Drummer Carmine Appice has recalled his years with Rod Stewart's band, including co-writing the chart-topping hit "Do Ya Think I'm Sexy?" before being unexpectedly sacked by the singer in 1982. Appice, already an established rock musician through Vanilla Fudge, Cactus and Beck, Bogert & Appice, joined Stewart's band in 1977 and says his contribution extended well beyond drumming, as his songwriting helped shape one of the decade's biggest disco-rock anthems. The account, given to Classic Rock magazine, highlights both a creative high point and an abrupt professional falling-out that neither man has ever fully explained.

Appice says he wrote the song's foundation on a keyboard with a drum machine alongside collaborator Duane Hitchings, later presenting it to Stewart as a near-finished track inspired by the Rolling Stones' "Miss You". After producer Tom Dowd added orchestration and other elements, the song reached number one in fifteen countries. Appice remained with Stewart's band until 1982, when he was fired for reasons he still cannot pinpoint, quoting Stewart's own admission in his autobiography that he didn't know why either; Appice suggests factors may have included drinking, drug use, or resentment over his popularity within the band. The pair later reconciled and were friends again by the mid-1980s.