Ronnie Wood: I turned down Led Zep
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Ronnie Wood turned down the chance to play with Led Zeppelin
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Thursday Feb 9 2012
Ronnie Wood has revealed he turned down a chance to join Led Zeppelin.
The Rolling Stones star revealed on his Absolute Radio show he had been invited to join the Stairway To Heaven rockers back in the 60s, when they were still called the New Yard Birds, but cast them off as a "bunch of farmers".
Ronnie said: "Peter Grant - who used to manage myself and Jeff Beck and Rod Stewart and Mickey Waller and Nicky Hopkins back in the good old days - he was behind a band that was going to be called The New Yard Birds, which I had an offer to join.
"And I said, 'I can't join that bunch of farmers.' Anyway, they turned out to be Led Zeppelin, he managed them as well."
But the 64-year-old rock and roll star has had a successful career none-the-less, playing guitar with The Jeff Beck Group, Faces, and The Rolling Stones.
Ronnie also revealed Rod Stewart and the Faces didn't want him to try singing because they didn't think he would be any good.
After playing Ooh La La he said: "I remember when I first sang that song, I was in Olympic Studios and it was my first venture into singing, and I remember all the boys in The Faces going 'Don't go through with it'.
"They were in the control room and Rod was sort of putting the fingers across the throat, 'No! No! Don't! You're a guitar player, you're not a singer! Don't go through with it!' I was very nervous, but I said 'Look, I'm going to sing this song so shut up!'."
Press Association
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