Ronnie Wood doesn’t regret “smoking for England” even though it caused his lung cancer.
The Rolling Stones legend secretly battled the disease in 2017, only initially revealing the diagnosis to his wife Sally, before opening up about it to the Mail On Sunday’s Event magazine in August.
The 70-year-old is now cancer free and admits that his brush with death hasn’t made him regret his rock and roll lifestyle.
“No, not even smoking for England for over 50 years – it was a wonder I wasn’t riddled with cancer in both lungs. It’s a wonder they both didn’t explode,” he laughed to Britain’s Metro newspaper when they quizzed him on any past regrets.
Because Ronnie’s cancer was contained to only one lung, he didn’t need to undergo chemotherapy, which meant he got to keep his famous mane of hair.
And now that’s he’s fully recovered, the rocker is looking forward to hitting the road once again with his famous bandmates, Mick Jagger, Keith Richards and Charlie Watts.
“There’s something magic that happens when all four of us come together. It’s like a momentum none of us can explain. It’s like, bang – an unstoppable force,” he smiled.
“There’s nothing to stop us (doing future tours) because I think the band is playing the best it’s ever played. All of the songs we play have a life of their own. Instead of the monotony of, ‘Er, not that song again’, which you would think might set in with us being so weathered and aged, there’s a kind of freshness. Satisfaction, for instance – that takes on a completely different shape every time we play it now, which means it’s more of a challenge to make it ring true with a different presentation.”
The Rolling Stones kick off their No Filter European tour in Dublin in May.
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