Text: STORYTELLER/MH - Photos: Fritz Egner / Rod Stewart / Renee Stewart
There’s hardly anyone who can hold a candle to him. If you’re looking for the best German music journalists, there’s hardly any way round Fritz Egner. Born in Munich, he has conducted over 400 interviews with stars of the music scene during his long career as a radio and television presenter. Whether it’s Michael Jackson, Paul McCartney, Tina Turner, Bonnie Tyler or Mick Jagger – “the German Fritz” has interviewed them all. And that includes several meetings with music legend Sir Rod Stewart.
Storyteller spoke exclusively with Fritz Egner about Stewart’s farewell tour next year, about his career – and, of course, we couldn’t leave out the legendary story ‘with the baby’.
But who, exactly, is Fritz Egner?
At this point, we need to pause for a moment. Many of our international visitors and readers will be wondering: Who on earth is Fritz Egner? So, first of all, here’s a brief profile of the presenter in a nutshell.
Egner was born in Munich in 1949 and began his professional career with an apprenticeship as a high-voltage electrician. In the late 1970s, he moved to the radio station Bayern 3 as a presenter.
From the 1980s right into the new millennium, Egner also made a name for himself on German television, presenting programmes such as ‘Versteckte Kamera’ and ‘WWW – Die witzigsten Werbespots der Welt’.
Fritz Egner remained loyal to Bayerischer Rundfunk as a presenter on the radio stations Bayern 3 and Bayern 1 until 2024. Over the course of 50 years, Egner – who still presents a weekly programme on ‘Schwarzwaldradio’ today – has built up an archive of over 400 interviews, photos and documents, including material featuring Madonna, Phil Collins, Sting, ABBA and Whitney Houston, amongst others.
In January 2025, Fritz Egner used this archive to launch his own music quiz, initially under the title ‘Quiz mit Fritz’ . The app now runs under the title “Hits und mehr”, is one of our website’s partners and also features an in-depth Rod Stewart special (Storyteller reported on it at length).
On the motorway at half past twelve at midday
There’s a brief crackle from the speakers as we dial Fritz Egner’s number. Then the radio voice so familiar in Germany comes through on the other end of the line.
“Hello, Mr Egner, hello Fritz” – the 77-year-old is on the line as agreed. “I’m in the car,” says Egner. “I’ve got to go to Offenburg to do a programme for Schwarzwaldradio.”
No problem – the line is stable, and the faint sound of the engine in the background isn’t a bother. So we can have a relaxed chat about Rod Stewart. And you can tell: Fritz Egner is really enjoying himself.
“I’m not exactly the best with facts,” Fritz began, after a bit of ‘off-the-record’ shop-talk to start with. “I’ve met Rod three times – once for a television interview, the first time in the late 70s.”
The discussion then turned to the question posed by the Storyteller – Hans Ippisch (from Hits und mehr), Fritz Egner and Martin –: when was Rod Stewart actually at his best? Early in his career? Or rather in his later years?
Fritz Egner has a clear opinion on this: “Actually, in recent years, towards the end of his career. He’s now found his own voice and developed from the cover singer he was for many years into a fine and original performer, not least through the Great American Songbook series. There, Rod proved that he is a truly great performer, because he reworks songs in such a way that you get the feeling they could just as easily have been composed by him. He has a great sense of authenticity, and I find that particularly impressive.”
Rocker or crooner
This raised the question of how Rod Stewart is ultimately perceived by the public – as a rocker and roller as in his Faces days, as a decidedly commercially-oriented artist, as in the 1980s, or ultimately as a crooner, as with the ‘Songbooks’?
“I think in Germany, Rod Stewart is seen as a versatile performer. There’s still the fanbase from back in the day who prefer to see him as a rock singer, but of course he’s now adapted his lifestyle to his age and his current direction,” Egner muses. “Rod Stewart now has an audience spanning three generations; that’s where he’s firmly established. And the fans who’ve joined the ranks over the last 20 years don’t necessarily see a connection with the early Rod Stewart, but have rediscovered him for themselves.”
Ultimately, Sir Rod probably doesn’t mind what his fan base is made up of. He’s likely been far more delighted by the hype surrounding him and his concerts that has built up in recent years. Sold-out arenas and enthusiastic fans all over the world have turned the concerts into truly memorable experiences.
The media coverage was almost 100 per cent positive, which was not always the case when it came to the singer Rod Stewart.
“Naturally, the media don’t want to fall out with their most important readers, and above all, he enjoyed such widespread approval that you can only make a mistake by criticising him. And besides, there was absolutely no reason to do so. He always has such a brilliant band with him, so of course people love going to his concerts. It all fits together perfectly, partly because they’ve been playing together so well for decades. And let’s not forget: Rod Stewart was never just some side project; he was supported by the record companies whenever he released something new, and was always a central figure in the whole scene.” The man knows what he’s talking about. After all, Fritz Egner met Sir Rod for interviews on several occasions and hit it off with him right from the very first time. Not all journalists could truly say the same.
So how did you manage to win Rod over, Mr Egner?
“I’ve always had a good rapport with him because I’d also interviewed some of his idols, and that naturally went down well with Rod – it broke the ice straight away,” says Fritz. “It helped that I could tell him lots about Sam Cooke; that always really impressed Rod. Also, the fact that I’d met The Temptations or seen Sam Cooke live – he was actually a bit envious of that,” laughs Egner, who doesn’t take long to agree that even today, Rod Stewart is still perceived as the ‘mate next door’ – the sort of person you can chat to on the street or at the bar in the local pub about football, cars, women and the worries and problems of everyday life.
So it’s no surprise that Stewart still has friends and acquaintances from the time when he was a virtually unknown pub singer.
“These friends helped him when he was putting together the topics and details for his autobiography and couldn’t remember some things from long ago,” says Fritz Egner, recounting the conversation following the publication of the autobiography *ROD*. “He never disowned or ignored his roots, but has always kept in touch with these acquaintances and friends from the past.”
What drives Rod Stewart?
But what has driven Rod Stewart all these years? After all, we’re talking today about a career that has spanned well over 60 years.
“It’s the music he loves and that passion for it, which he still carries in his heart today,” Fritz Egner is certain. “And which he can share with people. For him, it’s probably a great personal triumph when he sings ‘Twistin’ The Night Away’ by Sam Cooke and the audience sings along, because he can still convey to his fans today the things that inspired him so much in his youth, and they respond to it in exactly the same way. That’s certainly a driving force for Rod to still go on tour today,” believes the experienced radio presenter.
When it was pointed out that Rod had once said he had eight children and needed to earn money, we automatically moved on to the next topic (what a transition!). The singer’s children.
Fritz had a story ready for that too
“Rod told me that he once watched a documentary about the Temptations with his four sons, and the next day his lads went out and bought every single Temptations record. Much to the delight of Dad Rod, who was over the moon that his lads shared his passion and that he’d been able to pass it on to them.”
Egner assumes, in any case, that Rod is essentially a very sensitive character in the music industry, which is generally characterised by cut-throat tactics. “I think Rod is so emotional that he’s immediately moved to tears by many things, especially when he realises that his songs still resonate so well. There’s a lot of emotion inside him,” Egner is certain. Emotions that certainly also play a part in the music legend’s private life. And that brings us to ‘the baby’.
And then there was ‘the baby’
It was in Hamburg, sometime in the early 90s. ‘I can’t remember exactly,’ admits Fritz. ‘We were sitting in a hotel room for an interview. I noticed he was shifting about more and more and seemed nervous. “Rod,” I asked, “is there something pressing? We can stop or take a break if you like.” ‘No,’ said Rod. ‘I’m just longing so much to see our newborn baby, who’s in the hotel room above us.’ Then we quickly went through the rest of the questions – Rod was very professional – and then, when we’d finished, he asked: ‘Would you like to see my baby?’ So we went upstairs, and no sooner had the door to the suite opened than his wife – Rachel Hunter – came towards us and held the baby out to me. ‘Would you like to hold it?’ I’d had no experience with babies up to that point and didn’t have any children of my own, and I was absolutely terrified that I’d drop the baby.” Fritz still takes a deep breath whenever he thinks about it.
Just imagine the headlines: Journalist drops Rod Stewart’s baby.
The fact that it didn’t come to that is down to the journalist’s nerves of steel, but also to the watchful eyes of Rod and Rachel.
“It was a very emotional moment, for me too,” recalls Fritz Egner. “Rod and Rachel placed an enormous amount of trust in me back then. Simply an unforgettable moment.”
Their daughter Renee, now 34 years old – she was the baby back then – didn’t realise at the time that she would meet the German ‘uncle with all the questions’ again.
“During a later interview, I asked Rod what had actually become of Renee. He turned, then looked to one side and gestured towards a corner of the room: ‘She’s back there.’ There was Renee, a pretty young lady of 16 or 17.”
“If I don’t do that, I probably won’t be able to count on my wife anymore”
Finally, we wanted to know whether Fritz Egner would be going to a Rod Stewart concert next year. “Well, if I don’t do that, I probably won’t be able to count on my wife anymore,” he laughs. “She’s a huge Rod Stewart fan. I’m a bit worried that the image I have of him – from the big concerts I’ve seen him play – might crumble a little. But out of respect on my part alone, I’d naturally like to see it.”
Is Rod Stewart perhaps taking on too much again with the 2027 tour, given his heart problems? Egner is understanding: “Of course, he’s also finding it difficult to say goodbye to this life, in which he’s drawn everything from music and live performances. But he really should find the right time to call it a day. Because it would be a great shame if he wore himself out.” However: even nowadays, as a musician or singer, you have to maintain a presence and show the audience that you feel at home with them. Even if live artists of this calibre – as embodied by Rod Stewart – eventually die out and are replaced by unstoppable technological advances.”
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