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'Rockaway Rod' Became a Hit in Local Bars Sporting Singer's Signature Do

By Katie Honan | October 1, 2014 6:02pm
 The retired mailman began dressing up as the singer more than 20 years ago. 
'Rockaway Rod' a Hit in Local Bars as He Honors Favorite Singer
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ROCKAWAY BEACH — Jimmy Monahan, 60, first saw Rod Stewart — his favorite singer — in concert in 1970 at Nassau Coliseum.

But he didn’t gain the moniker “Rockaway Rod” until about 25 years later, after his barber, Gus, trimmed his hair like the British crooner.

“He cropped it up one time and everybody started calling me Rod Stewart,” the retired mailman and father of two said.

“And then it became ‘Rockaway Rod.’”

Recent photos emerged of another Rod Stewart lookalike on the train, but Monahan said it wasn’t him — although he did admit they resembled each other. 

“It's as close as you could get, it shocked me,” he said, although he thought the other Stewart wannabe looked a little older.

“I'm impersonating [Rod Stewart] and someone's impersonating me,” Monahan joked.

Once the nickname stuck, he started dressing up as Stewart, sporting blazers and sunglasses while out in Manhattan or around Rockaway.

He became a hit in local bars, singing along as DJs played Rod Stewart songs. 

Monahan said his biggest response comes from strangers on the street or the subway — although he admits he's still shocked when people mistake him for the former Faces frontman.

One fan even complimented him on the street, telling him he “loved him in the Jeff Beck Band," Monahan said.

“When they look at me I wonder, 'Why would they think [Rod Stewart] would be on the A train — I'd be in a limousine,” he said.

“When people look at me I sometimes say, 'The limo had a flat, I had to get on the train.'"

Monahan, who's lived in Rockaway his whole life, has picked up a few gigs as a Rod Stewart impersonator, singing three songs and carrying roses for a nurse retiring from Coney Island Hospital and for a woman’s 50th birthday in Montauk.

He recently performed at McFadden’s in Citi Field, singing a few songs including his favorite, “Maggie May.”

“I need a couple Hennessys and some courage to sing,” he joked.

He said dressing up as his favorite singer, who he’s seen in concert six times but has never met, has kept him forever young.

“Everyone seems to be really, really friendly and takes you in, and you don't see too many 60-year-olds running around with young kids,” he said.

But he does admit that, despite the hair and the outfits, he’s still missing one crucial part of being Rod Stewart.

“If I had the English brogue, forget it,” he said. “Then I’d have it down pat."