The first collaboration among the future Faces was in a formation called Quiet Melon, which also featured Wood's older brother
Art Wood and
Kim Gardner; they recorded four songs and played a few shows in May 1969, during a break in Ronnie Wood's and Rod Stewart's commitments with The Jeff Beck Group. Later that summer Wood and Stewart parted ways with Beck and joined Lane, McLagan and Jones full-time. Prior to any releases by the new Faces line-up, Wood and McLagan appeared on Stewart's first solo album in 1969, ''
An Old Raincoat Won't Ever Let You Down (known as The Rod Stewart Album'' in the US). The rest of the backing band on the album included drummer
Micky Waller,
keyboardist Keith Emerson and guitarists
Martin Pugh (of
Steamhammer, and later
Armageddon and
7th Order) and
Martin Quittenton (also from Steamhammer). With the addition of Wood and Stewart, the "small" part of the original band name was dropped, partly because the two newcomers (at 5'9" and 5'10" respectively) were significantly taller than the three former Small Faces. Hoping to capitalise on the Small Faces' earlier success, record company executives wanted the band to keep their old name, however, the band objected, arguing the personnel changes resulted in a group very different from the Small Faces. The group regularly toured Britain, Europe and the USA from 1970 to 1975, and were among the top-grossing live acts in that period; in 1974 their touring also encompassed Australia, New Zealand and Japan. Lane's role as bassist was taken over by
Tetsu Yamauchi (who had replaced
Andy Fraser in
Free). Released just months before Lane left the band, the Faces' final studio album was
Ooh La La. It featured selections from their late 1973 tour, the first featuring Yamauchi. They recorded a few tracks for another studio album, but had lost enthusiasm and their final release as a group was the late 1974 UK Top 20 hit "
You Can Make Me Dance, Sing or Anything". In 1975 Wood began working with
the Rolling Stones, which brought differences between Stewart and the others to a head, and after a troubled fall US tour (with
Jesse Ed Davis on rhythm guitar), in December the band announced that they were splitting.
Post-Faces The members have had varied post-band careers. Rod Stewart's solo career continues to be extremely successful. Ron Wood joined the Rolling Stones permanently and remains with them to this day, while also enjoying a parallel career as a portrait artist. Within months of leaving the band in 1973, Ronnie Lane formed Slim Chance and immediately scored a UK hit single with "How Come?", but this early success was soon compromised by a subsequent self-organised UK tour that ended in financial disaster. Nonetheless, three Slim Chance albums followed on Island Records between 1974 and 76, and in 1977 he also worked on
Rough Mix. a joint album with
Who guitarist
Pete Townshend. During this time Lane was diagnosed with
multiple sclerosis, and after a final album in 1979 his solo career came to a premature end as his illness set in. Kenney Jones turned to session work and later joined the Who following the death of
Keith Moon. Ian McLagan stated in a 2004 interview that Pete Townshend also asked him to join the Who, but he had already promised
Keith Richards that he would tour as a Rolling Stones sideman. McLagan moved to the United States, where he formed Ian McLagan & the Bump Band. Tetsu Yamauchi returned to his native Japan, where he recorded and toured as a jazz musician. He is now retired from music. There was also a Small Faces reunion in the late 1970s (without Ronnie Lane) that resulted in two albums; and in 1981 Ronnie Lane and Steve Marriott collaborated on the album
The Legendary Majik Mijits. The Faces reformed for the encore of Rod Stewart's Wembley Stadium concert in 1986. Ronnie Lane, by then seriously debilitated by multiple sclerosis, appeared on stage in a wheelchair. He sang, but was unable to play bass and
Bill Wyman of the Rolling Stones filled in for him. The same line-up (minus Lane) reunited once more in 1993 when Rod Stewart was awarded the Lifetime Achievement award at the
Brit Awards. Ronnie Lane made one of his final concert appearances in 1992 at a Ronnie Wood show with Ian McLagan on keyboards; the progression of Lane's multiple sclerosis finally forced his retirement from music by the mid-1990s and he died in 1997. In February 1993 Rod Stewart and Ron Wood appeared together on a studio soundstage before a live audience in Los Angeles to record an episode of MTV's
Unplugged series airing the following May; an album with excerpts from the performance,
Unplugged...and Seated - including several Faces songs - was subsequently released on CD to considerable acclaim. In 2004 a 4-disc Faces box set entitled
Five Guys Walk into a Bar... was released by Rhino Records, featuring many of the band's most popular tracks as well as several previously unreleased songs. Drummer Kenney Jones formed a group called the Jones Gang, together with singer
Robert Hart (formerly of
Bad Company), Patrick Walford and bassist
Rick Wills (formerly of
Foreigner). During 2004 and early 2005 the surviving Faces had several near-reunions, none of which featured more than three members at the same time: In May 2004 Kenney Jones and Ronnie Wood joined Ian McLagan on stage at his concert at The Mean Fiddler in London. In August 2004 Wood and McLagan joined Stewart at the
Hollywood Bowl; Wood also appeared at several other of Stewart's 2004 gigs, including New York's
Madison Square Garden, the
Royal Albert Hall and a street performance in London for an audience of 80,000. In March 2005 McLagan joined Ronnie Wood's band at a London show, which also featured Kenney Jones on drums for the final encore; and in December 2005 Wood joined Ian McLagan & the Bump Band for three numbers at a concert in
Houston, Texas.
Reunion , October 2009 On 11 June 2008, Rod Stewart announced that the surviving Faces were discussing a possible reunion, envisioning making a recording and/or performing at least one or two concerts. On 18 November Rod Stewart, Ron Wood, Ian McLagan and Kenney Jones reunited along with Rod Stewart's touring bassist Conrad Korsch for a rehearsal "just to check if they can remember the songs"; the band's official reunion website was launched earlier the same month. However, on 23 January 2009, a spokesman for Rod Stewart denied there were any plans for a 2009 Faces reunion tour. On 24 September 2009, it was announced that the Faces, minus Rod Stewart, would reunite for a one-off charity show for the
Performing Rights Society's Music Members' Benevolent Fund, at the
Royal Albert Hall in London. "This will be so special for us, staging a reunion for such a wonderful and prestigious event," said Ronnie Wood when the announcement of the concert was made. "Sadly Ronnie Lane can't be with us, but I'm sure he will be there in spirit, God bless him." Lane's ex-wife, Katy, is one of many to receive assistance from the charity. The event was held on 25 October. Ronnie Wood, Kenney Jones and Ian McLagan all took part, with various vocalists, including
Mick Hucknall, replacing Stewart, and
Bill Wyman filling in for the late Ronnie Lane on bass guitar. On 25 May 2010, it was announced that the Faces had officially reformed with Hucknall taking on vocal duties, and
Glen Matlock of the
Sex Pistols on bass. The band played festival dates in both 2010 and 2011, with dates in the UK, Belgium, the Netherlands and Japan. The Small Faces/Faces were inducted into the
Rock and Roll Hall of Fame in 2012. On 23 March, the Faces announced that they would reunite with Rod Stewart to play at the induction ceremony for the first time in 19 years. However, on the eve of the ceremony, Stewart bowed out owing to a bout of influenza and Hucknall was asked to sing in his place. In June 2013, speaking in an interview on YouTube, Kenney Jones confirmed the band's intention to reunite with Stewart for a tour in 2014. However, Ian McLagan died on 3 December 2014, putting this reunion in doubt. Rod Stewart, Ronnie Wood and Kenney Jones performed a short set at Hurtwood Polo Club on 5 September 2015 for charity, following their brief reunion at Rod Stewart's private party for his 70th birthday in January of that year. The reunion show was critically acclaimed, with
The Telegraph newspaper reviewing the performance as "5 star," under the headline of "worth the 40-year wait." A further reunion occurred in 2019 at a private event. In 2020, Rod Stewart reunited with Ronnie Wood and Kenney Jones to perform "Stay With Me" as the finale of that years
Brit Awards Ceremony. On 19 July 2021, it was reported that Jones, Stewart and Wood had reunited in the studio to record new music.
Influence on music Although they enjoyed only modest success compared to contemporaries such as
the Who and
the Rolling Stones, the Faces have had considerable influence on latter-day rock revivalists. ==Personnel==