But he is also a lifelong music nut who retains his boyhood passion for the artists that helped shape him. Buddy Holly was an immovable part of that education, as now reflected in Ronnie’s cherished status as an ambassador of The Buddy Holly Educational Foundation.

In 2019, Ronnie took delivery of a guitar named after Buddy’s composition ‘Rock-A-Bye-Rock’, and took to social media to tell the world how much he was enjoying it. As a 1991 addition to his bespoke portfolio of paintings of fellow stars, Ronnie had unveiled a new portrait of Buddy, John Lennon and Elvis Presley, using light and shadow and working in sepia tones to capture the personality of three stone-cold legends. Ronnie’s portrait of Buddy features on the front cover of Words of Love: Buddy Holly. 

Much later, the vast TV audience for his Ronnie Wood Show would see him chatting and playing along with his friend Paul McCartney as they marvelled at Buddy’s song craft on 1957’s ‘Peggy Sue’, a song that launched and inspired countless careers. Ronnie himself was just ten years old when it became part of the first rock and roll explosion.

Ronnie is much associated with the influence of such giants as Chuck Berry, whose riffs he spent endless hours perfecting in his bedroom, and great blues players such as Buddy Guy. Many may be surprised to know that jazz was also part of his background, from ‘trad’ musicians like Jelly Roll Morton to later notables such as Kenny Burrell.

But Ronnie was also much moved by that two-year purple patch of seminal singles that Buddy delivered before his desperately early departure. It all contributed to the ‘tasty inventiveness’ that prompted Penny Valentine, in Sounds way back in 1973, to describe Ronnie as ‘a man who understands his instrument and its place in the music he’s playing. It’s the kind of work that brings a smile to your face – and half the time you’re not even aware that you’re grinning.’ 

Paul Sexton