Faces

Faces are an English rock band formed in London in 1969. They formed after Small Faces lead singer and guitarist Steve Marriott left to form Humble Pie, and the remaining Small Faces—bassist Ronnie Lane, drummer Kenney Jones, and keyboardist Ian McLagan—recruited lead singer Rod Stewart and guitarist Ronnie Wood, both formerly of the Jeff Beck Group, and shortened the band's name to Faces. Their first two albums, First Step (1970) and Long Player (1971), were modest successes, while their third album, A Nod Is As Good As a Wink... to a Blind Horse (1971), bolstered by the success of Stewart's parallel solo career, became a worldwide hit, peaking at number 2 in the UK and number 6 in the US, and spawning a hit single with "Stay with Me". After releasing their fourth and final studio album Ooh La La (1973), Lane was replaced by Tetsu Yamauchi on bass. This line-up released two non-album singles—"Pool Hall Richard" (1973) and "You Can Make Me Dance, Sing or Anything" (1974)—and a live album, Coast to Coast: Overture and Beginners (1974), before the band officially split in 1975, with a greatest hits album, Snakes and Ladders / The Best of Faces, appearing the following year. Stewart continued his successful solo career, while Wood joined the Rolling Stones. Following a short-lived Small Faces reunion, Jones joined the Who in 1978, while McLagan went on to work as a session and touring musician with a number of acts (including his own bands) throughout the 1970s until his death in 2014. Lane's activities in the music business were severely curtailed by 1980 due to the onset of multiple sclerosis, which forced his eventual retirement by the early 1990s. He died in 1997. A number of partial reunions of the Faces were rumoured throughout the 2000s, with various one-off performances involving surviving members occurring. In 2010–2011, a brief reunion tour occurred with Mick Hucknall and Glen Matlock on vocals and bass respectively. The Faces and Small Faces were jointly inducted into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame in 2012. Stewart was scheduled to perform with the rest of the band, but was unable to do so at the last minute due to illness; he was replaced by Hucknall. Since 2021, Jones, Stewart, and Wood have periodically reunited to record tracks for a new album under the Faces name.