The Faces
Formed from the ashes of the defunct UK mod group the Small Faces, this quintet comprised Ronnie Lane (b. 1 April 1946, Plaistow, London, England; bass), Kenny Jones (b. 16 September 1948, Stepney, London, England; drums), Ian McLagan (b. 12 May 1945, London, England; organ), Rod Stewart (b. 10 January 1945, Highgate, London, England; vocals) and Ron Wood (b. 1 June 1947; guitar). The latter two members were originally part of Jeff Beck's group. The Faces' 1970 debut FIRST STEP reflected their boozy, live appeal in which solid riffing and strong gutsy vocals were prominent. Their excellent follow-up LONG PLAYER enhanced their appeal with its strong mix of staunch rock songs. Throughout this period, Rod Stewart had been pursuing a simultanous solo career which took off in earnest in the summer of 1971 with the worldwide success of the chart-topping Maggie May. At that point, the Faces effectively became Stewart's backing group. Although they enjoyed increasingly commercial appeal with A NOD'S AS GOOD AS A WINK…TO A BLIND HORSE and a string of memorable good-time singles, including Stay With Me and Cindy Incidentally, there was no doubt that the focus on Stewart unbalanced the unit. Lane left in 1973 and was replaced by Tetsu Yamauchi. Despite further hits with Pool Hall Richard, You Can Make Me Dance Sing Or and a live album to commemorate their Stateside success, the band clearly lacked unity. In 1975, Stewart became a tax exile and by the end of the year announced that he had separated from the group. Wood went on to join the Rolling Stones, while the remaining members briefly teamed up with Steve Marriott in an ill-fated reunion of the Small Faces. The band unexpectedly re-united for a one-off appearance at the Brits Awards in February 1993. They performed with Rod Stewart with Bill Wyman taking over Ronnie Lane's role on bass.