In 1971 Rod Stewart released a the single “Reason to Believe” but it didn’t go very far up the charts. On the”B” side was “Maggie May” and DJs started playing that song. It climbed the charts and ended up being #1 on the Cash Box Top 100 chart for three weeks (Oct. 3 – 23). It did even better on the Billboard Hot 100 chart where it was on top for 5 weeks (Sept. 26 – Oct. 30).

“Maggie May” was written by Rod with Martin Quittenton. It is about an affair that Rod had with an older woman in the early 1960s. Rod was nice enough to change her name for the song.

At the time of the release of this song Rod was also a member of the Faces. He had joined that group in 1969. He continued recording with both the group and as a solo until 1975 when tension in the group forced their break-up. Rod has been a solo artist ever since.

Rod had a Las Vegas residency show from 2011 to 2017. He is going back to Las Vegas for three weeks starting in a few days. Then in March and April of 2022 he is playing in Australia and New Zealand. In summer of 2022 he is touring in the US. He will celebrated his 77th birthday in January.

The “video” below is the single version that you would have heard on the radio. The album version was more than 2 minutes longer.