Rod Stewart reaches plea deal after allegedly punching a Palm Beach hotel guard
FORT LAUDERDALE, Fla. — Rock legend Rod Stewart and his son have reached a deal with South Florida prosecutors over misdemeanor battery charges stemming from a New Year’s Eve 2020 confrontation at The Breakers in Palm Beach.
Lawyers on Friday announced they would not be heading to a trial in the case where the singer was accused of punching a security guard in the chest. The terms of the agreement were not disclosed.
The singer “apologized for his behavior in the incident,” Officer Stephen Mancino wrote in the arrest report.
Since then, the Stewarts’ lawyer, Guy Fronstin of Boca Raton, have been negotiating a plea deal with Assistant State Attorney Zachary O’Neill.
“It sounds like everything’s been worked out,” said attorney Alexandra Antonacci, speaking Friday on behalf of Fronstin.
She told Palm Beach County Judge August Bonavita that the only thing left to complete is the paperwork in the case of the State of Florida v. Roderick David Stewart, and Sean Roderick Stewart.
“One of our clients is out of the country,” Antonacci said.
Bonavita scheduled a hearing for March 26 to formally close out the matter.
"The case has to resolve or it will end on the trial list if it does not" the judge advised
Rod Stewart pays tribute to inspirational man ‘Without him, there may not have been a Rod'
ROD STEWART has paid tribute to American singer Sam Cooke on Instagram this week, on what would have been his 90th birthday.
Sir Rod Stewart spoke openly about the man who inspired him on social media yesterday. The legendary singer said that without Sam Cooke, who was known as the King of Soul thanks to his distinctive voice, “there may not have been a Rod”.
The legendary singer revealed that he had spent “thousands” of hours trying to emulate the sound of his hero.
Rod described him as his “one and only influence”.
The 76-year-old made his comments on what would have been Sam’s 90th birthday.
The American singer died from a gunshot wound in 1964 at the young age of 33.
Happy Birthday, my one and only influence.
— Sir Rod Stewart (@rodstewart) January 22, 2021
How many thousands of hours I spent trying to sound like you and never came close.
Without Sam, there may not have been a Rod.
Just think if you were still alive we could have been mates.
- Sir Rod Stewart CBE
#ToastToSamCooke pic.twitter.com/QtPLOG5CwK
The Maggie May hitmaker wondered if the pair could have been friends in his sweet tribute to the star on Instagram.
In view of his 457,000 followers, Rod wrote: “Happy Birthday. My one and only influence.
“How many thousands of hours I spent trying to sound like you and never came close?
“Without Sam, there may not have been a Rod,” he added
Aussie rocker Jimmy Barnes spills beans on Rod Stewart tour of NZ
In this extract from his new book, Australian rocker Jimmy Barnes tells about an eventful evening in Christchurch with Rod Stewart when Cold Chisel opened for him.
Rod Stewart was one of the singers I looked up to when I was a young fellow. Like me, he was from a working class background.
And
like me he'd obviously grown up listening to soul and blues music. In fact, I don't think anyone in the world had listened to or been influenced more by Sam Cooke. But Rod
hadn't stolen from Sam. He had listened and learned and then he had taken what he'd learned and applied it to what he was doing himself. In doing so, he became one of the best and most recognisable
rock singers of a generation. In fact, if you look at his career as a whole, he, in turn, influenced singers all over the world. Including me.
In
1979, Cold Chisel toured with Rod. Now, Cold Chisel opened up for a lot of big acts around that time, and we gained a bit of a reputation for making it difficult for bands
to follow us. We were never malicious about it, we were just competitive, and we wanted to make it as hard as we possibly could for any band that came on after us to go about their work. But when
you're dealing with the cream of the crop – people like Rod, for instance – there is only so much you can do. No matter how well we played, or how outrageous we tried to be, Rod walked on stage
afterwards and was still bigger than life. His band were great, his sound was great, his lights were great – he was just f*****g great at everything he was doing.
I
did get the feeling, though, that he missed being the underdog every night, the one who had to rise to the challenge and try to outshine the headliner. Now he was established, with a huge career, he
had it all to lose, and was under incredible pressure from his record company to hold on to his success. We, on the other hand, had nothing to lose
and just wanted to rock. Rod had been the wild one, the one who did whatever he wanted, whenever he wanted. The bad boy. But now, every night, he had to play it safe, while bands like us opened for
him. Bands that were still wild. Bands that were still bad.
We chatted a few times and I could tell he was the real deal. He loved music and touring and all that came with it.
So we got on well. And he spoke positively about us if the press asked his opinion, although I don't think he was asked often. It wasn't long until we all started drinking down at the bar of whichever hotel we happened to be staying at. At first, it was just us and Rod's band, but gradually Rod turned up more and more. It was like he was going to show us young upstarts how a real rock band misbehaved.
One
night he had his piano player accompany him in the mezzanine bar at a hotel in Christchurch. A scattering of tables and customers flanked a baby grand piano positioned
close to the low rail around the mezzanine. After each song, Rod complained about the acoustics and suggested that his band move the piano over a little, or he would get
on top of the piano to see if the music sounded any better up there. Song by song, the piano was shifted closer and closer to the rail.
You see, Rod could do this. He had enough money to throw the piano off the balcony. What did a baby grand cost?
Thirty or forty thousand dollars? Nothing if you are one of the biggest rock stars in the world. And he knew that this was something we could never do.
So he kept singing and the band kept moving the piano a little nearer to the edge. When they got there, they lifted the end of it on to the rail. That's when the hotel security started panicking, obviously alarmed about the potential damage to their establishment. But they had no effect on Rod. He just kept singing.
Then the police arrived. Rod was tipped off by someone and immediately rushed away to his suite. The rest of us had no idea what was happening until the police entered
the foyer. By the time they reached the bar, the piano was balanced precariously on the mezzanine rail. As the police and hotel security wrestled it back from the brink, we all
made our escape. It seemed that Rod was still one of the lads.
We
reunited at another bar in the hotel, not far from the scene of the crime. Rod didn't appear for a while, but once the police had well and truly gone he sauntered in and
sat next to me. We had a good laugh about what had just happened while enjoying a quiet drink. Just as Rod started telling me some stories about the good old days, up came
a rather big, drunken guy who wanted to give Rod a hard time. It appeared he preferred Rod singing Maggie May rather than Do Ya Think I'm Sexy?, his recent hit.
Rod
was polite. He obviously had to cope with people like this all the time. I, on the other hand, usually dealt with such intruders a little differently and was already positioning
myself to smash the guy. Then, out of the blue, the guy grabbed Rod's shoulder and really started getting in his face.
So Rod leaned forward and headbutted the bloke, sending him flying to the floor and ending their meeting abruptly. He then turned back to me and continued with what he'd been saying, as if nothing had happened.
"Er, do you think you ought to get out of here?" I asked.
Rod just laughed and said, "Why? This guy won't start any more trouble."
"I'm not bothered about him,' I stressed. 'I'm more worried about the police coming back'."
"Yeah. Yeah. You're probably right," he replied casually.
"I'd better go. It's been good talking with you guys, though. Always good to slum it with the riff-raff."
And up he got and went to his suite.
I felt like I should have been taking notes. Rock Star Behaviour 101. Luckily I have a photographic memory.
Shame it's not developed.
Killing Time
By Jimmy Barnes
Published by Harper Collins
RRP: $49.99
Available now
Rod Stewart opens up on Celtic obsession and love of football on The Harry Redknapp Show podcast
In the latest episode of The Harry Redknapp Show podcast, Sir Rod Stewart joins the football legend to discuss their mutual love of the beautiful game and beyond.
Listen & subscribe: | | |
reveals how his Celtic obsession stems from a chance encounter with legendary manager Jock Stein, and he also details the crazy lengths he would go to in order to watch his beloved team, even while on tour.
Rod asks why he didn’t get the England job, and they reminisce over how football has changed over time, with Rod once having to hold the TV arial in the air in order to watch the cup final.
He also tells the listeners the full story behind his hilarious Scottish League Cup draw appearance, which was recently parodied by Peter Crouch.
Use the links above to listen and subscribe to the podcast now.
Sir Rod Stewart: I fixed my feud with Sir Elton John for my kids
Sir Rod Stewart has ended his feud with Sir Elton John to set an example to his kids.
The two stars have been at loggerheads since the former Faces singer criticised his old friend's plans for a retirement tour, branding it "not rock ‘n’ roll" and insisting he wouldn't do the same.
But now, Rod has said they’ve officially buried the hatchet, after admitting it didn’t seem fair for him to tell his eight children to apologise to people without following his own advice.
He said: “I say to my kids, ‘A man apologises, go and apologise to your mother’. We’ve just made up as friends again, me and Elton.
“We’ve always been fierce enemies, as you know, through the years, but it’s always been at a playful level.
“But we had the worst row, like a married couple. It went on forever.”
And the ‘Maggie May’ hitmaker, 76, has insisted he “regrets” lashing out at Elton for his farewell tour.
Speaking on ‘The Harry Redknapp Show’ podcast – which is available on Global Player from Tuesday (19.01.21) – he added: “I was a bit spiteful when he announced his tour. I regret it, I really do regret it. So we’re mates again now. I do love him.”
Meanwhile, Elton also recently said he “bears no grudges” toward Rod, as he confirmed the pair are friends again.
The ‘Tiny Dancer’ singer, 73, said in November: “Rod and I have always had this kind of rivalry but it’s always been very friendly and it’s always been funny and I love him to death.
“We’ve had this rivalry for a long time and it’s been very, very funny, and I love him dearly, and if I saw him in the street I’d give him the biggest hug.There’s no point in carrying on vendettas in this world. Life’s too short.
“Honestly, I don’t bear any grudges about him whatsoever. He gets a Christmas card from me and I wish him the best. You can’t erase all those years of great friendship by just one thing that happened, and I’m not going to do that.
“As far as I’m concerned he’s a brilliant artist who’s had a great career, and he’s such good fun.”
Da ya think Rod Stewart's car collection is sexy?
If you like Lamborghinis, the answer will definitely be yes. Here is our pick of Rod Stewart's car collection
In what is a surprisingly hotly contested field, for a long time Sir Roderick David Stewart – rock legend, model railway enthusiast and, according to James Brown, the best white soul singer in the world – was celebrated for being music's greatest gravedigger. However, despite beating off competition from celebrity spade-wielders such as Tom Petty, The Damned's Dave Vanian and Joe Strummer from The Clash, the truth is Rod merely worked briefly in a cemetery and avoided digging holes. “It's a delicious, mysterious piece of backstory, but again we must move to strike it from the record,” Stewart wrote in his autobiography, Rod. "I was no more a gravedigger than Gordon Ramsay was a gravedigger who played for Rangers."
The other rumours about Rod The Mod, however, are almost certainly all true. The sex, the drugs, more sex, more drugs and rock'n'roll. Yep, he lived it: been there, seen it, done it, got the Celtic shirt. Because the only thing Stewart loves more than girls, drugs, booze and music is football. Oh, and cars. How much did he love cars? Well, as we wish Rod a very happy 76th birthday, we picked out a few of his favourites – the good, the bad and Lamborghinis…
1969 Marcos
By the tail end of the 1960s, things were going pretty well for Rod. After starting his career singing with a variety of blues-rock bands including The Dimensions, Steampacket and Shotgun Express, he eventually found success as the vocalist for the Jeff Beck Group and then in 1969 he joined The Faces. With a bit of money in his pocket, Rod did what all musicians did and bought his first sports car… a three-litre V6 Marcos GT. These sexy little kit cars were initially made in 1959 using a wooden chassis, but by 1969 the cars were built from steel and featured powerful Ford engines that resulted in handling that one motoring magazine described as “fantastic, probably the best of any production car we have driven”. Rod loved
his Marcos, but not as much as the Lamborghini Miura…
1971 Lamborghini Miura P400 S
In 1971 Rod released his third sole album, Every Picture Tells A Story, and he had a mega hit around the world with “Maggie May”… so he decided to treat himself and ordered a Lamborghini Miura P400 S. And we don’t blame him. Arguably one of the most beautiful cars ever made, Rod's was one of the first to arrive in the UK and he specified a “bianco over nero” (white exterior, black leather interior) colour scheme. Rod was in good company, as both Frank Sinatra and Miles Davis owned Miuras, but neither or those legends owned an SV…
1972 Lamborghini Miura SV Coupé
Having acquired a taste for the Miura, Rod couldn't resist buying an SV coupé a year later. The last, the most expensive and the rarest Miura, his SV was one of only seven right-hand drive models – only 150 were ever made in total. Rod's came with Lambo's upgraded V12 tuned to 380bhp, which meant it was capable of 172mph. The singer held it in such high regard that he kept it until 1985.
1977 Lamborghini Countach LP400 ‘Periscopio’
In 1977, Rod toured Australia for the first time and to keep him entertained – it was Australia in 1977; he needed something – he ordered a Lamborghini Countach LP 400 “Periscopio”. The name Countach comes from a local Piedmontese exclamation meaning “Wow!” (legend has it that was the first word stunned Italian designer Nuccio Bertone used to describe the car) and the “Periscopio” referred to a groove in the roof that was used for the rearview mirror. Rod fell so hard for his he kept it inside his music studio for at least two weeks while he was recording demos for the Blondes Have More Fun album. Because he was in Australia, he opted for a rare right-hand drive model (one of only 20). However,
when Rod returned to LA he took the Countach with him and had it converted to a left-hand drive.
1977 Porsche 911 Turbo Carrera
The iconic Porsche 911 Rod had in Hollywood was a stone-cold classic. The Turbo Carrera came with a 3.3-litre flat six and was much admired. So much so, that in 1982 Rod was relieved of his by a car-jacker. After shopping with his three-year-old daughter, Kimberly, on Sunset Boulevard, as they went back to the car with their shopping a car thief pulled a gun on them and demanded Rod hand over the key. The singer obviously complied and as their assailant jumped in the 911, they began walking away. However, seconds later the robber returned and admitted he couldn't start it. Rod takes up the story: “So at gunpoint, I had to walk out on a side street with a gun in my back and get in the car and start it for him. It started on a button.”
1988 Lamborghini QV
Remember that seen in The Wolf Of Wall Street where Leo DiCaprio's Jordan Belfort tries to get home while bombed out of his brain on 'ludes? Yeah, that one. That’s the Countach QV (the four-valves per cylinder Quattrovalvole). When they were new, they cost £90,000, but Rod was so desperate to get his hands one one he paid £135,000 just to get a second-hand version. However, he only kept it for a few years because by then Lamborghini had unleashed the Devil…
1991 Lamborghini Diablo
After 17 years, Lamborghini finally replaced the Countach with the Diablo. Named the “Devil” after a famous ferocious fighting bull and styled by Marcello Gandini (who had also designed the Liura and Countach), it featured a rear-wheel drive 5.7-litre V12 mid-mounted engine that made it the first Lambo to break the 200mph top speed barrier. You will be unsurprised to hear that Rod ordered one quicker than you could say “Hot Legs”. He paid a then astronomical £150,000 for it and picked it up from Portman Lamborghini in 1991 shortly after finishing his album Vagabond Heart.
2003 Ferrari Enzo
As well as Lamborghinis, the singer has had a lot of love for Ferrari and of all the cars Rod ever owned, the only one he regrets selling is the Enzo. Announced in 2002, at the time it was the most technically advanced Ferrari ever made, featured F1 technology and the 399 limited production run was originally offered to existing customers, who snapped their hands off. Unsurprising when you hear that it produced 650bhp, could go from 0-60 in about three seconds and would keep going up to 217mph. Musicians such as Axl Rose, Eric Clapton, Jay Kay and Pharrell Williams all bought one, as did our Rod. However, the car generated so much attention from motoring enthusiasts that Rod got bored of all the attention and unloaded it. “I shouldn't have sold it,” he lamented years later. “It's worth a fortune now. But the thing was you had to clear frenzied car lovers out of the way to get back in the driving seat.”
2007 Lamborghini Gallardo Spyder
The best-selling Lamborghini of all time, the Gallardo was the first car created after Audi took ownership of the Italian marque in 1998. Having gone on sale in 2003, Lambo unveiled the Spyder in 2006 and Rod bought his from new a year later at a cost of £131,000. That bought him a beautiful, fully functioning and reliable Lamborghini (yes, really) that could be driven every day and had a top speed of 197mph. Not bad for a convertible. However, despite owning it for a couple of years, Rod only put 2,243 miles on the clock before selling it for a small profit. Some guys have all the luck.
2013 Rolls-Royce Ghost EWB
Without exception, every rock'n'roll star buys a Rolls-Royce sooner or later, so of course Rod has had a few. Most recently he has been driving around in an extended wheel-base Ghost and as a musical elder statesman it does quite suit him. But really, if truth be told, GQ would rather not see him sailing ('cross the sea or anywhere) in a limo. Rod belongs in a two-seater sports car with the top down and a gorgeous blonde in the passenger seat. Sorry… it's not very 2021, but there you go.
2014 Ferrari 458 Spider
So we had to finish with a convertible two-seater sports car. In this case a Ferrari 458 Spider. When in LA, the septuagenarian singer can still be found, top down, wind blowing in his hair, with his wife, Penny Lancaster, by his side, living his best life, forever young. Happy birthday, Rod.
Today is @rodstewart's birthday! In honor of the iconic rocker and @RockHall of Fame member, we're throwing it back to 1984 when he spoke with us about why making music wasn't work – but @MTV interviews were ? Happy Birthday, Rod! pic.twitter.com/oTMk5Y1fop
— MTV NEWS (@MTVNEWS) January 10, 2021
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