Sir Rod Stewart had a special backing singer perform at his Edinburgh Castle gig over the weekend and it was none other than his 94-year-old sister Mary.
Mary stole the show when her proud brother brought her on stage during Sailing.
Speaking to The Mirror, the Maggie May singer said it was a joy to be “in Edinburgh with my big sister, Mary” as he wrapped up his tour of the UK.
He added: “At 94, she’s on a rock’n’roll stage and loving it. She has and continues to teach me about life.”
Mary delighted the crowd when she was draped in a Royal Banner of Scotland flag, and was smiling from ear to ear as she joined Sir Rod’s backing singers.
Rod performed two nights at Edinburgh Castle which marked the end of his sold-out UK tour and were especially poignant given his family’s Scottish connections.
The Celtic daft rocker is the youngest of the five children of Robert Stewart and Elsie Gilbart, with his two brothers and two sisters being born in Scotland before the family moved to London, where he was born.
Rod's two older brothers and “best mates” Bob and Don died last year. Don died in September, aged 94. Bob was 88.
And back in November, Rod announced the heartbreaking news on social media, writing: “It’s with great sadness that I announce the loss of my brother Bob last night, who joins my brother Don on the great football pitch in the sky.
“I’ve lost two of my best mates in two months.”
He lost his elder sister Peggy to multiple sclerosis in 1975, when she was just 40.
Speaking about his siblings back in 2019, Rod said: “They were instrumental in supporting me, helping me get into music.”
Sir Rod received a knighthood in 2016 and after meeting the Duke of Cambridge he said: “We talked about music and he said, ‘It’s great that you’re still going’ and I said, ‘I have to – I’ve got eight children’.
“He congratulated me on my long career and I said how happy this made me. I just wish my mum and dad had been here to see it."
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