The Rolling Stones Bio

The Rolling Stones Biography

While The Rolling Stones are now sometimes associated with geriatric jokes, they have been rated #4 in Rolling Stone Magazine's 100 Greatest Artists of All Time. Still today, nearly early every album that they release with new material lands in the top five on the U.S. charts. Their ages aside, they've been recording and touring for over forty years and show no signs of stopping any time soon.

In 1960, classmates Mick Jagger and Keith Richards from Dartford, Kent, came together with new friend Brian Jones to create a new band. With Jagger on vocals, Richards on guitar, and Jones on guitar and vocals, they added Ian Stewart on piano, and Dick Taylor on bass. The stool in front of the drum set seemed to be part of a revolving door, as several different drummers were used. Eventually, Taylor left, being replaced by Bill Wyman, and a permanent drummer was found in Charlie Watts. Jones named the band The Rolling Stones after the Muddy Waters hit.

If there is one thing The Rolling Stones have been known for throughout all these years, it's their live shows. While this had always been Jones's band, Mick Jagger came to take a bigger and bigger role as the front man of the live shows. Their first album was made up primarily of covers, such as Chuck Berry's “Come On” and Nat King Cole's “Route 66.” The band's manager, Andrew Loog Oldham, insisted on not listing Stewart as part of the band, yet allowed him to record and perform during live shows.

When the band's second album came out,  The Rolling Stones No. 2 (referred to as The Rolling Stones, Now! in the U.S.), it still included cover tunes, but Jagger and Richards were also trying their hand at songwriting, after their manager locked them in a room together and wouldn't let them out until they had something substantial written. It apparently worked, as the next album, Out of Our Heads, included the hit “Satisfaction,” which Richard wrote while he was falling asleep one night. The next day he listened to the tape and heard two minutes of the guitar riff that would become “Satisfaction,” followed by forty minutes of himself snoring.

Jones, noticing his role in the band being somewhat diminished, turned to drugs. This turned off Jones’s girlfriend and his friend Richards, and the two took solace in each other. It is possible that this situation was behind the songwriting for “Mother's Little Helper,” a song about pill abuse, included on the new album, Aftermath. Yet it was Richards’ home that fell under a drug raid, with pills being found in the possession of Jagger. Marianne Faithful, girlfriend of Jagger, was in attendance as well, and found lying naked under a fur rug. Richards and Jagger both received jail time, but eventually Richards was acquitted, and Jagger's time was reduced. Ironically, Jones was arrested for possession around the same time and only received probation.

Jagger wanted to create a success similar to The Beatles' Sgt. Pepper's Lonely Hearts Club Band, but Their Satanic Majesties Request didn't fair too well with the critics, and Jones continued to sink even further into his drugged state. Jagger himself later called the album "complete crap." The band tried to transition, returning to their bluesy roots, including bits of heavy rock and standard 60s folk music, resulting in songs like “Jumpin' Jack Flash” and “Sympathy for the Devil.”

Jones was continuously not showing up for recording sessions, and the band began to not even invite him. In June of 1969, the band showed up at his home and officially let him go, replacing him with Mick Taylor. Jones continued to drink heavily while planning a comeback, living in a home formerly owned by A. A. Milne, author of the Winnie the Pooh stories. However, it was only a month after he was let go that he was found dead in the swimming pool of his home. The band released the single “Honky Tonk Woman” shortly after the death, and later that year, Let It Bleed was released, including the song “You Can't Always Get What You Want.”

The Rolling Stones decided to perform a concert free to the public, and hired the Hells Angels for security. Yet the band’s idea of paying them with beer didn't pay out when the bikers were too drunk to provide adequate security. A young man drew a gun at the security, and was subsequently stabbed and beaten to death. The concert and murder were then featured in a documentary, Gimme Shelter.

Aside from this incident, the band began doing very well with Jones now gone. A live recording was made, Get Yer Ya-Yas Out!, paying homage to their earlier days playing covers of blues staples.

Fulfilling their obligation to Decca Records, the band left and created their own label, releasing the album Sticky Fingers, featuring such well-known hits as “Brown Sugar” and “Wild Horses.” The band's problems with drugs weren't over, however, as it was now Richards that was using drugs more frequently, forcing Jagger to collaborate on songs with Taylor, despite the fact the songs were still credited to Jagger and Richards. Jagger married model Bianca Perez Moreno de Macias, and the band was forced out of London and into France for a short time.

The next person to have drug problems wasn't one of the band members, but their producer, Jimmy Miller. He was let go in 1974, and the next album, It's Only Rock 'n Roll, was produced by Jagger and Richards under the name Glimmer Twins. By the end of that year, Richards was still not dependable because of his drug habits, and the rest of the band members were covering his legal bills. Having not done any touring in over a year, Taylor became impatient. He was also upset with Jagger who had promised him writing credit on the last two albums, and when it didn't happen, he quit The Rolling Stones, and was replaced by one of his old friends, Ron Wood.

In 1977, Richards and Pallenberg were arrested for heroin possession in Toronto. Eventually Richards received a suspended sentence and was ordered to perform free concerts for a charity. After their third child together died, Richards and Pallenberg broke up. Jagger also ended his marriage to Bianca and began dating another model, Jerry Hall. Success found its way to the band again, as they recorded the album Some Girls, which spawned hits in “Miss You” and “Beast of Burden.”

Things were not all well and good within the band members’ relationships. When Richards got clean and sober, he sought to control the music again, but Jagger had already grown quite accustomed to having everything his way. The album Tattoo You was released, and it included mostly unused recordings such as “Waiting on A Friend” and “Start Me Up.” The resulting tour was filmed and packaged as a live album as well as a concert film, The Rolling Stones: Let's Spend the Night Together. Again, things were not running smoothly, as Woods was now having a drug problem, Richards wasn't happy about Jagger doing solo work, and Stewart died of a heart attack.

The next album gave more control to Richards, but it was mostly due to the fact that Jagger was working on his solo career. Jagger then refused to tour, as he thought Richards, Woods, and Watts weren't healthy enough to do so. Jagger's solo recordings were largely unsuccessful, but Richards' solo work, Talk Is Cheap, which he had been against originally, did well. The work of The Rolling Stones was still being recognized, however, as the band was inducted into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame in 1989. Jagger and Richards then agreed to let go of their past disagreements and recorded a new album, Steel Wheels, and embarked on a tour for the first time since 1982.

Bill Wyman left in 1993, as he wasn't up for touring any longer, and wrote an autobiography, Stone Alone. This time, The Rolling Stones continued on as a quartet, not replacing the departing band member. While the band continued to release greatest hits albums, and even some new music such as A Bigger Bang, the music coming out never matched the successes from the 60s and 70s.

The Rolling Stones continue to tour, selling out large stadiums. In addition, their music is heard in movies such as Apocalypse Now, The Big Chill, and The Departed. “Start Me Up” was used in a Microsoft ad for their Windows 95 operating system. It was rumored that Bill Gates had asked Jagger how much it would cost to use the song and that Jagger replied $14 million. In reality, the amount was much less. To be fair, they also allowed their song “She's a Rainbow” to be used in ads for Apple’s iMacs.

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