Rod Stewart Reveals Brutal Accident Is Behind Iconic Raspy Voice

Rod Stewart has one of the most recognisable voices in rock, but it’s not totally natural.

The British singer revealed in 2024 that a painful accident may be the cause of his iconic husky vocal style.

Speaking to Nick Grimshaw and Annie Macmanus on a 2024 BBC Sounds Sidetracked podcast, the ‘Maggie May’ singer shared the secret to his unique-sounding voice and recounted how doctors urged him to have it fixed.

“Doctors have said it’s because I broke my nose playing football, which has given me this huskiness. They actually said that ‘if you straighten your nose out, you’ll breathe better, but you might lose your voice’. And I said ‘no way’. But no, I got an elbow across the nose playing football,” he admitted, per the Express.

The 81-year-old admitted that the “raspiness” to his voice is “purely by accident and obviously maybe God’s gift”.

The singer also explained how he warms up for a show. “Tons and tons of water, and if I lose my voice at a concert, because I’ve overstretched, the next day I have to wear a sign which says I can not talk to anybody, and I have voice rest for eight to ten hours. It works miracles. My voice always comes back. It really is the crown jewels.”

He also addressed the incident on a February 2024 episode of CBS Sunday Morning. The ‘Stay With Me’ star was asked how he developed the sound of his voice.

Stewart explained, “I didn’t … try to make it really raspy. It’s just the way it came out. It’s something to do with my nose and my throat, and it’s just a big accident.”

The vocalist also pointed out that early in his career, he wanted to sing like “Sam Cooke and all the great R&B singers,” but “this is how it came out.”

Rod recently had to stop a live show to receive oxygen after struggling on stage. Last week, per the Independent, he admitted he shouldn’t have gone to see his beloved Scotland play Haiti in the World Cup in California. “You know, I had to cancel a show the night before because I just had no voice left. But the truth is I wasn’t going to let my two sons down.”