 John Gray was born in Romford, Essex in 1960. He bought his first Rod Stewart record (Maggie May) in 1971 and has been a keen fan and collector ever since. He first witnessed Rod live on stage when he was just 13 years old and has now seen well over 100 different Rod Stewart concerts all over the world.
John's knowledge and expertise on Rod Stewart's career is second
to none. As well as being president of the fan club and editor of
SMILER, he is the author of the excellent Visual
Documentary (Omnibus Press, 1992). He has also written about
Rod in the much respected collectors magazine Record Collector and
helped in the production work of 1988's Rod Stewart & Faces
Visual Biography video and Channel Four's Story Of Rod Stewart documentary.
He is often called upon to give advise on Rod's career to the media
and has appeared on radio on several occasions. In 1994 he contributed
an extensive discography to Ray Coleman's biography on Rod.
Over the years John has got to know Rod quite well having interviewed
him for SMILER on seven occasions. He even attended Rod's Los Angeles
wedding when Rod married Rachel Hunter in 1990. However, John's
biggest surprise came mid-way through 1991 when he was invited by
Rod to join him on stage in Paris for a rendition of Sailing. John
says: "Rod saw me at the front and becone me on stage several
times, it was a complete surprise and I was truly flattered. However,
I had a bout of stage fright and wouldn't go up. It's the biggest
regret of my life! When I saw Rod backstage afterwards I told him
I would have had a heart attack if I'd got up there with him in
front of 20,000 people. He laughed! Maybe one day he'll ask again?"
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