iSound

Like the fine wines that are his hobby, Al Stewart's gifts as a singer and songwriter have matured and ripened over the course of his musical career, stretching from the early '60s to the present and beyond. Stewart was born in Glasgow, Scotland, in 1945, and moved with his family to Bournemouth, a seaside town in the South of England, at an early age. It was in Bournemouth that Al bought his first guitar from Andy Summers, future lead guitarist of The Police, and learned his first guitar licks from Robert Fripp, later the leader of King Crimson. Leaving school at 16, Al headed toward his future by playing guitar in various local bands. In 1963, The Beatles were breaking out in England, Al explained in the liner notes to his Greatest Hits collection issued by Rhino Records last year. "I wanted to be Al Beatle. Along came the Rolling Stones and I wanted to be Keith Richards." But a strong dose of Bob Dylan's original songs shifted his focus from instrumentalist to lyricist ...