One of the last pieces of the puzzle came when Rod hired Ray Jackson, mandolin player in the Geordie group Lindisfarne. Rod was always keen to work quickly, because studio time was so expensive. The song was finished in a hurry during a recording session at Morgan Studios. I don't think her name was Margaret.' In fact, Maggie May was the name of a well-known prostitute who plied her trade on the Liverpool docks. He told Q magazine: 'I was 16 and it lasted precisely 28 seconds. He made them up virtually off the cuff in the studio. Rod struggled to write the lyrics, which were about his 'first s**g' in a tent at the Beaulieu Jazz Festival in 1961. The acoustic introduction came to Quittenton when he was riding the Piccadilly Line a couple of days later. 'I didn't think it was very good,' Quittenton later said, modestly. One night, the pair wrote Maggie May in his sitting room. Rod described him as 'quiet and studious, with a permanently furrowed brow' - and the most inventive guitarist he had ever met. He and Rod unexpectedly hit it off, and Quittenton stayed at Rod's house in Highgate during the recording period. Waller introduced Rod to Quittenton, then a shy, young guitarist. While Rod still enjoys worldwide fame, it can be revealed that Martin Quittenton, the guitar genius who co-wrote Maggie May, died in obscurity in rural Wales, having left the music industry and given away his fortuneįor his third attempt, he assembled musicians at the Morgan Sound Studios in Willesden, North London. He had produced two solo albums, neither of them making a splash. 1 on both sides of the Atlantic three months later, taking Rod by surprise - he hadn't even been sure it should be on the album.Īt that point Rod was best known as the singer with The Faces. It was initially released as the B-side of Reason To Believe, but it found favour with DJs, reaching No. In the beginning, nobody thought Maggie May was going to be a hit. Singer Maggie Bell suffered the horrifying ordeal of seeing her fiancee Les Harvey being electrocuted on stage by a faulty microphone in 1972. Guitarist Sam Mitchell died aged 56 following alcohol issues and violin player Dick Powell died of cancer.ĭrummer Mickey Waller died of liver failure aged 66. While his great friend, guitarist Ronnie Wood, is still flourishing, some of the others who played on the album are not. It seems that Rod's great good fortune is in contrast to the bad luck which has dogged everyone else. She described the famously parsimonious singer as: 'The only person I know who could peel an orange in his pocket with one hand.' Suddenly I was rolling in fame and money'Īnother uncredited talent on the album, singer Maggie Bell, has claimed that she wasn't paid for her work on Every Picture Tells A Story. Rod Stewart is in no doubt about the significance of the song Maggie May, the lament to a lover which made him a star - released 50 years ago, in July 1971: 'Maggie May changed everything. (Stewart has previously denied Jackson wrote part of the song.) 'It's very sad,' Jackson said this week. Ray Jackson, the mandolin player who claims he wrote the riff which is arguably the key to the success of the song, was paid a paltry £15 by Rod and not even properly credited on the album notes. His widow told the Mail that he had endured a lifelong battle with eating disorders, and while Rod's life was a whirl of blondes, booze and acclaim, Quittenton - who also wrote You Wear It Well alongside Stewart - spent every penny he had on animal rescue and planting trees. While Rod still enjoys worldwide fame, it can be revealed that Martin Quittenton, the guitar genius who co-wrote Maggie May, died in obscurity in rural Wales, having left the music industry and given away his fortune. The same cannot be said of the talented musicians who wrote the hit alongside him. Suddenly I was rolling in fame and money.'
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