A Man of Wealth and Taste

It doesn't take more than a glass of wine for Stewart to get his pipes going. And his vocal proficiency makes for brief studio visits. With his longtime guitarist John Shanks leading a band of crack session cats, Stewart says that five of the thirteen songs on the new album were done in a single six-hour session. His vocal attack on a song is not premeditated. "It's instinct," he says. "It comes instantly. I change the melody a little bit -- that's what I give it." And at that rate, it didn't take him long to record an international best seller; he's got more exciting things to do, he says. "In the studio I have the attention span of a flea."

Though Stewart says that none of the songs on Still the Same have any special meaning for him, it was Penny Lancaster's idea that he include "Crazy Love" on the disc. Next year, Stewart will marry Lancaster, whom he calls "a gorgeous specimen of womanhood" and who has made a name for herself as a model and photographer. He met her in 1999, after his marriage to model Rachel Hunter had fizzled out. On November 27th, Stewart and Lancaster's son Alastair will celebrate his first birthday, and his mom is proud to report that he recently took eleven consecutive steps. (Lancaster, who lives up to Stewart's billing, also told me that they buried the placenta next to a walnut tree.) Alastair is the sixth addition to Stewart's brood. Liam, 12, and Renee, 14, attend school in Los Angeles and are praised by their dad for their politeness. Ruby, 19, is an aspiring singer, a big Faces fan, and turned her dad on to Ray LaMontagne. "She's got the genuine talent," Stewart says. "We're trying to put a band together for her, but she wants every member to look like Brad Pitt." Sean, 26, will soon star in a reality show called Sons of Hollywood, opposite Randy Spelling (son of Aaron). And Kimberly, 27, has been tabloid fodder for years now with her Hollywood exploits. "She's been harassing me for a new car," he says. "She just discovered that she had a very serious liver illness from drinking too much. So she hasn't had a drink or a cigarette in three months, and she feels great. She said to me, 'Dad, I'm half-Scottish. I thought I was allowed to drink a lot.' I said, 'No, darling, it doesn't work like that.' "

The family shares five homes around the world: the London apartment and spreads in the south of France, West Palm Beach, Los Angeles and in the town of Epping, about twenty miles north of London. Though he wants them to forge out on their own -- and told Sean that he wants no face time in the reality show -- he admits he has a hard time letting go. "We just built this 7,000-square-foot house on the estate [in Los Angeles] for my children," he says. "As it was going up, I was thinking, 'Oh, you stupid bastard. What were you thinking?' It's got sunken baths, walk-in closets, marble floors, moldings. . . . I've got a feeling that my kids will be living with me in their thirties, and beyond."

The next day, I drive up to the estate in Epping, past the gilded gates and down the lamp-lined driveway; an Enzo Ferrari and an empty stroller rest in the courtyard. Beyond that lies a full-size soccer field, where Stewart invites teams from all over Europe to take on his outfit, the Vagabonds Football Club. It breaks his heart, but after re-injuring his right knee at a charity game, the sixty-one-year-old has been relegated to the role of cheerleader. A chauffeur drives us in Stewart's black Maybach to his local pub, Theydon Oak, where the opposing soccer sides polish off pints after the matches. "I haven't paid for a drink here since 1986," Stewart says as he leads me to a table in the back, adjacent to the corner of the bar where the Norms and Cliffs of Epping congregate on a nightly basis.

One of Stewart's best mates owns the joint and works behind the bar, an unassuming fellow named John Padget, whom Stewart whisks all over the world to join him on tour, and who flew to Lisbon with Stewart in a private jet to watch the Celtic debacle. He pours Stewart a glass of wine so deep that it's easy to see how three will take the edge off, and pretty soon, Stewart is at the bar, part of another conversation about football, and how Celtic will fare in their upcoming match. With another glass of wine, and then another, Stewart has finally shaken off his team's loss and looks forward to his 2007 tour. He tells me that his time in the studio, and time spent making appearances, all lead to the performance. "All I want out of life is my wife, my kids and a career that I am always thankful for," he says. "I'm like a kid, waiting for the twelfth of January when I can start singing for an audience in the United States." He takes another swig. "There's a lot more to my world, but that's what I live for."

[From Issue 1014 — November 30, 2006]