Why Ronnie Wood thought Ronnie Lane was joking about leaving the Faces
When Ronnie Wood first joined the Faces in 1969, it was the amalgamation of two different bands. Once Steve Marriott left the Small Faces to form Humble Pie, the rest of the band dropped the “Small” part of their moniker and recruited two ringers from the Jeff Beck Group, Wood and Rod Stewart. By this point, Stewart was already recording as a solo artist.
That balancing act became more delicate as Stewart became more famous as a singer. Th singer’s 1971 album Every Picture Tells a Story was a massive success, propelled by its hit single ‘Maggie May’. Although all four of his fellow Faces members played on the album, Stewart’s solo success soon created a rift between him and his bandmates, specifically between him and bassist/singer Ronnie Lane.
Faces finally caught up to Stewart’s level of success with their 1971 hit single ‘Stay With Me’. But as Stewart divided his time between the group and his own albums, Lane began to tire of Stewart’s absences. While recording the group’s fourth LP, Ooh La La, Stewart missed early sessions, causing Lane to take over as the band’s musical director.
Although this made Lane a more prominent participant, he still felt restricted by needing to accommodate the vocalist. A month after Ooh La La hit record store shelves, Lane announced his departure from the Faces. Most people assumed that it was his frustration with Stewart and the lack of distinct leadership that caused him to leave, but Wood had his own view of Lane’s decision to quit the band.
“He was a lovely boy, until he took the gypsy route and moved to some remote farm in Wales with his best friend’s girl,” Wood told Classic Rock. “It always used to be Ronnie and Sue Lane, always together with their dog Molly. Then one day he came round and said: ‘I’m leaving Sue. And I’m also leaving the group.’ And I went: ‘What? Nice joke!’.
“We always used to say that we were leaving during group arguments, it would dispel any bad vibes in the room, and we’d all have a laugh. But he said: ‘No, I really am leaving the group,'” Wood added. “That was the last I saw of him, and then his health went down. The MS got progressively worse. We did our best for him, Rod and I investigated snake venom treatment, pressure tanks, but after a while there was very little we could do.”
Check out ‘Stay With Me’ down below.
