Al Stewart

For other people named Al Stewart, see Al Stewart (disambiguation).

Al Stewart
Stewart performing at McCabe's Guitar Shop in Santa Monica, California, on 13 February 2010
Stewart performing at McCabe's Guitar Shop in Santa Monica, California, on 13 February 2010
Background information
Birth nameAlastair Ian Stewart
Born (1945-09-05) 5 September 1945 (age 79)
Greenock, Scotland
OriginWimborne, England
Genres
Occupations
  • Musician
  • singer
  • songwriter
Instruments
  • Guitar
  • piano
  • vocals
Years active1966–present
Labels
Websitealstewart.com

Alastair Ian Stewart (born 5 September 1945) is a Scottish-born[1][2] singer-songwriter and folk-rock musician who rose to prominence as part of the British folk revival in the 1960s and 1970s. He developed a unique style of combining folk-rock songs with tales of characters and events from history.[3]

Stewart has released 16 studio and four live albums since his debut album Bed-Sitter Images in 1967, and continues to tour extensively in the US, Canada, Europe, and the UK. He is best known for his 1976 hit single "Year of the Cat", from the platinum album of the same name. Though Year of the Cat and its 1978 platinum follow-up Time Passages brought Stewart his biggest worldwide commercial successes, earlier albums such as Past, Present and Future from 1973 are often seen as better examples of his intimate brand of historical folk-rock, a style to which he returned in later albums.[4] His 2009 release, Uncorked, was released on his independent label, Wallaby Trails Recordings, and was followed up by Al Stewart and The Empty Pockets Live in 2024.[5] Stewart has worked with Peter White, Alan Parsons, Jimmy Page, Richard Thompson, Rick Wakeman, Francis Monkman, Tori Amos, and Tim Renwick, and more recently has played with Dave Nachmanoff and former Wings lead-guitarist Laurence Juber.

Stewart appears throughout the musical history of the folk revivalist era. He played at the initial Glastonbury Festival in 1970, knew Yoko Ono before she met John Lennon, shared a London flat with Paul Simon (who was collaborating with Bruce Woodley of the Seekers), and hosted at the Les Cousins folk club in London in the 1960s.[6]

  1. ^ "Al Stewart Bio | MTV". VH1. Archived from the original on 4 April 2008. Retrieved 6 April 2013.
  2. ^ "Boulder Weekly by Wehaa". npaper-wehaa.com. Archived from the original on 1 August 2017. Retrieved 4 May 2018.
  3. ^ Brocken, Michael (2003). The British Folk Revival, 1944–2002. Ashgate Publishing, Ltd. p. 110. ISBN 978-0-7546-3282-5. OCLC 51389150.
  4. ^ Brown, Joe (18 February 2009). "Al Stewart: Heady concert to engage history in singer's lyrics". Las Vegas Sun. Las Vegas. Archived from the original on 21 February 2009. Retrieved 19 February 2009. ...Stewart says on the phone from his home in Los Angeles.
  5. ^ "Appleseedrec.com". Appleseedrec.com. Archived from the original on 28 September 2011. Retrieved 6 April 2013.
  6. ^ Burgess, Kaya (12 May 2009). "Al Stewart, the return of the cat". The Times. London. Retrieved 12 May 2009.