February 24, 2012 15:42

Rolling Stones' Ronnie Wood: 'I helped raise Mark Ronson'

Guitarist also says he's relieved he didn't join the Stones earlier as he'd 'have been a junkie'

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Rolling Stones guitarist Ronnie Wood has claimed that he helped raise Mark Ronson.

In an interview with the Independent, the legendary rocker said that Ronson had watched him and his father, Laurence, when they were 'high' and playing jamming sessions together.

Speaking about Ronson, he said:

I helped raise him! Me and his dad Laurence used to stay up late round at Laurence's house and this little kid would be on the stairs. We'd be playing music and getting high and this little kid would be clocking it, and it was little Mark.

He went on to add: "Years on down the road there was this huge star, good-looking guy, and it turned out to be little Mark! 'Come and sit on my lap', it used to be."

Wood also revealed that he had been originally invited to join The Rolling Stones several years before he became a full-time member in 1976, but was glad he hadn't taken up the offer. "They rang up once when I was rehearsing with The Faces in Bermondsey, and [Faces member] Ronnie Lane picked up the phone and said, 'No, Ronnie's quite happy where he is'," he said. "Five years later I found out… I wasn't ready for it though, I'd have been a junkie or OD-ed or something."

Earlier this week (February 22), Wood hinted that the Rolling Stones were on the verge of touring. He said that the band owed it to their fans to play shows in order to celebrate their 50th anniversary, which takes place in July this year.