they put in a very strong performance in a 1-1 (0-0) draw and caused the six-time title winners more problems than expected.

Two days after the Champions League clash between Celtic and Bayern and Sir Rod's two - now legendary - interviews on CBS Sports and TNT Sports, the singer today looked back on the game and his ‘personal prematch performance’ in an interview with British online radio station Talksport, as well as giving his thoughts on the Scottish league. Rod also revealed his plans for this concert year.

The legendary Celtic Park in Glasgow has seen many big games in its long history, where great victories have been celebrated and numerous magical nights have been celebrated, including FC Barcelona, who can tell you a thing or two about it

Yesterday we reported on the ranking of the ten best Faces songs. And, as if he had read it, Sir Rod Stewart has now also compiled a hit list of what he considers to be the ten greatest songs of all time. The 80-year-old revealed his personal ranking of songs, some of which sound very familiar to us, to the English Express.

On 5 February, we look back on one of Rod Stewart's best albums of his career. On this very day in February 1993, the concert of the same name took place at Universal Studios in Los Angeles as part of the MTV Unplugged series. The accompanying album was released a few months later, in May 1993.Unplugged... and seated is only the Brit's second live album to date - after the longplayer Absolutely Live from 1981. From the point of view of many long-standing fans, this is clearly not enough, especially as Sir Rod is still one of the best live artists of all time. Unplugged .... and seated includes the Stewart hits Hot Legs, Tonight's The Night, Reason To Believe and Maggie May. However, Stewart's Have I Told You Lately probably attracted the most attention. The unplugged version of the Van Morrison track, which had already appeared on the 1991 album Vagabond Heart, was released as a single and reached number five in the charts in the USA and the UK. The emotional moment in which Rod performed this song live also moved the fans - a few tears actually ran down the rock musician's cheeks as he brought HITYL to an emotional close. Stewart himself later commented: ‘Actually, I don't know how it happened. I mean, I love my wife and my child with all my heart, but, God, I didn't expect that. It was very out of character for me; normally it's football matches that bring tears to my eyes. But it was a pretty magical moment, wasn't it?' It was indeed.

When we think of legendary Rod Stewart concerts, this show from 1994 should not be forgotten, as Sir Rod's performance on the Copacabana made his way into the music history books and also - of course - into the Guinness Book of Records.