Ronnie Wood, musician

Desert Island Discs

BBC

Society & Culture, Music Commentary, Music, Personal Journals

4.4 • 13.7K Ratings

🗓️ 9 November 2025

⏱️ 51 minutes

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Summary

Ronnie Wood is a musician and artist who has been a major player on the UK music scene for over 60 years. In 1975 Ronnie became a member of the Rolling Stones, one of the most influential and enduring bands of the rock era.

Ronnie’s parents were born and worked on barges moving cargo up and down the canals between Manchester, Stratford-upon-Avon and London. Ronnie and his two older brothers were the first in the family to be born on dry land.

Ronnie’s brothers, Ted and Art, were accomplished musicians and played in highly respected bands. Ronnie made his debut at nine-years-old when he played the washboard in Ted’s band during a performance at their local cinema. Ronnie formed his first band, The Birds, with some friends. In 1967 he joined the Jeff Beck Group with his lifelong friend Rod Stewart. Two years later they formed the Faces with the remaining members of the Small Faces.

Ronnie joined the Rolling Stones in 1975, replacing the band’s previous guitarist Mick Taylor. Ronnie’s love of art developed in childhood and he studied at Ealing College of Art. His work has been shown in exhibitions around the world.

Ronnie lives in Hertfordshire with his wife Sally and their two children.

Presenter: Lauren Laverne Producer: Paula McGinley

DISC ONE: Guitar Shuffle - Big Bill Broonzy DISC TWO: Shame, Shame, Shame - Jimmy Reed DISC THREE: Smokestack Lightnin' - Howlin' Wolf DISC FOUR: You Need Love - Muddy Waters DISC FIVE: Adelaide - Frank Sinatra DISC SIX: Mozart: Piano Concerto No. 21 in C Major, K. 467: II. Andante \"Elvira Madigan\". Performed by Géza Anda (piano) and Camerata Salzburg (Orchestra) DISC SEVEN: Roll Over Beethoven – Chuck Berry DISC EIGHT: Maybe I'm Amazed - Paul McCartney BOOK CHOICE: Just for Today: Daily Meditations for Recovering Addicts by Narcotics Anonymous LUXURY ITEM: A chest containing art materials and a carpet CASTAWAY'S FAVOURITE: Smokestack Lightnin' - Howlin' Wolf

There are more than 2000 programmes in our archive available for you to listen to. We have cast away other musicians and songwriters including Mark Knopfler, Bruce Springsteen and Cyndi Lauper. Ronnie’s fellow Stones, Keith Richards and Charlie Watts, are in our archive too along with Ronnie’s friend Paul McCartney. You can find their episodes on BBC Sounds or on our Desert Island Discs website.

Transcript

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0:00.0	BBC Sounds, Music, radio, podcasts.
0:07.3	Hello, I'm Kimberly Wilson. I'm a psychologist, and in my new podcast, Complex, I'll be your guide
0:14.4	through all the information and misinformation that's out there about mental health.
0:19.0	I'm joined by expert guests covering topics from people
0:22.5	pleasing to perfectionism, burnout to empathy, to find tangible advice so we can understand ourselves
0:28.9	a little better. Complex with me, Kimberly Wilson. Listen on BBC Sounds. Hello, I'm Lauren
0:36.9	Levern and this is the Desert Island Discs podcast from BBC Radio 4.
0:40.9	Every week, I ask my guests to choose the eight tracks, book and luxury that they'd want to take with them if they were cast away to a desert island.
0:48.2	For rights reasons, the music's shorter than on the original broadcast, but you can find a version with longer music tracks on BBC Sounds.
0:55.7	Listeners will also get access
0:57.0	to episodes 28 days earlier
0:58.7	than everyone else.
1:00.1	I hope you enjoy listening.
1:01.0	Music My castaway this week is the musician and artist Ronnie Wood.
1:28.3	For over 40 years, he has brought his skills as a guitarist, a songwriter, and occasionally as a diplomat, to one of Rock's greatest bands, the Rolling Stones.
1:37.3	His music career goes back even further, however, beginning when he was still in his teens and started a band with his school friends.
1:47.2	In 1967, he joined the Jeff Beck Group,
1:52.5	and a couple of classic albums later left to form the faces with his mate Rod Stewart.
1:57.4	As he puts it, back then, two blokes with the same haircut couldn't escape each other for long.
2:00.0	He joined the Stones in 1975.
2:02.5	His role as Mick and Keith's little brother was a case of art imitating life. He grew up as the youngest of three and his real life
2:07.8	big brothers introduced him to jazz and blues. He followed them to art school too, sparking a
	...

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