Stone Ronnie Wood off alcohol for seven months

(REUTERS/Fred Prouser)

Rolling Stone Ronnie Wood said today he has not touched an alcoholic drink in seven months and admitted that was "quite a record".

The veteran rocker has battled with alcohol problems in recent years but has just released a new album and has continued painting.

He told BBC Breakfast: "I look back at some of the paintings I did when I was out of it, as it was, and they are not bad either but there is much more of a clarity in the music and the painting now that I am seven months clean, which is quite a record for me."

He said he had benefited from "a lot of good support" in his battle to beat the booze.

Wood, who made his name with the Faces before joining the Stones in 1976, left his wife Jo two years ago to live with Russian Ekaterina Ivanova, whom he met while he was drinking.

Their 18-month fling put paid to the Rolling Stone's 23-year marriage but ended in a violent argument in the street last December.

Wood and his ex-wife split in 2008 and divorced last November on the grounds of his admitted adultery.