Ronnie Wood Addresses Rumour Jeff Beck Almost Joined The Rolling Stones

Before Ronnie Wood joined The Rolling Stones, he was a member of the Jeff Beck Group.

Wood had a great relationship with the late guitarist, who passed away in January; however, when it comes to the rumour that Beck was invited to join The Stones, he had to laugh.

“He wouldn’t have kept up with the timetable! Eric Clapton once said to me, ‘I could have joined that band.’ I said, ‘Yeah, but you gotta live with them, Eric!'” Wood said in a recent interview.

He also noted that Beck wasn’t a fan of the spotlight nor The Stones’ aesthetic.

“Anything to do with the spotlight, he’d be like, ‘You can take care of this,’ and he would be gone,” Wood recalled. “And Jeff was not satisfied with the simple blues and rock’n’roll approach – much as he loved Buddy Guy. When he hooked up with Jan Hammer, the experimental jazz stuff, that was where I got off, although we’d already gone our different ways.”

Wood shared a touching tribute to Beck when news broke of his death.

“Now Jeff has gone, I feel like one of my band of brothers has left this world, and I’m going to dearly miss him,” he tweeted.

🙏Now Jeff has gone, I feel like one of my band of brothers has left this world, and I’m going to dearly miss him. I’m sending much sympathy to Sandra, his family, and all who loved him. I want to thank him for all our early days together in Jeff Beck Group, conquering America. pic.twitter.com/UareDAdtZ9

— Ronnie Wood (@ronniewood) January 11, 2023