Music career

1960s

Wood began his career as a professional musician in 1964 as a guitarist with the Birds, an R&B band based in Yiewsley, Middlesex. A popular live act with a considerable fan base, the Birds released several singles in the mid-1960s; Wood wrote or co-wrote nearly half the songs the group recorded.

By 1967 the Birds had disbanded, and Wood briefly took part in a project called Santa Barbera Machine Head before joining the Jeff Beck Group as a bassist. Along with vocalist Rod Stewart, Wood did several tours with Beck and recorded two albums: Truth in 1968 and Beck-Ola in 1969. In between Jeff Beck Group projects, Wood also worked with the Creation.

In 1969, after Steve Marriott left the Small Faces, Wood began working with the remaining members of that group, returning to his instrument of choice, the guitar. This line-up, plus Rod Stewart and former Bird Kim Gardner, teamed up with Wood's brother Art Wood in a formation called Quiet Melon, making a handful of recordings in May 1969. After the Jeff Beck Group's fifth US tour in July, Wood and Stewart joined the former Small Faces full-time, and the band's name was changed to Faces. During the summer of 1969, Stewart and Wood also set the template for what would become The Faces on An Old Raincoat Won't Ever Let You Down, Stewart's first solo album (known as The Rod Stewart Album in the US). The backing band on the album also included Ian McLagan, Keith Emerson, Micky Waller and guitarists Martin Pugh (of Steamhammer and later Armageddon and 7th Order), and Martin Quittenton (also from Steamhammer).

1970s

In the first half of the 1970s, Faces released four studio albums and were among the top-grossing live acts of the period. Besides his distinctive guitar work, Wood contributed harmonica, vocals and bass to the band's recordings, and co-wrote many of their songs, including "Stay With Me" and "Ooh La La". He also played on bandmate Stewart's first few solo albums, and is co-writer of the Rod Stewart songs "Gasoline Alley" and "Every Picture Tells a Story", as well as several songs on Never a Dull Moment.

In 1972, Wood and Faces bassist Ronnie Lane composed the soundtrack to the film Mahoney's Last Stand; the soundtrack, which was released as an LP in 1976, also features Faces bandmates Ian McLagan and Kenney Jones, along with contributions from Pete Townshend and Ric Grech. Wood also performed with Townshend, Grech, Steve Winwood, Jim Capaldi and Eric Clapton at Clapton's Rainbow Concert in 1973.

In 1973 Wood asked his old friend Mick Taylor, who he had known since the early 60s, to help out with his first solo album. In December 1973, Wood collaborated with Mick Jagger on the song "It's Only Rock'n Roll (But I Like It)". Eventually, Jagger and Keith Richards also contributed to Wood's solo LP. I've Got My Own Album to Do, was released in 1974 and recorded at Wood's private studio in the basement of his home in London, The Wick.

Following Mick Taylor's departure from the Rolling Stones in December 1974, Wood participated in the band's March 1975 recording sessions for its forthcoming album Black and Blue. Although still a member of the Faces, he toured North America with the Rolling Stones in 1975; the Faces announced its break-up in December of that year, and Wood was officially declared a member of the Rolling Stones in February 1976.

In the Rolling Stones, Wood plays the slide guitar as Taylor and Brian Jones had done before him, adding both lap steel and pedal steel guitar. In addition, Wood, as did his predecessors, exchanges roles on the guitar with Richards, often blurring the boundaries between rhythm and lead, even within a particular song. He also occasionally plays bass guitar, as seen during 1975 concert performances of "Fingerprint File", when Mick Jagger played rhythm guitar and bassist Bill Wyman moved to synthesizer. The Rolling Stones single "Emotional Rescue" also features Wood on bass. He has been given credit as a co-writer for a dozen songs, including "Dance", "Black Limousine", "One Hit (to the Body)" and "Had It With You".

In 1975, Wood released his second solo album, Now Look; his third, Gimme Some Neck, came out in 1979. To promote it, Wood formed and toured with the New Barbarians, playing 20 concerts in Canada and the US in April/May and the Knebworth Festival in the UK in August.

1980s

Throughout the 1980s, Wood played as an official member of the Rolling Stones; continued his solo career, releasing the album 1234 in 1981; painted; and collaborated with a number of other artists, including Prince, Bob Dylan, David Bowie, Eric Clapton, Bo Diddley, Ringo Starr and Aretha Franklin.

At the 1985 Live Aid Concert in Philadelphia, Wood along with Keith Richards performed in the penultimate set with Bob Dylan. During the performance of "Blowin' in the Wind", one of Dylan's guitar strings broke. Wood gave Dylan his guitar to keep the performance seamless and played air guitar until a stagehand brought him a replacement.

1990s-2010s

In 1990 Wood was made a fully fledged partner in the Rolling Stones' financial organisation. During the 1990s the Rolling Stones released two studio albums and three concert albums, as well as touring in 1990, 1994-95 and 1997-99.

In addition, Wood released his seventh solo album, Slide on This, in 1992; he toured to promote this album in North America and Japan. His appearance in 1993 with former bandmate Rod Stewart on MTV Unplugged resulted in a hit album titled Unplugged...and Seated; the concert album that Wood released in 1993 from his own tour was called Slide on Live: Plugged in and Standing.

Wood also contributed to Bo Diddley's 1996 album, A Man Amongst Men, playing slide guitar on the tracks "Hey Baby," "A Man Amongst Men" and "Oops! Bo Diddley" and guitar on "I Can't Stand It".

Since 2000 Wood has continued to combine solo work with his Rolling Stones schedule. After the 2001 release of his album Not For Beginners, Wood toured England and Ireland in 2001 and 2002 with his own group, the Ronnie Wood Band. The band included members of his family, Slash and Andrea Corr. After the tour a DVD called Far East Man was released.

Wood toured with the Rolling Stones in 2002 and 2003; in 2004 he performed several one-off concerts and guest appearances, including a number of appearances with Rod Stewart. Later in the year the two expressed intentions of finishing the studio work on a collaborative album to be titled You Strum and I'll Sing. In 2005, however, Wood was again busy with the Rolling Stones as the band recorded its A Bigger Bang album. Although playing on only 10 of the album's 16 tracks, Wood embarked on the tour which ran through until August 2007.

In 2005 Wood launched his own record company, Wooden Records, which has released recordings by his daughter Leah, the New Barbarians and others.

In November 2006, during a break in the Rolling Stones' A Bigger Bang tour, Wood played guitar on three tracks for British soul artist Beverley Knight's album Music City Soul, released in 2007.

On 9 May 2009, Wood along with Red Hot Chili Peppers members Anthony Kiedis, Michael "Flea" Balzary, Chad Smith and musician Ivan Neville performed under the name, "the Insects" at the fifth annual MusiCares event honouring Kiedis.

On 11 August 2009 Wood joined Pearl Jam on the stage of Shepherd's Bush Empire in London for a performance of "All Along the Watchtower".

On 25 October 2009, Wood, Ian McLagan and Kenney Jones joined forces for a Faces performance at London's Royal Albert Hall on behalf of the Performing Rights Society's Music Members' Benevolent Fund. Bill Wyman played bass and lead vocals were shared by several performers, notably Mick Hucknall. Rod Stewart, who had earlier denied rumours of plans for a Faces reunion in 2009, was not present.

On 2 November 2009 Wood was given an "Outstanding Contribution" award at the Classic Rock Roll of Honour ceremony in London. Pete Townshend presented the award.

Since 9 April 2010, Wood has presented his own radio show on Absolute Radio. Airing on Saturday night at 10 p.m., the one-hour show consists of Wood playing tracks by artists he has worked with and other personal favourites.

In May 2011 Wood won the Sony Radio Personality of the Year award for The Ronnie Wood Show.

In December 2014 he performed with One Direction on the finale of The X Factor.

Personal life

Wood was born in Hillingdon (then in Middlesex), 14 miles west of London, into a family of English "water gypsies" (river/canal barge operators, sometimes also called "bargees"). He has said that his generation was the first in the family to be born on dry land. He grew up in Yiewsley and attended St. Stephen's Infant School, St. Matthew's Church of England Primary School and St Martin's C of E Secondary Modern School West Drayton.

Both of his older brothers, Art and Ted, were graphic artists as well as musicians. Ted Wood died in 2004, and Art Wood in 2006.

Wood has four children. Jesse is his son with his first wife, Krissy (née Findlay), a former model to whom he was married from 1971 to 1978. In 1985 Wood married his second wife, Jo Wood (née Karslake), mother of his daughter Leah and son Tyrone. He adopted her son, Jamie, from a previous marriage. Also a former model, Jo Wood has developed a successful line of organic beauty products. The Woods own homes in Kingston Vale in Greater London and County Kildare, Ireland. In addition to his four children, Wood has ten grandchildren.

Wood has been frank about his struggle with alcoholism; although reports between 2003 and 2006 had indicated that he had been sober since the Rolling Stones' 2002-03 tour, in June 2006 it was reported that Wood was entering rehab for a couple of weeks following a spell of increased alcohol abuse. By July 2008, ITN reported that Wood had checked himself into rehab a total of six times, the last time being before the wedding of his daughter, Leah. He had plans once again for a seventh admission.

In July 2008 he left his wife for Ekaterina Ivanova (variously reported to be between 18 and 21 years old at the time), whom he had met in a London club. Wood checked into rehab again on 16 July 2008. Jo Wood filed for divorce, which was granted in 2009.

On 3 December 2009, Wood was arrested over assault "in connection with a domestic incident." He was cautioned for this offence on 22 December 2009.

On 30 October 2012, Wood's spokesman confirmed, he was to marry his girlfriend of six months, Sally Humphreys (born 9 January 1978), the owner of a theatre production company, 31 years his junior. On 21 December 2012, Wood married Humphreys. On 7 December 2015, Wood and Humphreys announced that they are expecting twins, due in June 2016.

Artwork

Wood is a well-known visual artist. When he was a child his drawings were featured on the BBC television programme Sketch Club; he won one of that programme's competitions, an achievement he refers to as his "awakening to art." He went on to train at the Ealing Art College, as both his brothers had. Other notable musicians, Freddie Mercury of Queen and Pete Townshend of the Who, also attended in the 1960s.

Wood's paintings, drawings and prints frequently feature icons of popular culture and have been exhibited all over the world. He did the cover artwork to Eric Clapton's 1988 box set Crossroads. Several of his paintings, including a work commissioned by Andrew Lloyd Webber, are displayed at London's Drury Lane Theatre. Art critic Brian Sewell has called Wood "an accomplished and respectable artist"; and the South Bank Show has devoted an entire program to his artwork. Liberty & Co. has produced a clothing line using fabrics printed with Wood's art. Wood has maintained a long-standing relationship with the San Francisco Art Exchange, which first exhibited his work in 1987. Wood is also the co-owner (along with sons Jamie and Tyrone) of a London art gallery called Scream.

Equipment

Wood mostly plays his 1955 and 1956 Sunburst Fender Stratocasters during live and studio sessions and Gibson J-200s during acoustic sets. He also plays a Gibson Firebird. He uses a Fender and Mesa Boogie amplifiers. He also plays a Weissenborn acoustic lap steel guitar and a Fender White Steel lap steel and pedal steel guitar. Before he joined The Rolling Stones, he began endorsing Zemaitis Guitars since his time with Faces. He also plays his ESP signature model, which is based on his 1952 Fender Telecaster, his Duesenberg signature model, and a range of Versoul guitars, including his Versoul custom shop model.

Books, films and television appearances

To date, Wood has three books to his credit: a short collection of autobiographical anecdotes titled The Works, illustrated with Wood's artwork, co-authored by Bill German and published in 1988; a limited-edition art book titled Wood on Canvas: Every Picture Tells a Story, published in 1998 by Genesis Publications; and his 2007 autobiography Ronnie, written in collaboration with his son-in-law Jack MacDonald and Jeffrey Robinson.

In addition to numerous Faces and Rolling Stones concert films, broadcasts and documentaries, Wood performed alongside the Band, Bob Dylan and many others in the finale of the documentary The Last Waltz, filmed in 1976. He has made cameo appearances in feature films, including The Deadly Bees (1967), The Wild Life (1984) and 9½ Weeks (1986), as well as on television programs including The Rutles: All You Need Is Cash (1978). In October 2007 Wood appeared on the television motor show Top Gear, achieving a celebrity lap time of 1:49.4.

Solo discography

Studio albums

• I've Got My Own Album to Do (1974/Warner Bros.)
• Now Look (1975/Warner Bros.) US No. 118
• Gimme Some Neck (1979/Columbia) US No. 45
• 1234 (1981/Columbia) US No. 164
• Slide on This (1992/Continuum)
• Not for Beginners (2001/SPV)
• I Feel Like Playing (2010/Eagle) UK No. 164

Live albums

• Live at the Ritz (1988/Victor) with Bo Diddley
• Slide on Live: Plugged in and Standing (1993/Continuum)
• Live and Eclectic (2000/SPV) (reissued in 2002 as Live at Electric Ladyland)
• Buried Alive: Live in Maryland (2006/Wooden) with the New Barbarians
• The First Barbarians: Live from Kilburn (2007/Wooden)

Original Soundtrack album

• Mahoney's Last Stand (1976/Warner Bros.) with Ronnie Lane

Compilation

• Always Wanted More (2001/SPV)
• Ronnie Wood Anthology: The Essential Crossexion (2006/Virgin)

With the Rolling Stones

• Black and Blue (1976/Atlantic)
• Love You Live (1977/Atlantic)
• Some Girls (1978/Atlantic)
• Emotional Rescue (1980/Atlantic)
• Sucking in the Seventies (1981/Atlantic)
• Tattoo You (1981/Atlantic)
• Still Life (1982/Atlantic)
• Undercover (1983/Atlantic)
• Dirty Work (1986/Columbia)
• Steel Wheels (1989/Columbia)
• Flashpoint (1991/Columbia)
• Voodoo Lounge (1994/Virgin)
• Stripped (1995/Virgin)
• Bridges To Babylon (1997/Virgin)
• No Security (1998/Virgin)
• Forty Licks (2002/Virgin)
• Live Licks (2004/Virgin)
• A Bigger Bang (2005/Virgin)
• Shine a Light (2008/Interscope)
• GRRR! (2012/Interscope)

[ Source: Wikipedia ]