Rod Stewart ‘quits toxic Los Angeles’ after thirty years to return to the UK
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Sir Rod Stewart has decided to quit “toxic” Los Angeles and return to the UK after three decades, sources close to the star have claimed.
The singer, 78, has listed his nine-bedroom, 12-bath villa in Los Angeles for $80 million as he prepares the move back home.
It comes just months after insiders were reported to have said he had grown tired of the culture in Hollywood and felt he had “no privacy”.
It is said that he also chose to return to Britain to support his wife, Penny Lancaster, and their sons, who no longer wish to deal with the “nuisance” of going back and forth.
“Penny loves the life she has made away from America and away from LA. She enjoys nothing more than working for the police force,” a friend of Sir Rod’s family told the Daily Mail.
The 78-year-old originally listed his mansion for sale in June but has now hiked the price up by $10 million in the relisting.
He purchased the North Beverly Park lot - which spans three acres with a 28,000-square-foot main residence complete with a bar, formal dining room and library - for around $12 million in 1991.
The listing comes amid a year of change for the rock icon after he revealed in June that he will “leave rock ’n’ roll behind”, saying he is “not retiring but moving on”.
Sir Rod has now said he wants to leave “all the rock ’n’ roll stuff behind” entirely and turn his attention to swing music. He has tweaked his act in recent years to avoid songs such as Hot Legs, whose lyrics may seem “inappropriate”.
The announcement marked the exploration of a new musical venture that departs from his classic hits such as Maggie May and Do Ya Think I’m Sexy?
He said: “I am actually stopping. I’m not retiring but I want to move on... I had great success with The Great American Songbook and I’ve just done a swing album with Jools Holland, which is going to come out next year so I want to go in that direction.
“So I just want to leave all the rock ’n’ roll stuff behind, for a while maybe... Everything has to come to an end sooner or later.”
It is a marked shift from his career to date, during which he achieved worldwide fame as a solo artist in the 1970s after spells with Faces and the Jeff Beck Group.
The musical changes and alterations to Sir Rod’s property portfolio this year suggest a change in pace for the rocker’s schedule.
Last year, the singer was seen repairing potholes near his Essex home as he claimed the authorities “couldn’t be bothered to do it”.
He donned a high-vis yellow vest and picked up a shovel to do some surface levelling, which he later posted on his Instagram.
Sir Rod will release his album in 2024 following a UK tour summer tour with Boy George as the support act.
