The Rolling Stones are an English rock band formed in London in 1962. The first stable line-up consisted of bandleader Brian Jones, Mick Jagger, Keith Richards, Bill Wyman, Charlie Watts (drums), and Ian Stewart (piano). Stewart was removed from the official line-up in 1963 but continued to work with the band as a contracted musician until his death in 1985. The band's primary songwriters, Jagger–Richards, assumed leadership after Andrew Loog Oldham became the group's manager. Jones left the band less than a month before his death in 1969, having already been replaced by Mick Taylor. Taylor left in 1974 and was replaced in 1975 by Ronnie Wood who has since remained. Since Wyman's departure in 1993, Darryl Jones has served as touring bassist. The Stones have not had an official keyboardist since 1963, but have employed several musicians in that role, including Jack Nitzsche (1965–1971), Nicky Hopkins (1967–1982), Billy Preston (1971–1981), Ian McLagan (1978–1981), and Chuck Leavell (1982–present).
Sir Michael Philip Jagger is an English singer, songwriter, actor, and film producer who gained worldwide fame as the lead singer and one of the founder members of the Rolling Stones. Jagger's career has spanned over five decades, and he has been described as "one of the most popular and influential frontmen in the history of rock & roll". His distinctive voice and energetic live performances, along with Keith Richards' guitar style, have been the trademark of the Rolling Stones throughout the band's career. Jagger gained press notoriety for his romantic involvements, and was often portrayed as a countercultural figure.
Lewis Brian Hopkins Jones was an English musician and composer, best known as the founder and original leader of the Rolling Stones. Initially a slide guitarist, Jones would go on to play a wide variety of instruments on Rolling Stones recordings and in concerts, such as rhythm and lead guitar, sitar, dulcimer, various keyboard instruments such as piano and mellotron, marimba, wind instruments such as harmonica, recorder, saxophone, as well as drums, vocals and numerous others.
Keith Richards is an English musician, singer, and songwriter. He is best known as the co-founder, guitarist, secondary vocalist, and co-principal songwriter of the Rolling Stones. Rolling Stone magazine called Richards the creator of "rock's greatest single body of riffs" on guitar and ranked him fourth on its list of 100 best guitarists in 2011. The magazine lists fourteen songs that Richards wrote with the Rolling Stones' lead vocalist Mick Jagger on its "Rolling Stone's 500 Greatest Songs of All Time" list.
"Jumpin' Jack Flash" is a song by English rock band the Rolling Stones, released as a single in 1968. Called "supernatural Delta blues by way of Swinging London" by Rolling Stone magazine, the song was perceived by some as the band's return to their blues roots after the baroque pop and psychedelia heard on their preceding albums, Aftermath (1966), Between the Buttons (1967) and especially Their Satanic Majesties Request (1967). One of the group's most popular and recognisable songs, it has featured in films and been covered by numerous performers, notably Thelma Houston, Aretha Franklin, Tina Turner, Peter Frampton, Johnny Winter and Leon Russell. To date, it is the band's most-performed song: the band has played it over 1,100 times in concert.
Naked Lunch is a 1959 novel by American writer William S. Burroughs. The book is structured as a series of loosely connected vignettes. Burroughs stated that the chapters are intended to be read in any order. The reader follows the narration of junkie William Lee, who takes on various aliases, from the U.S. to Mexico, eventually to Tangier and the dreamlike Interzone.
Michael Kevin Taylor is an English musician, best known as a former member of John Mayall's Bluesbreakers (1967–69) and the Rolling Stones (1969–74). He has appeared on some of the Stones' classic albums, including Let It Bleed (1969), Get Yer Ya-Ya's Out! The Rolling Stones in Concert (1970), Sticky Fingers (1971) and Exile on Main St. (1972).
Beggars Banquet is a studio album by English rock band the Rolling Stones. It was released in December 1968 by Decca Records in the United Kingdom and London Records in the United States; it is the band's seventh British and ninth American studio album. The recording marked a change in direction for the band following the psychedelic pop of their previous two albums, Between the Buttons and Their Satanic Majesties Request. Styles such as roots rock and a return to the blues rock sound that had marked early Stones recordings dominate the record, and the album is among the most instrumentally experimental of the band's career, as they infuse Latin beats and instruments like the claves alongside South Asian sounds from the tanpura, tabla and shehnai and African-influenced conga rhythms.
Richard Clifford Taylor is an English musician, best known as the guitarist and founding member of the Pretty Things.
Aftermath is a studio album by the English rock band the Rolling Stones. The group recorded the album at RCA Studios in California in December 1965 and March 1966, during breaks between their international tours. It was released in the United Kingdom on 15 April 1966 by Decca Records and in the United States on 2 July by London Records. It is the band's fourth British and sixth American studio album, and follows closely after a series of international hit singles that helped bring the Stones newfound wealth and popularity that rivalled their contemporaries, the Beatles.
Dartford Grammar School is a selective secondary foundation school for boys in Dartford, Kent, England, which admits girls to its sixth form. All of the students joining the school are considered to be from the top 25% of the ability range, as determined by the 11-Plus examinations. The students come from Dartford, neighbouring towns and villages, and nearby London boroughs, as well as an increasing number of students from Essex. The current roll is 1,203, including 461 in the sixth form. It is the brother school of Dartford Grammar School for Girls.
Alan Clayson is an English singer-songwriter, author and music journalist. He gained popularity in the late 1970s as leader of the band Clayson and the Argonauts. In addition to contributing to publications such as Record Collector, Mojo and Folk Roots, he subsequently established himself as a prolific writer of music biographies. Among his many books are Backbeat, which details the Beatles' early career in Germany, Ringo Starr: Straight Man or Joker?, and biographies of Jacques Brel, the Yardbirds, Serge Gainsbourg and Edgard Varèse.
"Baby, Please Don't Go" is a traditional blues song that was popularized by Delta blues musician Big Joe Williams in 1935. Many cover versions followed, and the song been described by French music historian Gérard Herzhaft as "one of the most played, arranged, and rearranged pieces in blues history".
Paul Hereford Oliver MBE was an English architectural historian and writer on the blues and other forms of African-American music. He was equally distinguished in both fields, although it is likely that aficionados of one of his specialties were not aware of his expertise in the other. He wrote some of the first scholarly studies of blues music, and his commentary and research have been influential.
Philip Norman is an English author, novelist, journalist and playwright. He is best known for his critically acclaimed biographies of the Beatles, the Rolling Stones, Buddy Holly and Elton John. His other books include similar studies of John Lennon, Mick Jagger, Paul McCartney and Eric Clapton.
Life is a memoir by the Rolling Stones guitarist Keith Richards, written with the assistance of journalist James Fox. Published in October 2010, in hardback, audio and e-book formats, the book chronicles Richards' love of music, charting influences from his mother and maternal grandfather, through his discovery of blues music, the founding of the Rolling Stones, his often turbulent relationship with Mick Jagger, his involvement with drugs, and his relationships with women including Anita Pallenberg and his wife Patti Hansen. Richards also released Vintage Vinos, a compilation of his work with the X-Pensive Winos, at the same time.
Chris Jagger is an English musician. He is the younger brother of rock star Mick Jagger, frontman for the Rolling Stones.
Studio Vista was a British publishing company founded in 1961 that specialised in leisure and design topics. In the 1960s, the firm published works by a number of authors that went on to be noted designers.
In late August 1967, the English rock band the Beatles attended a seminar on Transcendental Meditation (TM) held by Indian teacher Maharishi Mahesh Yogi at a training college in Bangor in north-west Wales. The visit attracted international publicity for Transcendental Meditation and presented the 1960s youth movement with an alternative to psychedelic drugs as a means to attaining higher consciousness. The Beatles' endorsement of the technique followed the band's incorporation of Indian musical and philosophical influences in their work, and was initiated by George Harrison's disillusionment with Haight-Ashbury in San Francisco, which he visited in early August.
Eric Easton (1927–1995) was an English record producer and an early manager of British rock group The Rolling Stones. Originally from Lancashire, he joined the music industry playing the organ in music halls and cinemas. Entering the management and talent industry, Easton set up a suite of offices in London's Regent Street. In 1963 he met Andrew Loog Oldham who wanted to sign an unknown band he was keen on. The band was The Rolling Stones, who at the time were playing small clubs and blues bars. Oldham had youth and energy on his side, while Easton brought industry experience, contacts and financial ability to the partnership. Easton saw the band once—at the Crawdaddy Club in Richmond—and they soon signed the group to both a management and publishing deal. While the contractual terms for the band were good, they were far more advantageous for Easton and Oldham. Easton was primarily responsible for booking gigs—he was keen for the group to get out of London and play nationally—but also acted as record producer on a number of occasions, including their first single, Chuck Berry's "Come On" in June 1963. Easton was responsible for most aspects of the band's development, ranging from managing their fan club to organising their tour of America in 1964.
