Ronnie Wood

Few can claim to have had as stellar, or diverse, a career as Ronnie Wood.

A two-time inductee into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame (with the Rolling Stones and the Faces), Ronnie has played in some of the most influential rock groups of all time and guested with a who’s who of British music. At the same time, he’s enjoyed a remarkable parallel career as a highly regarded artist and, as a natural raconteur, has won a record three prestigious Sony Radio Personality awards.

Descending from a long line of travelling barge people, Ronnie grew up in a lively musical and artistic West London household. His father played in a harmonica orchestra, while older brothers Ted and Art were both accomplished musicians and graphic designers. With Ronnie showing creative flair at a young age, his brothers chipped in to buy him an acoustic guitar and at the age of 14, he purchased his first electric model.

Soon after, Ronnie embarked on his musical career when he joined local group The Birds, dropping out of Ealing Art College to focus on the band.

Signed to the Stones’ label, Decca, the group’s incendiary take on R & B made them a popular live act up and down the country. However, their popularity failed to translate into record sales and the group eventually parted ways.

1967 marked a career milestone when Ronnie joined the Jeff Beck Group as bassist.

With frontman Rod Stewart’s raw vocals, blues maverick Beck’s blazing guitar work and Ronnie’s instinctive bass lines, the Jeff Beck Group would write the blueprint for British hard rock. Despite an intense musical chemistry, band tensions often ran high and Ronnie briefly jumped ship to cult mod band, the Creation. Inevitably, the Jeff Beck Group would split for good in 1969 – just two weeks prior to a slot at Woodstock – but not before releasing two classic albums, wowing US audiences with their live performances and laying the groundwork for burgeoning rock acts like Led Zeppelin.

After a blink-and-you-miss it stint in Quiet Melon, with brother Art, fortune smiled again on Ronnie.

After the departure of singer Steve Marriott, the remaining three members of the Small Faces approached Ronnie and Rod with the offer of starting a new band. Renaming themselves the Faces, the band would inject a buccaneering rock-and-roll spirit into a dreary music scene, drawing huge audiences for their rollicking live shows and influencing a generation of punk musicians waiting in the wings. Back on 6 string guitar, Ronnie helped pen some of the Faces’ finest and best known songs like ‘Ooh La La’ and ‘Stay With Me’, whilst also making major contributions to Rod Stewart’s first solo albums.

With a growing confidence in his abilities, Ronnie also released his own solo efforts during this time.

With their unique, rough-hewn charm, I’ve Got My Own Album To Do (1974) and Now Look (1975) boasted a list of starry cameos, including George Harrison, Rod Stewart, Bobby Womack and future bandmates Keith Richards and Mick Jagger. These albums helped to reinforce Ronnie’s credentials as a first-rate musician and songwriter.

In 1975 fate would once again intervene for Ronnie. With the Faces finally falling apart at the same time as Mick Taylor’s departure from the Rolling Stones, a chance encounter with Mick Jagger at a party would lead to Ronnie finally landing his dream job as the Rolling Stones’ guitarist.

With his musical versatility and bonhomie, Ronnie proved a natural fit for the group and he’s long established himself as a vital part of the Rolling Stones sound. Keith Richards best describes his and Ronnie’s bluesy guitar interplay as, “the ancient art of weaving”, magically blurring the lines between rhythm and lead.

Even while a member of the Stones, Ronnie has continued to perform with a string of musical legends, ranging from Dylan to Bo Diddley. He formed the super-group the New Barbarians, featuring Keith Richards, former Faces keyboardist Ian McLagan, bassist Stanley Clarke, the Stones’ saxophonist Bobby Keys and drummer Joseph Zigaboo Modeliste from the Meters. He has also released a string of well-received solo albums.

With the twists and turns of his career, Ronnie has lived more lives than most. Who knows what the next chapter will hold, but it will be sure not to disappoint!

Imelda May

Born and raised in The Liberties area of Dublin, Imelda May has become one of the UK & Ireland’s most celebrated female artists.

A true creative, Imelda immerses herself in art across many forms, as a singer, songwriter, actor, producer, poet, illustrator and storyteller. Her self-written & produced album “Love Tattoo” (2008) remains the best-selling album of all time by a homegrown female artist in Ireland and her most recent album “11 Past the Hour” (2021) marks her fourth Number 1 album in Ireland and fourth Top 10 in the UK. Imelda’s recent albums are a departure from her early rockabilly revival style with a sound that sits firmly outside of any sharply defined genre box, widely spanning blues, rock, soul, gospel and jazz.

Imelda was discovered by Jools Holland, who asked her to support him on tour, and has gone on to perform alongside legendary artists including Lou Reed, Bono, Tom Jones, Noel Gallagher, Elvis Costello, Robert Plant, Van Morrison, Rod Stewart, Jeff Goldblum & Ronnie Wood. She has performed all over the world in front of royalty & politicians including Barack Obama. From the 52nd Grammy Awards with Jeff Beck to singing the Irish national anthem in Las Vegas ahead of the Floyd Mayweather/Conor McGregor fight in 2017 with a reported TV audience of 1 billion people across 200 countries. Her TV work spans from co-producing and presenting ‘The Imelda May Show’ series for RTE in 2018, co-hosting BBC’s Later with Jools Holland, to several recent productions co-produced for Sky Arts including the two part ‘Voices of Ireland’ which won the Best Specialist Factual Award at the RTS Ireland Television Awards in 2022. Imelda curated, co-produced and starred in a festive special titled ‘Christmas in Ireland: Imelda & Friends’ with Red Shoe Productions for SKY Arts and Tourism Ireland in 2023, a creative relationship which followed with the recent critical acclaim for her programme studying the lives of the Yeats sisters, ‘Lily and Lolly Yeats: The Forgotten Yeats Sisters’ in 2024. She just announced a documentary series Amhráin na nGael (Song of the Irish) to be released on RTE1 and RTE Player this fall. In recent years Imelda has also turned her talent to the silver screen, appearing in her first major film role alongside James Purefoy and Maggie Steed in ‘Fisherman’s Friends: One and All’, the sequel to the hit comedy Fisherman’s Friends. The film entered the top 5 box office best sellers after its release in 2022.

Her stunning portrayal of ‘villan’ Eve in ‘The People Before’, based on the psychological thriller by Charlotte Northedge, debuted at the Galway Film Festival last year, and her role as Pierce Brosnan’s wife in ‘Four Letters of Love’ alongside Helena Bonham Carter and Gabriel Byrne premiered at 2025’s Dublin Film Festival. Not only has Imelda sold millions of records worldwide and forged a successful career on screen, she is also a passionate activist and accomplished poet. Her poem “You Don’t Get To Be Racist and Irish” evoked an incredible response on social media with the IRE government using it for their ‘ReThink Ireland’ campaign on billboards throughout the country and has since been included in the Irish curriculum. In 2021 she released her debut poetry book ‘A Lick & A Promise’ which instantly debuted at No.8 in the Irish Times Bestsellers Chart (Hardback Non Fiction) and has since been reprinted in addition to a paperback & audiobook. In 2025, in addition to 30 live shows with Jools Holland, 2 massive homecoming shows with The Corrs in Dublin & Cork, 3 UK shows supporting Sting and her own headline tour titled “Raised on Songs and Stories” across the UK, Imelda made her return to the stage performing in the one woman play ‘Mother Of All The Behans’ at 3Olympia Theatre, Dublin, Everyman Theatre in Cork, Belfast Opera House and Theatre Royal Waterford. Based on the book by Brian Behan, adapted and directed by Peter Sheridan, the role sees her return to her critically acclaimed portrayal of the formidable Kathleen Behan with a soundtrack performed by herself. A proud advocate of Irish culture, Imelda remains a trailblazing and multifaceted artist.