No, that wasn’t Rod, but a very close facsimile

The mysterious Rod Stewart sighting in Everett last week is solved.

As I wrote Tuesday, the singer may have dropped by an Everett piano bar. Patrons thought he was the real deal.

It turns out Steve Bobbitt, who has been impersonating the world-famous crooner for 13 years, was hired to come to Everett to perform at a wake.

He stayed Thursday night at the Best Western Cascadia Inn in Everett. Keith Lander, manager at Cascadia Inn, confirmed the guest was an impersonator.

“He looks a lot like Rod,” Lander said. “He was a very nice guy.”

I agreed. When I reached Bobbitt by phone Tuesday, he was super.

He raved about Everett in a gravelly voice.

“We had a blast there,” Bobbitt said. “The people were all great.”

After the paid gig, someone said they should drop by Chopstix, and Bobbitt cruised into the piano bar and sang.

“I went just to be silly,” he said.

The impersonator was hired to entertain at Rock and Roll Clinic at 1905 Hewitt Ave. in Everett. Iron Maidens, a female tribute band for Iron Maiden, also played at the private party.

Clinic owner Matt “Chewy” Lyons organized the private-party wake for his friend of 40 years, Patrick Connors, 46, who died Jan. 28 at his Lynnwood home.

Connors loved Rod Stewart.

Lyons was surprised anyone would care about celebrity sightings. He often invites stars to his business.

He’s invited a Garth Brooks impersonator for a private appearance in mid-May, Lyons said.

Bobbitt, 54, said about 15 years ago, a girlfriend who styled hair said that with the right cut and color, Bobbitt would look like Rod Stewart. She did his hair and sure enough, out on a club date, he was mobbed by two dozen women.

“She said she would change my hair back,” Bobbitt, 54, said. “I said ‘I don’t think so.’ “

My friend Judy Sankey of Shoreline saw Bobbitt do his Rod Stewart act at a casino in Reno, Nev., about 10 years ago.

“I sat there with my mouth open,” Sankey said. “I could not believe it wasn’t Rod Stewart.”

Bobbitt met the real performer.

A radio station near his hometown of Chicago gave away a trip to join Bobbitt at a Rod Stewart concert. Bobbitt talked to a guest who attended the concert the night before, then arrived to sit in the front row dressed exactly like Stewart.

“A band member looked down there, pointing to Rod,” Bobbitt said. “He would come around the circular stage and look down. I had his curiosity.”

When he went backstage and met Stewart, the superstar told Bobbitt his band was all talking about him.

“It was kind of fun,” Bobbitt said. “In all honestly I didn’t think I looked like him until I met him.”

As for Rod Stewart, he’s on tour in Australia.

Turns out he didn’t jet down under last week, straight from Everett, but I was close.

Columnist: Kristi O’Harran: 425-339-3451 or oharran@heraldnet.com.