1960s in August 1964. Left to right: guitarist
Brian Jones, drummer
Charlie Watts, Jagger, bass guitarist
Bill Wyman, and lead guitarist
Keith Richards At the beginning of the Rolling Stones' founding in the early 1960s, the band mostly played for no money at a basement club opposite London's
Ealing Broadway tube station, which was subsequently named Ferry's Club. The group had very little equipment and borrowed Korner's gear to play. Their first appearance, under the name the Rollin' Stones, after one of their favourite Muddy Waters songs, was performed at the
Marquee Club, a London jazz club, on 12 July 1962. They later changed their name to the Rolling Stones, since it seemed more formal. The initial band members included Jagger, Richards, Jones,
Ian Stewart on piano, Dick Taylor on bass, and
Tony Chapman on drums, but Richards wrote in
Life, his memoir, that, "The drummer that night was
Mick Avory—not Tony Chapman, as history has mysteriously handed it down ...". In June 1963, the band began a five-month
residency at
Eel Pie Island Hotel, which the
BBC later credited with shaping the band's career. That autumn, Jagger left the London School of Economics to pursue a musical career with the Rolling Stones. Encouraged by manager
Andrew Loog Oldham, Jagger and Richards soon began writing their own songs. Their
songwriting partnership took time to develop; one of their early compositions was "
As Tears Go By", a song written for
Marianne Faithfull, a young singer Loog Oldham was promoting. For the Rolling Stones, the duo wrote "
The Last Time", the group's third No. 1 single in the UK, based on "This May Be the Last Time", a traditional
Negro spiritual song recorded by the
Staple Singers in 1955. Jagger and Richards also wrote their first international hit, "
(I Can't Get No) Satisfaction". It established the Rolling Stones' image as defiant troublemakers in contrast to
the Beatles as "lovable moptop[s]". Jagger told
Stephen Schiff in a 1992
Vanity Fair profile: I wasn't trying to be rebellious in those days; I was just being me. I wasn't trying to push the edge of anything. I'm being me and ordinary, the guy from suburbia who sings in this band, but someone older might have thought it was just the most awful racket, the most terrible thing, and where are we going if this is music? ... But all those songs we sang were pretty tame, really. People didn't think they were, but I thought they were tame. The group's early albums, including
Out of Our Heads,
Aftermath, and
Between the Buttons, were successful commercially. In 1967, Jagger, Richards, and Jones were hounded by authorities over their
recreational drug use after the
News of the World published a three-part feature, "Pop Stars and Drugs: Facts That Will Shock You". The feature described alleged
LSD parties hosted by
the Moody Blues and attended by
the Who's
Pete Townshend and
Cream's
Ginger Baker, and alleged admissions of drug use by leading pop musicians. The first article targeted
Donovan, who was raided and charged soon after the feature aired. The second instalment, published on 5 February, targeted the Rolling Stones. A reporter who contributed to the story spent an evening at the London club Blaise's, where a member of the Rolling Stones allegedly took several
Benzedrine tablets, displayed a piece of
hashish, and invited his companions back to his flat for a "smoke". The article claimed this was Mick Jagger, but it turned out to be a case of mistaken identity; the reporter had been eavesdropping on Brian Jones. Two days after the article was published, Jagger filed a writ for libel against the
News of the World.
Jagger and Richards were later arrested on drug charges and given unusually harsh sentences. Jagger was sentenced to three months' imprisonment for possession of four over-the-counter
pep pills he had purchased in Italy, and Richards was sentenced to one year in prison for allowing cannabis to be smoked on his property. The traditionally conservative editor of
The Times,
William Rees-Mogg, wrote
an article critical of the sentences. On appeal, Richards's sentence was overturned and Jagger's was amended to a
conditional discharge, although he spent one night in London's
Brixton Prison. The Rolling Stones continued to face legal battles for the next decade. On 3 July 1969, less than a month later, Jones drowned in the swimming pool at his home,
Cotchford Farm, in
Hartfield, East Sussex. When asked if he felt guilty about Jones's death, Jagger told
Rolling Stone in 1995: No, I don't really. I do feel that I behaved in a very childish way, but we were very young, and in some ways we picked on him. But, unfortunately, he made himself a target for it; he was very, very jealous, very difficult, very
manipulative, and if you do that in this kind of a group of people you get back as good as you give, to be honest. I wasn't understanding enough about his drug addiction. No one seemed to know much about drug addiction. Things like
LSD were all new. No one knew the harm. People thought cocaine was good for you. At the beginning of the Hyde Park concert, Jagger read an excerpt from
Percy Bysshe Shelley's poem "
Adonaïs", an elegy written on the death of
John Keats, after which thousands of butterflies were released in Jones's memory. During the concert, they band played three new songs from two forthcoming albums, "
Midnight Rambler" and "
Love in Vain", from
Let It Bleed, released in December 1969, and "
Loving Cup", which appeared on
Exile on Main St., released May 1972. They also played "
Honky Tonk Women", released as a single the previous day. On 6 December 1969, the Stones performed at the
Altamont Free Concert music festival, in which
Meredith Hunter was stabbed to death by a member of the
Hells Angels Motorcycle Club after drawing a
revolver and approaching the stage, which was seen as a threat to the band. Accounts of Hunter's reasoning for drawing the revolver were mixed. According to
The Guardian music editor Ben Beaumont-Thomas, Hunter's death and the overall mood of festival goers "has become symbolic for the corruption of 1960s hippy idealism". Jagger later recalled to
Robert Greenfield that he was "scared shitless" that, according to
Rolling Stone, "he might be attacked on stage" by Hells Angels members who "felt they had been unfairly blamed for the disaster that left a Stones fan dead".
1970s in
The Hague, Netherlands, in May 1976 In 1970, Jagger bought
Stargroves, a manor house and estate near
East Woodhay in
Hampshire. The Rolling Stones and several other bands recorded there using the
Rolling Stones Mobile Studio. In 1970, Nicolas Roeg's film
Performance, produced in 1968 and featuring Jagger, was released. In the film, Jagger plays the role of Turner, a reclusive rock star. Keith Richards's girlfriend
Anita Pallenberg also appeared in the film. During a 1970 concert in Paris, Jagger called for the release of imprisoned French
Maoists. Jagger and the rest of the Rolling Stones moved to
Southern France as
tax exiles in early 1971 to avoid paying a 93 per cent
supertax imposed by
Harold Wilson's
Labour government on the country's top earners. Jagger moved into a chateau near Biot in April 1971, days before the new tax year. After the band's acrimonious split with their second manager,
Allen Klein, in 1971, and Richards's
heroin addiction, Jagger assumed control of the band's business affairs, leading to feuds between Jagger and Richards. Jagger has managed the group ever since, with
Prince Rupert Loewenstein acting as business adviser and financial manager from 1968 until 2007. Jagger and the rest of the band changed their look and style as the 1970s progressed. While in France, Jagger learned to play guitar and contributed guitar parts for songs on
Sticky Fingers (1971) and the Stones' subsequent albums except
Dirty Work in 1986. For the Rolling Stones' highly publicised 1972 American tour, Jagger wore
glam-rock clothing and glitter makeup on stage. Their interest in the blues had been made manifest on the 1972 album
Exile on Main St. Music critic Russell Hall described Jagger's emotional singing on the gospel-influenced "
Let It Loose", which appears on
Exile on Main St., as the singer's best vocal achievement. In 1972, Jagger,
Charlie Watts,
Bill Wyman,
Nicky Hopkins, and
Ry Cooder released
Jamming with Edward!, an album recorded during the band's
Let It Bleed sessions. The album includes loose jams recorded while the rest of the Stones (reportedly) were waiting for Keith Richards to return to the studio. In November 1972, the band began recording sessions in
Kingston, Jamaica, for the album
Goats Head Soup, which was released in 1973 and reached No. 1 in both the UK and US. The album includes the song "
Angie", a global hit that was the first in a string of commercially successful singles to emerge from tepidly received studio albums. The sessions for
Goats Head Soup produced unused material, including "
Waiting on a Friend", a ballad that was not released until the
Tattoo You LP nine years later. Another legal battle over drugs, dating back to their stay in France, interrupted the making of
Goats Head Soup. Authorities issued a warrant for Richards's arrest, and the other band members returned briefly to France for questioning related to the incident. Along with Jagger's 1967 and 1970 convictions on drug charges, this complicated the band's plans for their
Pacific tour in early 1973. The band was denied permission to play in Japan and was nearly banned from playing in Australia. A
European tour followed in September and October 1973, which bypassed France after Richards's arrest in England on drug charges. The 1974 album ''
It's Only Rock 'n Roll'' was recorded in the
Musicland Studios in
Munich; it reached No. 2 in the UK and No. 1 in the US. Jagger and Richards produced the album credited as "the Glimmer Twins". The album and
the single of the same name were both hits. Following Mick Taylor's exodus from the band in December 1974, the Stones needed a new guitarist. The recording sessions for the next album,
Black and Blue (1976) (No. 2 in the UK, No. 1 in the US), in Munich provided an opportunity for some guitarists hoping to join the band to work while trying out. Several guitarists were auditioned, some without even knowing they were auditioning.
Ronnie Wood, then the guitarist of the band
Faces was selected and joined the band in 1975. Wood has sometimes functioned as a mediator in the group, especially between Jagger and Richards. His first full-length LP with the band was
Some Girls (1978), on which they ventured into
disco and
punk, a move primarily led by Jagger.
1980s , Netherlands, in June 1982 Following the success of
Some Girls, the band released the album
Emotional Rescue in mid-1980. During recording sessions for the album, a rift between Jagger and Richards began developing. Richards wanted to tour in the summer or autumn of 1980 to promote
Emotional Rescue, but Jagger declined.
Emotional Rescue hit the top of the charts on both sides of the Atlantic and the title track reached No. 3 in the US. In early 1981, the Rolling Stones reconvened and began touring the US that year, leaving little time to write and record a new album. The band's album
Tattoo You, released in 1981, featured several outtakes, including "
Start Me Up", the album's lead single that reached No. 2 in the US and ranked No. 22 on Billboard's Hot 100 year-end chart. Two songs, "Waiting on a Friend" (US No. 13), and "Tops", feature Mick Taylor's unused rhythm guitar tracks. Jazz saxophonist
Sonny Rollins plays on three
Tattoo You songs, "
Slave", "Neighbours", and "Waiting on a Friend". The album reached No. 2 in the UK and No. 1 in the US. While continuing to tour and release albums with the Rolling Stones, Jagger began a solo career. According to a February 1985 article in
Rolling Stone, Jagger did so to "establish an artistic identity for himself apart from the Rolling Stones" which was described as "his boldest attempt yet". Jagger started writing and recording material for his first solo album ''
She's the Boss''. the album, produced by
Nile Rodgers and
Bill Laswell, features
Herbie Hancock,
Jeff Beck,
Jan Hammer, Pete Townshend and the
Compass Point All Stars. It sold well, and the single "Just Another Night" was a Top Ten hit. During this period, he collaborated with
the Jacksons on the song "
State of Shock", sharing lead vocals with
Michael Jackson. In 1985, Jagger performed without the Rolling Stones at
Live Aid, a multi-venue charity concert in 1985. Jagger performed at
Philadelphia's
JFK Stadium, where he also performed a duet of "
It's Only Rock and Roll" with
Tina Turner, highlighted by Jagger tearing away Turner's skirt, and a cover of "
Dancing in the Street" with
David Bowie, who was performing at
Wembley Stadium in London. The video was shown simultaneously on the screens of both Wembley and JFK Stadiums. The song reached No. 1 in the UK the same year. Richards ended his heroin use and became more present in decision-making, but Jagger was not accustomed to Richards's presence and did not like his authority over the band diminished. This led to a feud between Jagger and Richards that has been referred to as "
World War III" with concern at the time that Jagger touring without the Stones could prove a "death sentence" for the band. When the Stones released
Dirty Work in March 1986, Jagger's relations with Richards had reached an all-time low, leading Jagger to refuse to tour with the band to support the new album. Jagger responded, saying: I think that one ought to be allowed to have one's artistic side apart from just being in the Rolling Stones. I love the Rolling Stones—I think it's wonderful, I think it's done a lot of wonderful things for music. But, you know, it cannot be, at my age and after spending all these years, the only thing in my life. Jagger released his second solo album,
Primitive Cool, in 1987. Though it failed to match the commercial success of his debut solo album, it was critically well received. Richards released his first solo album,
Talk is Cheap, shortly afterwards. Many felt the respective solo efforts marked the end of the Rolling Stones as a band. In 1988, Jagger produced the songs "
Glamour Boys" and "Which Way to America" on
Living Colour's album
Vivid. Between 15 and 28 March, he also performed a solo concert tour in Japan, playing in Tokyo,
Nagoya, and
Osaka. Jagger and Richards reunited in the
Barbados in 1988 and produced dozens of new songs. Richards recalls:We just started in. And within two days, we realized we had five or six songs happening. I did have to take Mick to a few discos—which are not my favourite places in the world—because Mick likes to go out and dance at night. So I did that. That was my sacrifice. I humoured him. And that's when I knew we could work together. Ron Wood believes the modest sales of Jagger's
Primitive Cool "surprised" Jagger and made him "realize the strength of the band". Richards recalled, "We've been stuffed together for years and one of the consequences of the break was making us realize we were stuck together whether we liked it or not. Jagger said, "Because we've been doing it for so long, we don't really have to discuss it. When we come up with a lick or a riff or a chorus, we already know if it's right or if it's wrong."
1990s , Chile, on the Rolling Stones'
Voodoo Lounge Tour in February 1995 The 1989–1990
Steel Wheels/Urban Jungle Tour was the band's first world tour in seven years and their biggest stage production to date. Opening acts included Living Colour and
Guns N' Roses. Recordings from the tour were released in a 1991 concert album,
Flashpoint, which reached No. 6 in the UK and No. 16 in the US, and the concert film
Live at the Max, released in 1991. The tour was
Bill Wyman's last. After years of deliberation, Wyman chose to leave the band, although his departure was not made official until January 1993. Following the success of
Steel Wheels, and the end of Jagger and Richards's well-publicised feud, Jagger attempted to reestablish himself as a solo artist. He acquired
Rick Rubin as co-producer in January 1992 for his third solo album,
Wandering Spirit. Sessions for the album began that month in
Los Angeles and ended nine months later, in September 1992. Richards recorded his second solo studio album,
Main Offender, at the same time. On
Wandering Spirit, Jagger used
Lenny Kravitz as a vocalist on his cover of
Bill Withers's "
Use Me" and bassist
Flea from
Red Hot Chili Peppers on three separate tracks. Jagger signed with
Atlantic Records, which had signed the Stones in the 1970s, to distribute the solo album.
Wandering Spirit, released in February 1993, and
The Very Best of Mick Jagger, a compilation album containing no new material, were both released by Atlantic Records. In 1993, the Stones were ready to start recording their next studio album, and Charlie Watts recruited bassist
Darryl Jones, a former
sideman of
Miles Davis and
Sting, as Wyman's replacement for the recording of
Voodoo Lounge, released in 1994. Jones continued to perform with the band as the band's touring and session bassist. The album was well received critically and proved commercially successful, going double platinum in the US. Reviews of the
Voodoo Lounge noted and credited the album's "traditionalist" sounds to the Rolling Stones' new producer
Don Was.
Voodoo Lounge won the
Grammy Award for Best Rock Album at the 1995
Grammy Awards. It reached No. 1 in the UK and No. 2 in the US. The
Voodoo Lounge Tour to support
Voodoo Lounge lasted into 1996, grossing $320 million and becoming the world's
highest-grossing tour ever at the time. On 8 September 1994, the Stones performed "
Love Is Strong", a new song, and "Start Me Up" at the
1994 MTV Video Music Awards at
Radio City Music Hall in New York City. The band was awarded the Lifetime Achievement Award at the 1994 MTV ceremony. It reached No. 6 in the UK and No. 3 in the US. The music video for the single "
Anybody Seen My Baby?" featuring
Angelina Jolie was played in steady rotation on both
MTV and
VH1. Sales were roughly equal to those of previous records (about 1.2 million copies sold in the US). The subsequent
Bridges to Babylon Tour, which crossed Europe, North America, and other destinations, proved the band remained a strong live music attraction. Another live album,
No Security, was released from the tour.
No Security included all new songs, except "
Live With Me" and "The Last Time", which had been previously unreleased on live albums. The album reached No. 67 in the UK and No. 34 in the US. In 1999, the Rolling Stones staged the
No Security Tour in the US and continued the Bridges to Babylon tour in Europe.
2000s in
Milan in June 2003 In 2001, Jagger released his fourth solo album,
Goddess in the Doorway, spawning the single "Visions of Paradise", which reached No. 44 in the UK. Following the
11 September attacks, Jagger joined Richards in
the Concert for New York City, a benefit concert in response to the terrorist attack, to sing "
Salt of the Earth" and "
Miss You". From 1989 to 2001, according to
Fortune, the Stones generated more than US$1.5 billion in total gross revenue, surpassing the revenue of
U2,
Bruce Springsteen, and
Michael Jackson. Jagger celebrated the Rolling Stones' 40th anniversary by touring with the band on the year-long
Licks Tour, supporting the band's commercially successful career retrospective,
Forty Licks, a double album. Along with
Eurythmics member and record producer
David A. Stewart, Jagger wrote and performed
the soundtrack to the 2004 romantic comedy
Alfie, which included the
Golden Globe Award for Best Original Song-winning single "
Old Habits Die Hard". In 2007, the band grossed US$437 million on
A Bigger Bang Tour, earning the band an entry in the 2007 edition of
Guinness World Records for the most lucrative music tour ever. Asked if the band would retire after the tour, Jagger said, "I'm sure the Rolling Stones will do more things and more records and more tours. We've got no plans to stop any of that really." Two years later, in October 2009, Jagger joined U2 to perform "
Gimme Shelter" with
Fergie and
will.i.am, and "
Stuck in a Moment You Can't Get Out Of" with U2 at the
25th Anniversary Rock & Roll Hall of Fame Concert.
2010s On 20 May 2011, Jagger announced the formation of a new
supergroup,
SuperHeavy, including
Dave Stewart,
Joss Stone,
Damian Marley, and
A. R. Rahman. The group started with a phone call Jagger received from Stewart. Stewart had heard three sound systems playing different music at the same time in his home in
St Ann's Bay, Jamaica. This gave him the idea of creating a group with Jagger, fusing the musical styles of several artists. After multiple phone calls and deliberation, the other members of the group were decided upon. and two singles in 2011, reportedly recording 29 songs in ten days. Jagger is featured on will.i.am's 2011 single "
T.H.E. (The Hardest Ever)" along with
Jennifer Lopez, officially released to iTunes on 4 February 2012. in October 2016 On 21 February 2012, Jagger,
B. B. King,
Buddy Guy and Jeff Beck, and a blues ensemble, performed at the
White House concert series before President
Barack Obama. When Jagger held out a mic to him, Obama twice sang the line "Come on, baby don't you want to go" of the blues cover "
Sweet Home Chicago", the blues anthem of Obama's hometown. Jagger hosted the season finale of
Saturday Night Live on 19 and 20 May 2012, doing several comic skits and playing some Rolling Stones' hits with
Arcade Fire,
Foo Fighters and Jeff Beck. Jagger performed in
12-12-12: The Concert for Sandy Relief with the Rolling Stones on 12 December 2012. The Stones played the
Glastonbury festival in 2013, headlining on Saturday, 29 June. This was followed by two concerts in London's Hyde Park as part of their 50th anniversary celebrations, their first there since their famous
1969 performance. In 2013, Jagger teamed up with his brother Chris Jagger for two new duets on his album
Concertina Jack, released to mark the 40th anniversary of his debut album. On 7 October 2016, the Stones headlined the first night of the three-day music festival
Desert Trip and covered the Beatles' 1969 single "
Come Together";
Paul McCartney performed the next night. In July 2017, Jagger released the
double A-sided single
"Gotta Get a Grip" / "England Lost". They were released as a response to the "anxiety, unknowability of the changing political situation" in a
post-Brexit UK, according to Jagger. Accompanying music videos were released for both songs. In March 2019, a Rolling Stones tour of the US and Canada from April to June had to be postponed as Jagger needed a
transcatheter aortic valve replacement. On 4 April 2019, it was announced that Jagger had successfully undergone the procedure at
NewYork–Presbyterian Hospital, and was in great health. After a six-week delay while Jagger recovered, the
No Filter Tour resumed with two performances at Chicago's
Soldier Field.
2020s The band's 1973 album
Goats Head Soup was reissued in September 2020 and featured previously unreleased outtakes, such as "
Scarlet", featuring
Jimmy Page. The album topped the UK Albums Chart as the Rolling Stones became the first band to top the chart across six different decades. The Rolling Stones—featuring Jagger, Richards, Watts and Wood at their homes—were one of the headline acts on Global Citizen's
One World: Together at Home on-line and on-screen concert on 18 April 2020, a global event featuring dozens of artists and comedians to support frontline healthcare workers and the
World Health Organization during the COVID-19 pandemic. Five days later, they released "
Living in a Ghost Town", a new Rolling Stones' single recorded in London and Los Angeles in 2019 and finished in isolation (part of the new material that the band were recording in the studio before the
COVID-19 lockdown), a song that the band "thought would resonate through the times we're living in" and their first release of original material since 2012. The song reached No. 1 on the German Singles Chart, the first time the Stones had reached the top spot in 52 years, and making them the oldest artists ever to do so. In August 2021, it was announced that Charlie Watts would undergo an unspecified medical procedure and would not perform on the remainder of the No Filter tour; the longtime Stones associate
Steve Jordan filled in as drummer. Watts died at a London hospital on 24 August 2021, at the age of 80, with his family around him. Jagger, Richards and Wood paid tribute to him, along with former bandmate Wyman. It was discussed whether the band would continue, and they opted to carry on as it was what "Charlie wanted us to do". During their first show after Watts's death, Jagger told the crowd:It's a bit of a poignant night for us. Because this is our first tour in 59 years that we've done without our lovely Charlie Watts. We all miss Charlie so much. We miss him as a band. We miss him as friends, on and off the stage. We've got so many memories of Charlie. I'm sure some of you that have seen us before have got memories of Charlie as well. And I hope you'll remember him like we do. So we'd like to dedicate this show to Charlie.In a May 2022 interview, Jagger stated "I don't really expect him to be there any more if I turn round during a show. But I do think about him. Not only during rehearsals or on stage, but in other ways too." On the one-year anniversary of Watts's death, Jagger shared what
Rolling Stone described as a "moving tribute" on social media, which included a voiceover by Jagger backed with "
Till the Next Goodbye". That same year, Jagger co-wrote and performed "Strange Game" for the television series
Slow Horses after being
emailed "out of the blue" by composer
Daniel Pemberton, whom he did not know; it was subsequently nominated for an
Emmy award. That June, two shows scheduled in the Stones'
Sixty tour were postponed after Jagger contracted
COVID-19. The tour resumed following Jagger's recovery in late June. Jagger launched his own line of harmonicas the following January in collaboration with whynow Music and
Lee Oskar, expressing a desire to encourage younger musicians to take up the instrument. ==Relationship with Keith Richards==