Rolling Stone Ron Wood has revealed that during the pandemic he's battled back from another bout of cancer. The 73-year-old guitarist told Britain's The Sun: “I’ve had cancer two different ways now. I had lung cancer in 2017 and I had small-cell more recently that I fought in the last lockdown. I came through with the all-clear.” Small-cell carcinoma is a fast-growing type of lung cancer commonly caused by smoking.
The now-sober Wood spoke about what he's been plotting while on lockdown: “I’m just as busy as ever but nowadays I can remember what I’m doing. The music is still throbbing away. I’ve got a new album recorded at the Royal Albert Hall with Mick Taylor and my band — a tribute to Jimmy Reed called Mr. Luck. I used to never stop. It must have been relentless to be around me, just crazy the stuff I did. I was erratic but none of my enthusiasm has gone.”
Ron Wood, who first recorded with the Stones in 1974, first toured with them in '75, and became an official member the next year — holds the distinction of being the last “new” Rolling Stone. He recalled first meeting the band back in the 1960's: “I remember hanging out with the Stones in Olympic (Studios), uh, when I first met them with the Faces — the Small Faces — y'know, when I used to hang out with them. But many good memories of parties, because Olympic used to have three different studios. You'd have, like, the Faces in one, the Stones in another, David Bowie in another, it was just like, everyone would meet in the canteen — like, 'How's it goin'?' 'Alright.'”
