Jagger, Mick (26 July 1943-Present)

Mick Jagger and Keith Richards met when they were four or five years old but went to separate schools and re-united by chance in 1960 on a train platform, where the stack of blues albums under Mick’s arm piqued Keith’s curiosity. The result was the formation of The Rolling Stones, named after the Muddy Waters song, “Rolling Stone”. In addition to Jagger and Richards, the original line-up comprised Brian Jones, Charlie Watts, and Bill Wyman.

They released their eponymous debut in 1964 and it was the beginning of a collaboration that would eventually span more than four decades. Their first several hits were cover versions of other songs, but they hit #1 on the U.K. charts with their original composition “The Last Time”. The Rolling Stones would soon conquer the States, on the strength of 1965’s “(I Can’t Get No) Satisfaction” and an appearance on The Ed Sullivan Show. Other hits followed: ” Angie”, “Brown Sugar”, “Get Off of My Cloud”, “Honky Tonk Women”, “Miss You”, “19^th Nervous Breakdown”, “Paint It Black”, and “Ruby Tuesday” all reached the top of the U.S. charts. In the late ’60s, The Stones embarked on a world-wide tour, which would become their bread and butter.

1968 was a bittersweet year, marked with success, with the release of “Sympathy for the Devil”, and tragedy, when Stones guitarist Brian Jones killed himself. He was later replaced by Mick Taylor.

In the early ’70s, Mick Jagger embarked on an acting career, appearing as the title role in Ned Kelly, and Performance, for which he also recorded what would become his first solo hit, “Memo from Turner”. The following year, it was back into the studio with The Stones on Sticky Fingers, which spawned the hits “Wild Horses” and the aforementioned “Brown Sugar”.

Ron Wood replaced Mick Taylor in 1974, giving The Rolling Stones two lead guitarists to be reckoned with. The 1970s saw The Rolling Stones become a formidable concert draw, and after a three-year respite, they hit the road again in 1981 in support of Tattoo You.

In 1984, twenty years after The Stones’ first album, Mick got a taste of what it might be like to be a solo artist when he performed as a guest vocalist on The Jacksons’ “State of Shock”. Four months later, he entered the studio and laid down his first solo tracks, with support from Jeff Beck and Pete Townshend. The result was She’s the Boss, released the following year.

Ever the businessman, Mick took advantage of the burgeoning MTV network and shot music videos to accompany “Just Another Night” and “Lucky At Love”, both of which made the top forty and helped make She’s the Boss go platinum. That same year, Mick collaborated with Tina Turner at Live Aid and David Bowie on a cover version of “Dancing in the Street”, the proceeds from which went to the aforementioned AIDS benefit.

In 1986, The Rolling Stones released Dirty Work, and Mick recorded the title track to the Danny DeVito-Bette Midler comedy Ruthless People. A year later, he released his second solo effort, Primitive Cool, which received a warm reception from the critics but a cool one from its audience. Nevertheless, “Let’s Work” managed to hit the top forty. In 1989, Mick recorded with The Stones once again on Steel Wheels, which launched yet another tour. Four years later, his third solo album, Wandering Spirit, appealed to audiences and critics alike, entering the Billboard Top 200 at #11 and going gold within a year.

He got even more serious about filmmaking in 1995, when he co-founded Jagged Films, which released its first film, Enigma, in 2001. In 1997, Mick resumed his acting career with a role in Bent, and still found time to record Bridges to Babylon with The Stones, and; you guessed it; tour in support of the album.

Mick recorded his fourth solo release in the new millennium: Goddess in the Doorway invited the likes of guest performers Bono, Lenny Kravitz, Rob Thomas, Pete Townshend, and WyclefJean. As recently as 2007, Mick surprised fans of his brother Chris’s band by making an impromptu appearance with them in a London Pub. He also helped put The Stones in the record books, when they garnered $437 million from “A Bigger Bang Tour”. As if he wasn’t busy enough, he also appeared as himself in the sit-com, Let’s Rob Mick Jagger. Another project was in concert with Martin Scorcese for a rock-doc entitled The Long Play.

In 2012 he performed at the White House concert series before President Obama and got him to sing a line of “Sweet Home Chicago” and also in 2012 he was the host of the season sinale of Saturday Night Live where he added some comic skits and performed with the other artists. In 2013 he headlined with The Rolling Stones at Glastonbury and then they performed two concerts in Hyde Park which was their first since 1969 and was part of their 5oth Anniversary celebrations. That same year he recorded two duets with his brother Chris to marked the 40th Anniversary of his debut album.

Mick Jagger has had just about every major award bestowed upon him: He was inducted, as a member of The Rolling Stones, into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame in 1989 and the U.K. Music Hall of Fame in 2004, the Songwriters Hall of Fame in 1993, and was knighted by Prince Charles on 12^th December, 2003.

Carly Simon recordings
You’re So Vain (Carly Simon)

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Jagger, Mick (26 July 1943-Present)

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