Ronnie: The Autobiography

by Ronnie Wood

For the first time, a member of the world’s most famous rock ‘n’ roll band tells his—and their—story. Raw, unsanitized, nasty and fascinating. An incredible journey.

The first of his family to be born on dry land, Ronnie Wood came from a family of water gypsies and was raised in a council flat near Heathrow Airport. Growing up only wanting to paint and play music, Wood was always talented. And in the 1960’s, he was often in the right place at precisely the right time—becoming the guitar player for everyone from the Birds to Jeff Beck to the Faces and then to Rod Stewart . But Wood and his guitar-playing became super-charged when he joined The Rolling Stones. They were rock royalty from their earliest days, and from the first time Wood performed with the band, careening down New York City’s Fifth Avenue on a flatbed truck Wood has been at the center of the court and in the middle of the ferment. No band has ever combined the Stones’ success--both artistically and materially—with their longevity. No other band has ever survived the creativity and clashes of such big personalities.

But with success came excess—and as mayhem and hysteria followed Ronnie on his adventures through the extremes of rock ‘n roll, the drugs got harder and his relationships—especially with Mick Jagger, Keith Richards and the women in his life—became increasingly complex.

A fascinating portrait not just of the Stones, but of the greatest rockers of the 1960’s and beyond—from Eric Clapton to Rod Stewart, Jimmy Page to Keith Moon, Jimi Hendrix to Pete Townshend—RONNIE is a rich, revelatory book. Readers have never had a view of the rock world like this before.

Genres: Music, Biography, Nonfiction, Autobiography

357 pages, Hardcover

First published October 2, 2007

Reviews

[Cantona]

Exzesse ohne Ende.
Was für ein Leben.

[Richard]

Fascinating for how poorly written it is and how staggeringly self obsessed it comes across as. Filled a few hung over mornings with a lot of unintentional laughter.

[Fiona Stocker]

Unexpectedly, a very boring book.
Evidently written by him, as it has an authentic voice, but there's no flair in the writing, it just becomes a list - I did this, then I did that. Admittedly it's a racy list - bands he played with, musical icons he drank with, what a lark Rod Stewart is and still life tableaux assembled using naked women. But there's nothing that passes for insightful reflection. Should have used a ghost writer.
I stopped halfway through.

[Keith CARTER]

A very entertaining autobiography. Ronnie Wood does not hold back anything, he gives us his highs (literally) and his surprisingly many lows. One thing that came through was his conversational style of writing, and he has a lot to divulge with his 50 some years in the rock and roll business. Highly recommended.

[Jonas Paro]

Ronnie Wood är såklart väldigt älskvärd och memoarerna är läsvärda om man älskar Stones (det gör man) men jag hade nog väntat mig lite mer när jag väl läste denna.

Naturligtvis får man en och annan härlig anekdot men någon plats för reflektion och eftertanke verkar han inte ha haft. En trea blir det ändå men den är rätt så svag.

⭐️⭐️(⭐️)

[Jason]

Full of rock nostalgia spanning the 70's onwards. An interesting insight into the artist beyond the musician also.

[Ioana Gunesch-Stefan]

Ronnie is such a funny clown!
What I mostly enjoyed about the book were all those insights and gossips of the glorious and psyhedelic life of ‘60-‘70 rock stars.

[Mary Grant]

Too many expletives for me I’m sorry. I only read it because my brother bought it for me (and loved it) while in Waterstones

[John Steel]

We get it Ronnie. You play guitar, paint and have a lot of famous friends. Poor.

[Julie]

After reading this book I did wonder how Ronnie Wood is still alive! His whole life seemed to revolve around drugs and drink. The book seemed to concentrate more on his time with the Rolling Stones than the Faces which was a bit of a disappointment for me but it was still an interesting read and I was especially interested in his art work as I had thought this was something he had come to later in life not something that had run as a parallel career throughout his life. I did not realise that he and Keith Richards had such an intense friendship, I thought it was a shame that there was not much mention of Ronnie Lane as he and Ronnie Wood always appeared to be great friends and partners in crime when you see them on stage and whether they kept in touch when Ronnie Lane left the Faces. Reading about his background and family you do see why booze played such a part in his life and as the Faces had a reputation for drinking I guess it just became a way of life. I feel a lot of his life was glossed over and not much mention was made of his first wife it was portrayed as if the marriage came to a natural end but then he mentioned she tried to stop him seeing his son Jesse, but not the reasons why. His second wife Jo seemed to be just as much into drugs and drink as him, one of the problems of reading a book a few years after it has been published is you have the benefit of hindsight and although he is singing Jo’s praises and she seems the best thing in his life and he tries to portray himself as a family man their marriage also eventually ran its course and he ended up leaving her. Guess we have to wait for volume 2 to find out the real story there, I believe Jo has also published a book so it will be interesting to read things from her point of view!

[Phil Rice]

This a true account of life in The Greatest Rock and Roll band in the World by the Wildman of Rock Music himself Ron Wood. I describe as truly blistering and sometimes charming and sometimes how much a hell raiser can make attempts to clean up his life of which Ron has done several times himself to carry on his endless career in The Rolling Stones. This book also takes into account Ron's solo career his work with other artists as diverse as Bob Dylan The Band and not forgetting Jeff Beck and his best friendship with Rod Stewart on his solo work and the truly outstanding partnership he held with Rod Stewart and Kenny Jones in The Faces. A truly enjoyable read for all fans of The Stones and The Faces and to anyone that appreciates Ron Woods Musicianship

PHIL RICE

[Veronica]

Much of this book's information was rather redundant as I am a voracious reader of all books pertaining to the Rolling Stones, but it was interesting to read about his time with the Small Faces and Rod Stewart (I was particularly pleased to discover Ronnie portrayed Rod with the type of personality I'd always imagined he'd have).

I have always felt that Ronnie Wood's enduring tenure in the Stones has not lived up to the few years Mick Taylor spent with them recording classic albums such as Exile on Main Street and Sticky Fingers. Perhaps that is why I found this book to drag on, seemingly leading to nothing more than some guitar descriptions and a few anecdotal stories about his friendship with Keith Richards.

[SouthWestZippy]

Keep my interest. Loved the art and pictures throughout the book. A lot of big time names are talked about in this book. I am amazed he has lived through the drugs use.
If you are a Rolling Stones fan I would recommend this book. Just ignore the wrong dates he has on some things.

[Colin Dawson]

Ronnie comes across as a lovable guy / artist, but it seemed a bit light-weight!

[Robyn]

Not as much "juice" as I thought. he is a pretty happy man and that was nice.

[Don]

A house loan...to pay for freebasing!

[Ethan Pockett]

such an interesting man

[Lach]

FALSE - READ HIS EX WIFES BOOK FOR THE TRUE STORY................