Rod Stewart can be regarded as the rock generation's heir to Sam Cooke. Like Cooke, Stewart delivers both romantic ballads and uptempo material with conviction and panache, and he sings in a warm, soulful rasp. A singer's singer, Stewart seemed made to inhabit the spotlight. The London-born Stewart's long-lived career extends back to 1964, when he cut his first record (the blues standard "Good Morning Little Schoolgirl"). Soon after, he began turning up in mid-Sixties R&B bands: as Long John Baldry's Hoochie Coochie Men, Steampacket and Shotgun Express. Stewart really came into his own as the singer with the Jeff Beck Group, the guitarist's post-Yardbirds ensemble, formed in 1968. From there, Stewart graduated to the Small Faces. He and guitarist Ron Wood joined founding members Ian McLagan, Ronnie Lane and Kenney Jones in the wake of Steve Marriott's departure, and the Small Faces—which soon adopted the shortened name Faces —became an enormously popular touring group, rivaling the Rolling Stones for rollicking, good-natured rock and roll.