Rolling Stones’ Ronnie Wood had a rough solo start: ‘Is this how it’s going to be?’

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When Ronnie Wood set about recording his first solo album, he’d been known as a member of the Faces and not much more. In fact, the impishly titled I’ve Got My Own Album To Do, released on September 13, 1974, featured some of his first-ever vocals.

So new was Ronnie Wood to all of this, it seems, that his own record label hardly knew him. Warner Bros. memorably misspelled the future Rolling Stones stalwart’s name as “Woods” on the album cover.

“Back in 1974 — what a year that was, fantastic year,” Ronnie Wood once remembered. “It’s a shame the record company didn’t know how to spell my name. I got the first album-cover proofs, with the artwork on it, and it just had my name misspelled — No. 1, right in your face. I went, ‘Is this how it’s going to be?’ And they went, ‘Yeah, you mean it doesn’t have an S on the end?'”

Wood quickly marked out the extra letter, and then suggested that they leave the artwork just like that. It wasn’t, however, the only mishap associated with the project. I’ve Got My Own Album To Do was also principally recorded with an early-model silver-fronted, engraved Zemaitis guitar that was later stolen from Wood.

Ronnie Wood’s I’ve Got My Own Album To Do reached the Top 30 in the UK anyway, even as it hinted at what was to come. The album featured guest appearances by the Rolling Stones’ Mick Jagger, Keith Richards and Mick Taylor, along with George Harrison and Ian McLagan. Wood would replace Taylor in the Rolling Stones a year later.

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