Started: July 12, 1962
City and Country of Origin: London, England
Music Training:
Awards: 1994 Grammy for Best Rock Album, Voodoo Lounge; Best Music Video, Short Form, Love Is Strong
Top Recordings: "It's All Over Now," "Tell Me (You're Coming Back)," "Time Is On My Side," "The Last Time," "(I Can't Get No) Satisfaction"
The Rolling Stones Biography: At the heart of the Rolling Stones are Mick Jagger and Keith Richards boyhood friends who initially met as children at Dartford Maypole County Primary School. The duo drifted apart for about 10 years and met again in 1960 while Jagger was attending the London School of Economics while playing in a blues band Little Boy Blue and the Blue Boys with Dick Taylor who was attending Sidcup Art School with Richards. They had Richards join the band. Within a year they had met guitarist Brian Jones. Even by then JOnes had already led a wild life having run away to Scandinavia at 16 having already fathered 2 illegitimate children. By the time he hooked up with Jagger and Richards Jones had already played with several otehr bands including Alexis Korner's group, Blues Inc. who he played with at the Ealing Blues Club. The band features Charlie Watts on drums with cameos by Richards and Jagger. Soon they began playing with Dick Taylor and Ian Stewart. With assistance from drummer Tony Chapman the group cut a demo which was rejected by EMI. Shorlty before Taylor left to attend the Royal College of Art the group adopted the name the Rolling Stones from a Muddy Waters song. The group made its debut at the Marquee Club in London on July 12, 1962. During that first perfoprmance the group consisted of Jagger, Richards, Jones, pianist Ian Stewart, drummer Mick Avory and Dick Taylor who made a brief return. Taylor was soon replaced by Bill Wyman. Avory was replaced by Tony Chapman who proved unsatisfactory. The group recruited Charlie Watts who had quit Blues Inc. The group began an 8 month stint at the Crawdaddy Club. It was here that the group was signed by manager Andrew Loog Oldham who crafted the groups bad boys of rock'n roll image. Ian Stewart was forced out of the live group, but continued working with the group behind the scenes until his death in 1985. Oldham helped secure a contract with Decca Records. Their first single a cover of Chuck Berry's "Come On" reached number 21 on the charts. They cracked the top twenty with Lennon-McCartney's "I Wanna Be Your Man" later in the year. In early 1964 the released Buddy Holly's "Not Fade Away," which shot up all the way to number 3 in England and cracked the American charts at 48. By that time the Stones edgy bad boy image had garnered much media attention. In 1964 the group released its first album the Rolling Stones and followed it with "It's All Over Now" their first number 1. That summer they were met by riotous crowds on their first American tour. "Tell Me (You're Coming Back)" became the groups fisrt top 40 hit in America and "Time Is On My Side" became their first American top ten entry. They followed it up with "Time Is On My Side," but it wasn't until 1965 with the release of "(I Can't Get No) Satisfaction," a song that easily could be construed as the anthem of the '60s, that the group achieved superstar status. It went to number 1 and paved the way for a procession of follow up number ones: "Get Off My Cloud," "19th Nervous Breakdown," "As Tears Go By" and "Have You Seen Your Mother, Baby, Standing in the Shadow?" In 1966 the Stones responded to the Beatles deeper album material by releasing their first album of their own original material, Aftermath, containing "Paint It, Black," and "I'm Going Home." In '67 they released Between the Buttons. It was around this time that Mick, Keith and Brian were all busted for drugs. Only Keith served jail time. The drugs were having an effect on Brian and the group replaced him with former John Mayall guitarist Mick Taylor who was at least 10 years younger than the rest of the band members. He injected some new life into the group, but their controversial bad boy image would haunt them shortly thereafter as Brian was found dead floating in his swimming pool. Suspicions of foul play arose, but the death was rules an accident. After the release of Exile On Main Street Mick Taylor left and was replaced by former Faces member Ron Woods. The group had exhausted much of its energies and from then on only toured and recorded sporadically over the next decades.

Music by the Decade:

Sounds of the Fifties

Sounds of the Sixties

Sounds of the Seventies

Sounds of the Eighties

Sounds of the Nineties