Rod Stewart - Rod Stewart to release first original material in 20 years

Rod Stewart to release first original material in 20 years

Rod Stewart has announced his first album of original material in 20 years.

The record, 'Time', will be released in May and features 12 songs, 11 of which were written and produced by the 'Stay With Me' singer.

Rod - who has concentrated on cover versions in recent years, releasing five volume of his 'Great American Songbook' series - was suffering writer's block until he wrote his autobiography, 'Rod', in 2011.

He explained: ''Something about that process of reviewing my life for the book reconnected me and that was it - I was away.

''Suddenly ideas for lyrics were piling up in my head. Next thing I knew, I had a song called 'It's Over' about divorce and separation.

''And now I was getting up in the middle of the night and scrambling for a pen to write things down, which has never happened to me. I finished seven or eight songs very quickly and I still wasn't done and it became apparent that I would eventually have a whole album of material to record, which had never happened before.''

The first single from the album, 'She Makes Me Happy', is released today (20.03.13), with a second single, 'Finest Woman', lined up for April.

Rod is expected to preview tracks from the album at his US shows in April and his 'Live The Life' UK arena tour, which begins in June.

'Time' is released on May 6.