Rod Stewart took a transvestite back to his hotel room.

The 70-year-old singer - who has eight children with several women - received a shock when he took someone back to his room because the rest of the Faces had claimed to be attracted to her, but he saw the funny side and is ''proud'' of what happened.

He said: ''No matter what you look like, [the singer] is always going to get the girls. That's funny. Did you ever hear the story about how the Faces set me up with a guy? I was in Australia and there was a transvestite in a bar and they set me up.

''They said we've all tried to pull her, she was gorgeous, absolutely gorgeous. So I got back to my room and everything. Then I saw... Oh. Set me up. I said, 'Well you better go now.' It's something I'm quite proud of actually, the fact they set me up with this transvestite.

''[I said to] the boys, 'Brilliant I would have done it to you.' You should have seen their faces, they loved it. They kippered me. It's called being kippered up.''

The group always enjoyed a drink before their shows and would even skip meals for ''maximum impact''.

Rod told Uncut magazine: ''We had drinking on an empty stomach down to a T. We purposely missed our lunch, so that when we went on stage with a port and brandy at seven we'd feel the maximum impact. We were good drinkers. We loved it.''