Yungblud has revealed that he grew up believing that he was the grandson of Rod Stewart, until he discovered one of the singer’s albums in Asda.
The revelation was made as the Doncaster singer made an appearance on the UK morning chat show Lorraine, and discussed his upcoming festival Bludfest.
During the interview, host Christine Lampard touched upon the subject by jokingly asking what Rod Stewart thought of his upcoming plans, particularly as the singer – real name Dominic Harrison – “grew up thinking he was a close relative for a very long time”.
“I did, people wonder why I look like this and why I’m crazy… I was told by my nan my whole life, up to the age of 10, that Rod Stewart was my grandad,” he began, setting the host into hysterics.
“There was a photograph of him on the mantelpiece and my mum never had a dad, so she always used to tell me ‘Oh, that’s your grandad’! I used to love it, I used to love the leopard print.”
He continued: “Then we were in Asda one day with my nan, next to the till, and there was a Rod Stewart CD. I picked it up and looked at my nan with my eyes full of water like ‘When’s grandad coming home?’
“Everyone laughed and she was completely mortified. That’s when I found out that Rod Stewart is, in fact, not my grandad. He taught me about leopard print though, and I’ll wear it until I’m not here any more.”
As aforementioned, the appearance on Lorraine comes as the ‘Lowlife’ singer is gearing up to kick off his own festival, BludFest – which will see him taking over The National Bowl in Milton Keynes this weekend with a stacked line-up.
Set for this Sunday (August 11), the event will mark his biggest show to date, and see appearances from recent collaborator Lil Yachty, as well as Soft Play, Nessa Barrett, The Damned, Lola Young, Jazmin Bean, Noahfinnce, Jesse Jo Stark, Landon Barker (the son of Blink-182 drummer Travis Barker), Hannah Grae, Aziya and more. Find last-minute tickets here.
Yungblud spoke to NME about his big plans for BludFest when the festival was announced back in March.
When asked what it meant to be following in the footsteps of David Bowie, Queen, Green Day and Linkin Park in headlining The National Bowl, he told NME: “Wow! What the fuck? That’s fucking mad, isn’t it?
“BludFest is happening! I’m launching my own festival. I had the idea to do it last November. I just had fucking insomnia one night and thought, ‘What’s the next thing we can do that is really a staple and just pushes the boundaries?’”
Harrison continued: “This whole thing has been about fucking with people. When the press don’t write about us, when labels don’t want us, when festivals don’t take us seriously, when people don’t take my generation seriously, let’s just poke the bear every time and piss everyone off to see if we can get away with it.
“We’re a community, we’re getting bigger, we’re gonna do it anyway!”
Yungblud also talked about his “positive”, Britpop-inspired album – which he compared to material by the likes of Oasis, The Verve, Primal Scream, My Chemical Romance, David Bowie and Madonna.
Since announcing BludFest, Yungblud has defended the event from critics who have questioned the intent behind it as well as its “overall authenticity”. “Music belongs to the people,” he said. “That’s the way it should be.” He has also recently joined Placebo on stage in France for a version of ‘Nancy Boy’.
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