The Faces are an English rock band formed in 1969 by members of the Small Faces after lead singer/guitarist Steve Marriott left that group to form Humble Pie. The remaining Small Faces — Ian McLagan (keyboards), Ronnie Lane (bass), and Kenney Jones (drums and percussion) — were joined by Ronnie Wood (guitar) and Rod Stewart (lead vocals), both from the Jeff Beck Group, and the new line-up was renamed the Faces. (More from Wikipedia)
The remaining bandmembers in Small Faces found two dynamite replacements for Steve Marriott; Rod Stewart was brought in as the vocalist, and Ron Wood joined as the lead guitarist. The direction of the band changed dramatically after that; although Small Faces was still the name on the first album by this line-up, First Step (at least in the U.S.), the band is better known as Faces. Rod Stewart did some of his best work with Faces, and his first big hit as a solo artist, “Maggie May” (from Rod’s excellent solo album Every Picture Tells a Story) was released during the height of his time in the band. They released only four albums – and just three as Faces – but all are great and highly influential. By the time Ooh La La came out in 1973, Rod Stewart’s superstar status was wearing on the other bandmembers; Ronnie Lane left the band right after that. Ron Wood was lured to the Rolling Stones, drummer Kenney Jones eventually joined the Who, and Ian McLagan became a sought-after session keyboard player.
