ROD-HISTORY: Once upon a time… 8 September 2005

And suddenly, trouble came fluttering into Rod Stewart’s life. The sender of the unpleasant news: the Rio Hotel and Casino in Las Vegas. The company demanded that the singer pay compensation amounting to 2 million US dollars (1.1 million pounds). The reason: Stewart had missed a New Year’s Eve performance (New Year’s concert) in 2000.
The background: Rod had been paid 3 million dollars for a performance at the Millennium concert on New Year’s Eve 1999. Due to its resounding success, a repeat performance was quickly agreed for a year later. Stewart received an advance of 2 million dollars for this. However, Rod then fell ill with thyroid cancer and lost his voice as a result. The concert scheduled for 31 December 2000 therefore had to be cancelled, and the organiser demanded the return of the advance payment. Stewart insisted that the concert could be rescheduled, but his pleas fell on deaf ears at the Rio Hotel. The hotel had no intention of rescheduling and instead demanded the money back. The whole matter then ended up in court.

Rod Stewart testified there on 31 August 2005 that he had lost his voice following the operation. He explained that he had, in principle, been willing to reschedule the concert. When asked whether he had ever refused to perform a concert for the Rio, he replied, in essence: No. He also stated that his voice was now ‘superb’ again and that he had given around 150 concerts since the operation.

But none of this helped; the seven-member jury ordered Sir Rod at the time to repay the $2 million advance to the Rio Hotel. Through his lawyer, the singer – who was not present in person when the verdict was delivered on 7 September – lodged an appeal. However, this backfired spectacularly, as the whole affair ended up costing the Briton even more. In 2006, a federal judge set the total amount at more than 3 million dollars, as over 1 million dollars in interest, costs and other charges had been added to the original 2 million dollars.