THE ROLLING STONES HISTORY

The Rolling Stones History

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(CLICK HERE FOR FREE DOWNLOAD FULL ALBUM ROLLING STONES)Formed in 1962, The Rolling Stones have become one of the world's most recognized and enduring bands. Mick Jagger and Keith Richards first crossed paths at Dartford Maypole County Primary School. A decade later the two had become avid fans of blues and American R&B, and shared a mutual friend in musician Dick Taylor. Jagger and Taylor were jamming together in Little Boy Blue and the Blue Boys. Richards would soon join the group and become expelled from Dartford Technical College for truancy.

Meanwhile in another part of town. . . .Cheltenham's Brian Jones had begun a career in truancy to practice the sax. By the time Jones had reached sixteen, the future Stone had fathered two illegitimate children and skipped town to Scandinavia, where he began to pick up guitar. Jones eventually drifted to London where he spent some time with Alexis Korner's Blues, Inc., then made the move to start up his own band. While working at the Ealing Blues Club with a loose version of Blues, Inc. and drummer Charlie Watts, Jones began jamming with Jagger and Richards on the side. Jagger would front the new band.

Jones, Jagger and Richards, along with drummer Tony Chapman, cut a demo tape that was rejected by EMI. Chapman left the band shortly after to attend Art College. By this time Blues, Inc. had changed their name to the Rolling Stones, after a Muddy Waters song.

The Rolling Stones' first show occurred on July 12, 1962 at the Marquee. In January of 1963, after a series of personnel changes, Bill Wyman and Charlie Watts rounded out the Stones' line-up.

A local entrepreneur, Giorgio Gomelsky, booked the group for an eight month stint at his Crawdaddy Club. The highly successful run at the Crawdaddy attracted the attention of manager Andrew Loog Oldham, who signed them as clients. With the Beatles quickly becoming a sensation, Oldham decided to market the Stones as their wicked opposites.

In June of 1963, the Stones released their first single, a Chuck Berry tune, "Come On." The group performed on the British TV show "Thank Your Lucky Stars," where the producer told Oldham to get rid of "that vile-looking singer with the tire-tread lips." The single reached #21 on the British charts.

After proving themselves with a series of chart topping hits, Jagger and Richards began writing their own songs using the pseudonym "Nanker Phelge." "Tell Me (You're Coming Back)" became the band's first U.S. Top Forty hit. January of 1965 was the year the Stones broke another # 1 in the U.K. with "The Last Time" and broke the top ten in the U.S. with the same tune. The band's next single, "(I Can't Get No) Satisfaction," held the # 1 spot for four weeks and went on to become probably their most famous.

The Stones released their first album of all-original material in 1966 with "Aftermath." The impact of the release was dulled, due in part, to the simultaneous release of the Beatles' "Revolver" and Bob Dylan's "Blonde on Blonde" - a good year for rock and roll. The following year, the Stones were back in the limelight when the group performed "Let's Spend The Night Together" on the "Ed Sullivan Show." Amid threats of censorship, Jagger mumbled the title lines of the song. Some claim Jagger sang "Let's Spend Some Time Together."

With the release of the Beatles' "Sgt. Pepper," it seemed every band began to gauge themselves against the landmark recording - including the Stones. In December of '67, the Stones released "Their Satanic Majesties Request" - panned as an "ambitious mess."

The following year the Stones went back to their roots with the release of "Jumping Jack Flash." The song landed them a # 3 hit. "Beggar's Banquet" was hailed as the band's finest achievement.

On June 9, 1969, Brian Jones announced he was leaving the group saying: "I no longer see eye to eye with the others over the discs we are cutting." Within a week, Jones was replaced by Mick Taylor (ex-John Mayall guitarist). Plans Jones had made to start his own band were cut short when on July 3, 1969, he was found dead in his swimming pool. After the death, at a concert in London's Hyde Park, Jagger read an excerpt from a poem by Shelley and released thousands of butterflies over the park.

More tragedy was about to strike the group when the Stones gave a free "thank-you America" concert at California's Altmont Speedway. A young black fan, Merideth Hunter, was stabbed to death by members of the Hell's Angels motor cycle gang. The Stones had hired the gang - on the advice of the Grateful Dead - as security for the event. The murder was captured on film by the Maysles brothers in their documentary "Gimmie Shelter." As a result of public outcry, "Sympathy for the Devil" was dropped from the set-list for the next six years. The band had actually been playing "Under My Thumb" when the murder occurred.

In 1970, the Stones formed their own record label - Rolling Stones Records and released "Sticky Fingers," which reached # 1 in 1971. The album also introduced fans to the Andy Warhol designed "lips and lolling tongue logo." That same year Jagger married Nicaraguan fashion model Bianca Perez Morena de Macias.

After the release of "Goats Head Soup," Mick Taylor left the group and was replaced by Faces guitarist Ron Wood . The Stones had auditioned a number of top session men, many of whom appeared on the "Black and Blue" LP, after which the group chose Wood. After settling commitments Wood still had with Rod Stewart and the Faces, he officially joined the Stones in 1976.

In March, 1977, Richards and his common-law wife, Anita Pallenberg were arrested in Canada for possession of heroin. The arrest jeopardized the future of the Stones - but Richards was given a suspended sentence and subsequently kicked his habit in 1978.

One of the Stones' busiest years came in 1981 with the release of "Tattoo You." The album cruised at # 1 for nine weeks and produced such Stones classics as "Start Me Up" and "Waiting On a Friend." The tour for the album produced a live album, "Still Life," and a concert film - Hal Ashby's "Let's Spend the Night Together."

The eighties began to take their toll on the group after a series of less than phenomenal releases. Though each of the group's next two releases, "Undercover" and "Dirty Work," featured one Top Twenty hit, the group was beginning to do little more than go through the motions. The relationship between Jagger and Richards began to drift and the group would not see a studio for the next three years. During this time, Jagger released his 1984 solo album, "She's the Boss," which earned the singer platinum success. His next effort, "Primitive Cool" in 1987, didn't even break the Top 40. It was at this point that Richards, who had long stated that he would never make the solo leap and resented Jagger for making albums outside of the Stones, released 1988's "Talk is Cheap." The feud was on. Jagger and Richards took shots at each other in the press and in song. Richards' single "You Don't Move Me," was aimed at his longtime songwriting partner.

The antidote came when the songwriters traveled to Barbados to begin work on a new Rolling Stones album. The result would be the critically acclaimed "Steel Wheels" in 1989. The success of the "Steel Wheels" tour spawned the group's fifth live album, capturing the spirit of the Rolling Stones which many had believed was gone.

Nearly three decades after the group was formed, the Stones forged ahead into the nineties. The early half of the nineties saw Stones solo albums from Richards and Jagger, but it was apparent that fans were more interested in the two artists as a team.

In '94, two years after bassist Bill Wyman's departure, the group released "Voodoo Lounge." The critically hailed album was the first under the group's new multi-million dollar deal with Virgin Records. The deal also gave Virgin the rights to some of the Stones most well known works including "Exile on Main Street," "Sticky Fingers," and Some Girls." The album won the Stones a 1994 Grammy Award for Best Album.

In 1996, the group released "The Rolling Stones Rock and Roll Circus." The film brought together bands like the Who, Jethro Tull, Taj Mahal John Lennon, Eric Clapton, Mitch Mitchell of the Jimi Hendrix Experience, Marianne Faithful and of course the Rolling Stones. Recorded over two days in December, 1968, the film was kept in the archives because the Stones felt their performance left much to be desired - especially after the show the Who had put on. Nevertheless, the Stones "Circus" is an important document as well as a window to a time when, as the liner notes proclaim, "for a brief moment it seemed that rock 'n' roll would inherit the earth" - David Dalton, 1995.

Source: The Rolling Stone Encyclopedia of Rock And Roll

In 1997 The Stones released Bridges To Babylon & embarked on another extremely successful world tour, which came to an end in September 1998. In November 1998 we saw the release of yet another live Stones album, entitled No Security. Then, in January 1999 the Stones began yet another tour in Oakland, California, which is set to take them across the US playing arena sized venues & eventually land them back in Europe in May 1999. In June 1999 they will finally play the UK (Edinburgh, Sheffield & London), shows that were cancelled on the B2B Tour due to Britain's tax laws. So, as you can see, 37 years after the band began they are still going strong & without a doubt will continue to roll right into the Millenium

biography KEITH RICHARDS

Keith Richards (born 18 December 1943) is an English guitarist, songwriter, singer, producer and a founding member of The Rolling Stones. As a guitarist, Richards is mostly known for his innovative rhythm playing. In 2003 Richards was ranked 10th on Rolling Stone magazine's "100 greatest guitarists of all time".^[1]

With songwriting partner and Rolling Stones lead vocalist Mick Jagger, Richards has written and recorded hundreds of songs, fourteen of which Rolling Stone magazine lists among the "500 Greatest Songs of All Time

Early life

Keith Richards, the only child of Bert Richards and Doris Dupree Richards, was born in Dartford, Kent. He is of Welsh and French Hugenot ancestry. His father was a factory labourer who was slightly injured during World War II.

Richards's paternal grandparents were socialists and civic leaders.^[3] His maternal grandfather (Augustus Theodore Dupree), who toured Britain in a jazz big band called Gus Dupree and his Boys, was an early influence on Richards's musical ambitions and got him interested in playing guitar.^[4]

Richards's mother introduced him to the music of Billie Holiday, Louis Armstrong and Duke Ellington, and bought him his first guitar — a Rosetti acoustic — for seven pounds.^[5] His father was less encouraging: "Every time the poor guy came in at night," Richards says, "he'd find me sitting at the top of the stairs with my guitar, playing and banging on the wall for percussion. He was great about it really. He'd only mutter, 'Stop that bloody noise.'"^[6] Richards' first guitar hero was Scotty Moore.

Richards attended Wentworth Primary School, as did Mick Jagger; the two knew each other as schoolboys, and lived in the same neighbourhood until Richards's family moved to another section of Dartford in 1954.^[7] From 1955 to 1959 Richards attended Dartford Technical School (now named Wilmington Grammar School),^[8][9] where choirmaster Jake Clair noticed his singing voice and recruited him into the school choir. As one of a trio of boy sopranos Richards sang (among other performances) at Westminster Abbey in front of Queen Elizabeth II - an experience that he has called his "first taste of show biz."^[10]

In 1959, Richards was expelled from Dartford Technical School for truancy, and the headmaster suggested he would be more at home at the art college in the neighboring town of Sidcup.^[11] At Sidcup Art College Richards devoted his time to playing guitar after he heard American blues artists like Little Walter and Big Bill Broonzy. He swapped a pile of records for his first electric guitar,^[12] a hollow-body Höfner cutaway. Fellow Sidcup student and future musical colleague Dick Taylor recalls, "There was a lot of music being played at Sidcup, and we'd go into the empty classrooms and fool around with our guitars. ... Even in those days Keith could play most of [Chuck Berry's] solos."^[13] Taylor also remembers Richards experimenting with various drugs at Sidcup: "In order to stay up late with our music and still get to Sidcup in the morning, Keith and I were on a pretty steady diet of pep pills, which not only kept us awake but gave us a lift. We took all kinds of things - pills that girls took for menstruation; inhalers like Nostrilene, and other stuff. Opposite the college there was this little park with an aviary that had a cockatoo in it. Cocky the Cockatoo we used to call it. Keith used to feed it pep pills and make it stagger around on its perch. If ever we were feeling bored we'd go and give another upper to Cocky."^[14]

One morning in 1961, on the train journey from Dartford to Sidcup, Richards happened to get into the same carriage as Mick Jagger, who was then a student at the London School of Economics.^[15] They recognized each other and began talking about the LPs Jagger had with him -- blues and rhythm & blues albums he had acquired by mail-order from America. Richards was surprised and impressed that Jagger not only shared his enthusiasm for Chuck Berry and Muddy Waters, but also that he owned such LPs which were extremely rare in Britain at the time. The two discovered that they had a mutual friend in Dick Taylor, with whom Jagger was singing in an amateur band called Little Boy Blue and the Blue Boys. Jagger invited Richards to a rehearsal and soon after Richards also joined the line-up. The group disbanded after Jagger, Richards, and Taylor met Brian Jones and Ian Stewart, with whom they went on to form The Rolling Stones (Taylor left the band in November 1962 to return to art school).

By mid-1962 Richards had left Sidcup Art College in favour of pursuing his fledgling musical career and moved into a London flat with Jagger and Jones. His parents divorced about the same time. Richards maintained close ties with his mother, who was very supportive of his musical activities, but he became estranged from his father and didn't resume contact with him until 1982.

In 1963 Richards dropped the "s" from his name and used the professional name "Keith Richard", which Stones manager Andrew Loog Oldham considered more suitable as a show business name.

Guitar playing

Richards has derived inspiration from Chuck Berry throughout his career. Little Boy Blue and the Blue Boys rehearsed many Berry numbers,^[16] and Jagger and Richards were largely responsible for bringing Berry and Bo Diddley covers into The Rolling Stones' early repertoire. Jimmy Reed and Muddy Waters records were another early source of inspiration, and the basis for the style of interwoven lead and rhythm guitar that Richards developed with founding Rolling Stones member Brian Jones.^[17] When Jones was replaced by guitarist Mick Taylor, who worked with The Rolling Stones from 1969 to 1974, Taylor's playing style led to a more pronounced separation between the lead and rhythm guitar roles. In 1975 Taylor was replaced by Ronnie Wood, marking a return to the style of guitar interplay that he and Richards call "the ancient art of weaving".^[18] Richards has said the years with Wood have been his most musically satisfying period in the Rolling Stones.^{[citation needed]}

Richards often uses guitars with open tunings which allow for syncopated and ringing I-IV chording that can be heard on "Street Fighting Man" and "Start Me Up". He particularly favours a five-string variant of open G tuning (borrowed from Don Everly of the Everly Brothers), using GDGBD unencumbered by a droning low 6th string;^[19] this tuning is prominent on numerous Rolling Stones tracks, including "Honky Tonk Women," "Brown Sugar" and "Start Me Up". Though he still uses standard tunings, Richards has said that his adoption of open tunings in the late 1960s led to a musical "rebirth". In that same time period, Brian Jones's declining contributions left Richards to record all the guitar parts on many tracks, including slide guitar, which had been Jones's specialty in the early years. Richards has rarely played slide in the years since Taylor and then Wood — both accomplished slide players — joined The Rolling Stones.

Richards — who owns over 1000 guitars, some of which he has not played but was simply given — is often associated with the Fender Telecaster, particularly with two 1950s Telecasters outfitted with Gibson PAF humbucker pickups in the neck position.^[20] Also notable was the 1959 Bigsby-equipped sunburst Les Paul that he acquired in 1964, which was the first "star owned" Les Paul in Britain.^[21][22] Since 1997 a Bigsby-equipped ebony Gibson ES-355 has served as one of his main stage guitars.^[23][24] Even though Richards has used many different guitar models, in a 1986 Guitar World interview he joked that no matter what model he plays, "give me five minutes and I'll make 'em all sound the same."^[25]

In 1965 Richards used a Gibson Maestro fuzzbox to achieve the distinctive tone of his riff on "(I Can't Get No) Satisfaction";^[26] the success of the resulting single boosted the sales of the device to the extent that all available stock had sold out by the end of 1965.^[27] In the 1970s and early 1980s Richards frequently used guitar effects such as a wah-wah pedal, a phaser and a Leslie speaker,^[28] but he mainly relies on combining "the right amp with the right guitar" to achieve the sound he wants.^[29]

Richards considers acoustic guitar to be the basis for his playing,^[30] and has said: "Every guitar player should play acoustic at home. No matter what else you do, if you don't keep up your acoustic work, you're never going to get the full potential out of an electric, because you lose that touch."^[19] Richards's acoustic guitar is featured on tracks throughout the Rolling Stones' career, including hits like "Not Fade Away", "Brown Sugar", "Beast of Burden" and "Almost Hear You Sigh". All the guitars on the studio version of "Street Fighting Man" are Richards on acoustic, distorted by overloading a small cassette recorder microphone, a technique also used on "Jumping Jack Flash".

Songwriting

Richards and Jagger began writing songs together in 1963, following the example of the Beatles' Lennon/McCartney and the encouragement of Rolling Stones manager Andrew Loog Oldham, who saw little future for a cover band.^[45] The earliest Jagger/Richards collaborations were recorded by other artists, including Gene Pitney, whose rendition of "That Girl Belongs to Yesterday" was their first top-ten single in the UK.^[46] Richards recalls: "We were writing these terrible pop songs that were becoming Top 10 hits. ... They had nothing to do with us, except we wrote 'em."^[47]

The Rolling Stones' first top-ten hit with a Jagger/Richards original was "The Last Time" (1965);^[48] "(I Can't Get No) Satisfaction" (also 1965) was their first international #1 recording. (Richards has stated that the "Satisfaction" riff came to him in his sleep; he woke up just long enough to record it on a cassette player by his bed.)^[49] Since Aftermath (1966) most Rolling Stones albums have consisted mainly of Jagger/Richards originals. Their songs reflect the influence of blues, R&B, rock & roll, pop, soul, gospel and country, as well as forays into psychedelia and Dylanesque social commentary. Their work in the 1970s and beyond has incorporated elements of funk, disco, reggae and punk.^[47] Richards has also written and recorded slow torchy ballads, such as "All About You" (1980).

In his solo career, Richards has often shared co-writing credits with drummer and co-producer Steve Jordan. Richards has said: "I've always thought songs written by two people are better than those written by one. You get another angle on it."^[47]

Richards has frequently stated that he feels less like a creator than a conduit when writing songs: "I don't have that God aspect about it. I prefer to think of myself as an antenna. There's only one song, and Adam and Eve wrote it; the rest is a variation on a theme."^[47]

Richards was inducted into the Songwriters Hall of Fame in 1993.^[50]

About half of Richards' songwriting copyrights are filed under "Keith Richard" (with no "s" on it), so some care is required when searching for them.

biography ian stewart

Ian Andrew Robert Stewart (18 July 1938 – 12 December 1985) was a Scottish keyboardist and cofounder of The Rolling Stones. He was dismissed from the line-up in May 1963 but he remained as road manager and piano player.

Role in the Rolling Stones

Born in Pittenweem, East Neuk of Fife, Scotland, and raised in Sutton, Surrey, Stewart (often called Stu) started playing piano when he was six. He took up banjo and played with amateur groups on both instruments.^[1] Stewart, who loved rhythm & blues, boogie-woogie, blues and big-band jazz, was first to respond to Brian Jones's advertisement in Jazz News of 2 May 1962 seeking musicians to form a rhythm & blues group.^[2] Mick Jagger and Keith Richards joined in June, and the group, with Dick Taylor on bass and either Mick Avory or Tony Chapman on drums, played their first gig under the name The Rollin' Stones at the Marquee Club on 12 July 1962.^[3][4] By January 1963, Bill Wyman and Charlie Watts had joined, replacing a series of bassists and drummers.^[4]

Stewart had a job at Imperial Chemical Industries. None of the other band members had a telephone; Stewart said, "[My] desk at ICI was the headquarters of the Stones organisation. My number was advertised in Jazz News and I handled the Stones' bookings at work." He also bought a van to transport the group and their equipment to their gigs.^[5]

In early May 1963, the band's manager, Andrew Loog Oldham, said Stewart should no longer be onstage, that six members were too many for a popular group and that Stewart didn't fit the image.^[6] He said Stewart could stay as road manager and play piano on recordings. Stewart accepted this demotion. Richards said: "[Stu] might have realised that in the way it was going to have to be marketed, he would be out of sync, but that he could still be a vital part. I'd probably have said, 'Well, fuck you', but he said 'OK, I'll just drive you around.' That takes a big heart, but Stu had one of the largest hearts around."^[7]

Stewart loaded gear into his van, drove the group to gigs, replaced guitar strings and set up Watts' drums the way he himself would play them. "I never ever swore at him," Watts says, with rueful amazement.^{[citation needed]} He also played piano and occasionally organ on most of the band's albums in the first decades, as well as providing criticism. Shortly after Stewart's death Mick Jagger said: "Stu was the one guy we tried to please. We wanted his approval when we were writing or rehearsing a song. We'd want him to like it."^{[citation needed]}

Stewart contributed piano, organ, marimbas and/or percussion to all Rolling Stones albums released between 1964 an 1983, except for Beggars Banquet. Stewart was only one keyboard player; Jack Nitzsche, Nicky Hopkins, Billy Preston and Ian McLagan supplemented his work in the studio and on stage. In 1975 Stewart joined the band on stage again, playing piano on numbers of his choosing throughout tours in 1975-76, 1978 and 1981-82.^[4] Stewart favoured blues and country rockers, and remained dedicated to boogie-woogie and early rhythm & blues. He refused to play in minor keys, saying: "When I'm on stage with the Stones and a minor chord comes along, I lift me hands in protest."^[8]

Stewart remained aloof from the band's lifestyle. "I think he looked upon it as a load of silliness," said guitarist Mick Taylor. "I also think it was because he saw what had happened to Brian. I could tell from the expression on his face when things started to get a bit crazy during the making of Exile on Main Street. I think he found it very hard. We all did."^{[citation needed]} Stewart played golf and as road manager showed preference for hotels with courses. Richards recalls: "We'd be playing in some town where there's all these chicks, and they want to get laid and we want to lay them. But Stu would have booked us into some hotel about ten miles out of town. You'd wake up in the morning and there's the links. We’re bored to death looking for some action and Stu's playing Gleneagles."^[9]

Other work

Stewart contributed to Led Zeppelin's "Rock and Roll" from Led Zeppelin IV and "Boogie With Stu" from Physical Graffiti, two numbers in traditional rock & roll vein, both featuring his boogie-woogie style. Another was Howlin' Wolf's 1971 London Sessions album, featuring Eric Clapton, Ringo Starr, Klaus Voorman, Steve Winwood, and Bill Wyman and Charlie Watts. He also played piano and organ on the 1982 Bad To The Bone album of George Thorogood and the Destroyers.

Stewart also played with the back-to-roots band Rocket 88, a late-70s/early-80s venture which included Watts, Alexis Korner, Cream frontman Jack Bruce on stand-up acoustic bass, Bob Hall sharing piano with Stewart, and a horn and brass section including Colin Smith, John Picard, Dick Morrissey and Don Weller.

Death and posthumous recognition

Stewart contributed to The Rolling Stones' 1983 Undercover, and was present during the 1985 recording for Dirty Work (released in 1986). In early December 1985, Stewart began having respiratory problems. On 12 December he went to a clinic to have the problem examined; he suffered a heart attack and died in the waiting room.^[10]

The Stones played a tribute gig with Rocket 88 in February 1986 at London's 100 Club, and included a 30-second clip of Stewart playing the blues standard, Key to the Highway at the end of Dirty Work. When the Stones were inducted into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame in 1989, they requested Stewart's name be included.

Basis for fictional detective Rebus

According to a Sunday Herald article in March 2006, Stewart was the basis for a fictional detective:

“

...Scottish crime writer Ian Rankin has revealed that John Rebus, the star of 15 novels set in the grimy underbelly of the nation's capital, may have more to do with the Rolling Stones than any detective could have surmised. The award-winning novelist admits during a new Radio 4 series exploring the relationships between crime writers and their favourite music that he took some of his inspiration for the unruly inspector from the "sixth Stone", Ian Stewart.

”

Rankin says the lyrics to a song by Aidan Moffat & The Best-Of's about Ian Stewart. "The Sixth Stone" is the first release by the new band of Aidan Moffat, formerly of Arab Strap. It is included on Chemikal Underground's Ballads Of The Book compilation, which has Scottish authors and poets writing lyrics for contemporary Scottish bands.

biography brian hopkin jones

Lewis Brian Hopkin Jones (28 February 1942 – 3 July 1969) was an English guitarist and founding member of the English rock group The Rolling Stones. Jones was known for his use of multiple instruments, fashionable mod image, recreational drug excesses and his death at age 27.

Early life

Jones was born in the Park Nursing Home in Cheltenham, Gloucestershire, during World War II. Supposedly he suffered from asthma all his life. His middle-class parents, Lewis Blount Jones and Louisa Beatrice Jones were of Welsh descent. Brian had two sisters: Pamela, who was born on 3 October 1943 and who died on 14 October 1945 of leukemia; and Barbara, born in 1946.^[1]

Both Jones's parents were interested in music — his mother Louisa was a piano teacher — and this had a profound effect on him. In addition to his job as an aeronautical engineer, Lewis Jones played piano and organ and led the choir at the local church. Jones eventually took up the clarinet, becoming first clarinet in his school orchestra at 14.^[2]

In 1957 Jones first heard the music of jazz musician Cannonball Adderley, which inspired his lifelong interest in jazz. Jones persuaded his parents to buy him a saxophone, and two years later his parents gave him his first acoustic guitar as a 17th birthday present.^[3]

Jones attended local schools, including Dean Close School, from 1949 to 1953 and Cheltenham Grammar School for Boys, which he entered in September 1953 after passing the Eleven-plus exam. He was an exceptional student, earning high marks in all of his classes while doing little work. He enjoyed badminton and diving but otherwise was not skilled at sports. In 1957, Jones reportedly obtained nine O-levels passes. Despite academic ability, however, he found school regimented and he refused to conform. He was known to eschew wearing the school uniforms and angered teachers with his behaviour, though he was popular among students. His hostility to authority figures resulted in his suspension from school on two occasions.^[4] According to Dick Hattrell, a childhood friend: "He was a rebel without a cause, but when examinations came he was brilliant."^[4]

In the spring of 1959, Jones's 14-year-old girlfriend, a Cheltenham schoolgirl named Valerie Corbett, became pregnant. Supposedly Jones encouraged her to have an abortion, but she placed the baby boy up for adoption with an infertile couple.^[3] Corbett later married one of Jones's friends, author Graham Ride.^{[citation needed]}

Brian quit school in disgrace and left home, supposedly traveling through northern Europe and Scandinavia for a summer. During this period, he lived a bohemian lifestyle, busking and playing guitar on the streets for money, living off the kindness of others. While Jones was fond of telling others about his trip throughout Europe, it remains uncertain how much of his descriptions were embellishment. Other friends claimed Jones merely stayed with friends and relatives outside the UK.^{[citation needed]}

Jones grew up listening to classical music, but he supposedly always preferred blues, (particularly Elmore James and Robert Johnson). He began playing at local blues and jazz clubs in addition to busking and working odd jobs. He was also known to steal small amounts of money to pay for cigarettes, which tended to get him fired.^[5]

In November 1959, Jones went to the Wooden Bridge Hotel in Guildford to see a band. He met a young, married woman named Angeline, and the two had a one-night stand that resulted in a pregnancy. Angeline and her husband decided to raise the baby together.^[6]

In October 1961, Jones fathered a third child, Julian Mark Andrews, with his girlfriend Pat Andrews.^[7] Jones sold his record collection to buy flowers for Pat and clothes for the newborn and lived with them for a while

Forming The Rolling Stones

Jones left Cheltenham and moved to London where he became friends with fellow musicians Alexis Korner, future Manfred Mann singer Paul Jones, future Cream bassist Jack Bruce and others who made up the small London rhythm and blues scene that the Rolling Stones would soon come to dominate. He became a blues musician, for a brief time calling himself "Elmo Lewis", and playing slide guitar.

In spring 1962, Jones and pianist Ian "Stu" Stewart joined forces, while later singer Mick Jagger was added into his band — who, with Jagger's childhood friend Keith Richards, met Jones when he and Paul Jones were playing Elmore James' "Dust My Broom" with Korner's band at The Ealing Club.^[8]

Jagger brought guitarist Richards to rehearsals; Richards then joined the band. Jones' and Stewart's acceptance of Richards and the Chuck Berry songs he wanted to play coincided with the departure of blues purists Geoff Bradford and Brian Knight, who had no tolerance for Chuck Berry.^[5]

As Keith Richards tells it, Jones came up with the name "The Rollin' Stones" (later with the 'g') while on the phone with a venue owner. "The voice on the other end of the line obviously said, 'What are you called?' Panic. The Best of Muddy Waters album was lying on the floor — and track one was 'Rollin' Stone Blues'".^{[9][page number needed]}

The Rollin' Stones played their first gig on 12 July 1962 in the Marquee Club in London with Jagger, Richards, Jones, Stewart, bass player Dick Taylor (later of The Pretty Things) and drummer Mick Avory (later of The Kinks)^[10], though some sources say Tony Chapman.^{[citation needed]}

From mid-1962 to late 1963 Jones, Jagger and Richards shared an apartment (referred to by Richards as "a beautiful dump")^[11] in Chelsea, London at 102 Edith Grove, Chelsea, with James Phelge, a future photographer whose last name was used in some of the band's writing credits. Jones and Richards spent day after day playing guitar while listening to blues records (notably Jimmy Reed, Muddy Waters, and Howlin' Wolf). During this time, Jones taught Jagger how to play harmonica.

The four Rollin' Stones went searching for a bassist and drummer, finally settling on Bill Wyman on bass because he had a spare VOX AC30 guitar amp and cigarettes. After playing with Mick Avory, Tony Chapman and Carlo Little, in January 1963 they finally persuaded jazz-influenced Charlie Watts to join them. Watts was considered by fellow musicians to be one of the best drummers in London; he had played with (among others) Alexis Korner's group Blues Incorporated.

Watts described Jones's role in these early days: "Brian was very instrumental in pushing the band at the beginning. Keith and I would look at him and say he was barmy. It was a crusade to him to get us on the stage in a club and be paid a half-crown and to be billed as an R&B band".^{[9][page number needed]}

The group played at local blues and jazz clubs, gaining fans despite resistance from traditional jazz musicians who felt threatened by their popularity. While Jagger was lead singer, Jones, in the group's embryonic period, was leader — promoting the band, getting shows, and negotiating with venues. Jones played guitar and harmonica. During performances, and especially at the Crawdaddy Club in Richmond, Jones proved to be a more animated and engaging performer than even Jagger.^{[citation needed]} Jagger initially stood still while singing — mainly by necessity, as their early stages hardly provided enough room to move.^{[9][page number needed]}

While acting as the band's business manager, Jones received £5 more than the other members, which did not sit well with the rest of the band and created resentment

Songwriting credits

Unsure and insecure as a composer, Jones was not a prolific songwriter.

According to Andrew Oldham the main reason for Jones not being able to write songs was that Jones simply didn't love simple pop music enough, as Jones was too much a blues purist. Oldham tried to establish a songwriting partnership between Jones and Gene Pitney after "becoming bored senseless by Jones' bleating about the potential of half-finished melodies that by no means deserved completion" but after two days of sessions "the results remain best to be unheard, even by Stones' completists".^[24]

Bill Wyman has stated in interviews that although Jagger and Richards were protective of their role as writers, they would be open to ideas, and he names his "In Another Land" and "Downtown Suzie" as examples. Wyman commented that Jones was "an incredibly gifted musician, but not a song writer". On the other hand, Ron Wood commented in interviews that he is proud that he was able to get about two dozen songs recorded and released by the Stones, and Wood also mentioned the protective nature of the Jagger/Richards partnership.

Only one officially released song is credited to Jones, the 30-second "Rice Krispies" jingle for Kellogg's, co-written with the J. W. Thompson advertising agency in 1963 and which the group performed incognito. The fact that Jones took sole credit did not sit well with the rest of the Stones, who felt it was a group effort and all should benefit equally. ^[25] Fourteen Stones songs were credited to "Nanker Phelge", a pseudonym indicating that all members of the group including Andrew Loog Oldham had a share in the songwriting royalties. They dropped this pseudonym after 1965 (a "nanker" was a strange face Jones and Richards would often make, and "Phelge" came from their former roommate James Phelge).

A second song, "Sure I Do", reportedly written, recorded, and sung completely by Jones in 1963, remains unreleased. A vinyl disc with a label containing the title remains in Wyman's "Sticky Fingers" restaurant; it is unclear whether the song exists or not.

When asked in 1965 if he had written songs, Jones replied: "Always tried. I've written quite a few, but mostly in blues style".^[26] Keith Richards stated: "No, no. Absolutely not. That was the one thing he would never do. Brian wouldn't show them to anybody within the Stones. Brian as far as I know never wrote a single finished song in his life; he wrote bits and pieces but he never presented them to us. No doubt he spent hours, weeks, working on things, but his paranoia was so great that he could never bring himself to present them to us".^[27] However, he did compose the soundtrack to a German film, A Degree Of Murder; this soundtrack is the only thing the public has heard of a Jones solo recording.

In 1990, Carla Olson was given permission from Jones's estate to put one of his poems to music and thus created the Jones/Olson song "Thank You For Being There". It appeared on the album True Voices, performed by Krysia Kristianne and Robin Williamson.

biography mac jegger

• Born: 26 July 1943
• Birthplace: Dartford, Kent, England
• Best Known As: Lead singer for The Rolling Stones

Michael Philip Jagger dropped out of the London School of Economics to be a rock star. His group The Rolling Stones began recording in 1963, and by 1965 they had an international hit with "(I Can't Get No) Satisfaction." Jagger and guitarist Keith Richards wrote most of the songs for The Stones, and Jagger's strutting, pouting delivery made him the archetype of the charismatic rock front man. The group's three-decade string of hits includes "Brown Sugar," "Miss You" and "Start Me Up." Jagger has always been considered one of rock's best businessmen, and The Rolling Stones rank with The Beatles among the most successful acts in history. The group has continued to tour into their sixties, and in 2006 the Stones played the halftime show at Super Bowl XL.

Jagger was married to model Jerry Hall from 1991-99; they split after Jagger admitted he had fathered a child with Brazilian model Luciana Morad... Jagger's first wife, Bianca Jagger, was a jet-set celebrity in the 1970s; the two were married 1971-80... Jagger also has appeared in several movies, including Performance (1970) and Freejack (1992, with Hall and Anthony Hopkins)

• Birth Name: Michael Philip Jagger
• Genre: Rock
• Active: '60s - 2000s
• Instruments: Vocals, Keyboards, Harmonica, Guitar

Biography

As the lead singer for the Rolling Stones , Mick Jagger is one of the most popular and influential frontmen in the history of rock & roll. Jagger fronted the Rolling Stones for over 20 years before he began a solo career in 1985. At the time of the release of his debut solo album, She's the Boss, it appeared that the Stones may have been approaching the end of their career, but it soon transpired that Jagger's solo career would run concurrently with that of the band's. Over the next decade, he released a string of solo albums, none of which achieved the commercial success of the Stones' less popular releases.

Born Michael Phillip Jagger on July 26, 1943, in Dartford, England, he initially met future musical collaborator and Rolling Stones guitarist Keith Richards while the pair were five years old at primary school, although they would lose contact with each other shortly thereafter. In the intervening years, Jagger discovered a love for music, especially early rock & roll (forming a high school band, Little Boy Blue & the Blue Boys), as well as developing an interest in business, attending the London School of Economics.

In his late teens, Jagger happened to bump into Richards once again (while the two were waiting on a train platform), and when Richards noticed Jagger had several blues records under his arm, they became friends again and started up the Rolling Stones shortly thereafter. The band (which also included second guitarist Brian Jones, bassist Bill Wyman, and drummer Charlie Watts), merged the rock & roll of Chuck Berry with the raw blues of Muddy Waters, creating a style that would be infinitely copied by others in its wake. By the late '60s, the Rolling Stones were rivaling the Beatles as the world's most popular rock band (with their second guitarist slot rotating from time to time), issuing such classic singles as "Paint It Black," "Time Is on My Side," "Get Off of My Cloud," "(I Can't Get No) Satisfaction," "Jumpin' Jack Flash," and others. In 1968, they began a string of albums that would go down as some of rock's most quintessential and enduring albums ever recorded -- 1968's Beggar's Banquet, 1969's Let It Bleed, 1970's Get Yer Ya-Ya's Out, 1971's Sticky Fingers, and 1972's Exile on Main Street
During this time, Jagger also tried his hand at acting in movies, landing roles in such flicks as Performance and Ned Kelly (both from 1970). Jagger also became a renowned playboy and jet setter among other celebrities. As a result (as well as the Stones' escalating drug abuse), the quality of the Stones' music began to suffer -- while they remained one of the world's top concert draws and beloved bands, they issued albums of varying quality from the mid-'70s through the early '80s. Around this time, Jagger and Keith Richards conflicted over the musical direction of the band. Jagger wanted to move the band in a more pop and dance-oriented direction while Richards wanted to stay true to the band's rock & roll and blues roots. By 1984, Jagger had begun recording a solo album where he pursued a more mainstream, dance-inflected pop direction. The resulting album, She's the Boss, was released in 1985. Jagger filmed a number of state-of-the-art videos for the album, which all received heavy airplay from MTV, helping propel the record's first single, "Just Another Night," to number 12 and the album to platinum status. "Lucky in Love," the second single from the album scraped the bottom of the Top 40. In the summer of 1985, Jagger and David Bowie recorded a cover of Martha & the Vandellas' "Dancing in the Street" for the Live Aid organization. The single peaked at number seven on the U.S. pop charts; all the proceeds from its sale were donated to Live Aid.

Around the same time the Rolling Stones released their 1986 album, Dirty Work, Jagger released the theme song from the movie Ruthless People as a single and told Richards that the Stones would not tour to support Dirty Work. For the next few years, Jagger and Richards barely spoke to each other and sniped at the other in the press. During this time, Jagger tried to make his solo career as successful as the Rolling Stones, pouring all of his energy into his second solo album, 1987's Primitive Cool.
Although the album received stronger reviews than She's the Boss, only one of the singles -- "Let's Work" -- scraped the bottom of the Top 40 and the record didn't go gold.

Following the commercial failure of Primitive Cool, Jagger returned to the fold of the Rolling Stones in 1989, recording, releasing, and touring the Steel Wheels album. Steel Wheels was a massively successful venture and after the tour was completed, the Stones entered a slow period, where each of the members pursued solo projects. Jagger recorded his third solo album with Rick Rubin, who had previously worked with the Beastie Boys and the Red Hot Chili Peppers. The resulting solo album, Wandering Spirit, was released in 1993 and received the strongest reviews of any of Jagger's solo efforts. The album entered the U.S. charts at number 11 and went gold the year it was released. A year after the release of Wandering Spirit, the Stones reunited and released Voodoo Lounge, supporting the album with another extensive international tour. During the '90s, Jagger also resumed his movie acting career, with roles in Freejack (1992), Bent (1997), and The Man From Elysian Fields (2001).

In 1997, the Stones regrouped for another new album, Bridges to Babylon, and a subsequent tour of stadiums worldwide. 2001 saw the release of Jagger's first solo album in nearly ten years, titled Goddess in the Doorway, which included guest appearances from such rock big names as Pete Townshend, Bono, Lenny Kravitz, Missy "Misdemeanor" Elliot, Joe Perry, Wyclef Jean, and Rob Thomas.

In addition to his work with the Rolling Stones and solo releases, Jagger has guested on albums by a wide variety of other artists -- the Jacksons, Peter Tosh, Carly Simon, Dr. John, and Living Colour, among others (the latter he helped discover and produced part of their hit debut album, Vivid). ~ Stephen Thomas Erlewine & Greg Prato, All Music Guide