Superstar Rod Stewart reveals surprising reason for his distinctive voice

Sir Rod Stewart has one of the most distinctive voices in music today. While his soulful vocal style has been influenced by greats like Muddy Waters and Sam Cooke, Stewart’s sound is all his own, combining raspiness with a gritty, yet warm texture.

Now, the 80 year old rocker has revealed the surprising reason for his signature sound and admits it stems from ignoring his doctor’s advice.

The Forever Young singer made the startling confession when chatting to Nick Grimshaw and Annie Macmanus on the BBC Sounds Sidetracked podcast, admitting he refused to get treatment when smacked in the nose during a football match.

“Doctors have said it’s because I broke my nose playing football, which has given me this huskiness,” he said.

“They actually said that ‘if you straighten your nose out, you’ll breathe better, but you might lose your voice’. And I said ‘no way’.

“But no, I got an elbow across the nose playing football.”

He went on to say that the “raspiness” in his voice is, “purely by accident and obviously maybe God’s gift,”.

Fans will next hear that iconic voice when Stewart performs at the Glastonbury Festival, where he’s set to reunite with former Faces bandmate Ronnie Wood during his set.

The 80-year-old singer is filling the coveted Legends slot at the music event, which is being headlined by British pop/rock band The 1975, Neil Young and US pop singer Olivia Rodrigo.

Faces, who were known for hits including Stay With Me, formed in 1969 following the split of Small Faces.

Asked if he keeps in touch with The Rolling Stones’ members and “other people in music” while on That Peter Crouch Podcast, Stewart said: “Not really. Woody (Wood) I do a lot, just recently, because we’re going to do Glastonbury together.

“Elton, sometimes, you know, birthdays, but nowhere near how we used to, I think probably because he doesn’t drink anymore, and Woody doesn’t drink, and I still do. They stay away from me. Bad influence.”

He also told the podcast: “I’ve done it (Glastonbury) before. I did it in 2002 but this is on the legend stage.

“I was only supposed to play for an hour and a quarter, but I’ve asked them ‘Please, another 15 minutes’ because I play for over two hours every night and it’s nothing, but yeah, looking forward to it.”