The singer of the Rolling Stones, the living legend of rock music, received the knighthood in 2003, but due to his anti-elite views and his troubled private life, he was awarded II. Queen Elizabeth did not consider him worthy of the honor, so she left the award to her son, Charles, Prince of Wales.
One of the most charismatic personalities of the rock world was born on July 26, 1943 in Dartford, under the name Michael Philipp Jagger. He sang in the church choir and was an extremely good student, so his teacher's parents hoped that he would follow in their footsteps. However, Jagger became a lover of early rock and roll and blues, bought his first guitar at the age of fourteen and formed a band with his schoolmate, Dick Taylor. He had already been a student at the London School of Economics for a year when
On October 17, 1961, he met Keith Richards, who was carrying his guitar, at Dartford railway station.
whom he met when he was five years old, but then they lost sight of each other. They started talking, of course, about blues music, and by the time they got to London, a friendship and one of the most important authors of rock music was born. The place of the great meeting is now marked by a plaque, and a statue depicting the two musicians will soon be inaugurated nearby.
From there, the Rolling Stones were only one step away. Richards joined the band of Jagger and Taylor, shortly after Brian Jones, more experienced in all aspects of life, also arrived. The band was eventually named after Muddy Waters' Rollin' Stone, and their first performance took place on July 12, 1962. Taylor left soon after, Bill Wyman took over the bass guitar (according to legend, not because of his virtuoso playing, but because he also had an amplifier), and Charlie Watts sat behind the drums. The now established Rolling Stones signed a contract with the Decca record company in June 1963, the agreement - making up for his mistake - was struck by the producer who fired the Beatles after the audition a year earlier.
Playing hard music and piling scandal upon scandal, the Stones were soon considered the only serious rival of the well-groomed Beatles, especially after Jagger and Richards started writing their own songs in addition to covers. Not entirely of their own accord:
according to legend, their manager locked them in a room from which they could only come out if they came up with their own composition, thus As Tears Go By was born.
This was followed by countless songs over time, including such classics as Paint It Black, Time Is On My Side, (I Cant't Get No) Satisfaction, Jumpin' Jack Flash, Ruby Tuesday, You Can' t Always Get What You Want, Sympathy For The Devil, Gimme Shelter. Their albums Aftermath, Beggars Banquet, Let It Bleed, the live Get Yer Ya-Ya's Out, Sticky Fingers and Exile on Main St. have also become classics.
Jagger's extremely suggestive stage presence and characteristic physicality also attracted the attention of the film industry, he appeared in more than ten films, among which Ned Kelly and Performance are the best known, but he was also a producer, film composer and even a writer.
The world's biggest rock and roll band, as they were called at concerts, seemed to be dying out at the end of the seventies, and a conflict developed between the singer and the guitarist regarding the musical style. Jagger would have gone more towards pop and dance genres, while Richards voted for rock and roll and blues roots. All this was compounded by the fact that
Jagger also tried a solo career, but after two albums, which were moderately successful compared to the Rolling Stones, he had to realize that he couldn't go it alone.
After the break-up, he returned to the Rolling Stones, and the band's 1989 Steel Wheels album and accompanying tour proved to be a successful venture in every sense. Jagger made his third solo album in 1993, but Wandering Spirit also received a lukewarm reception, while the following year's Stones record, Woodoo Lounge, won a Grammy Award. Jagger's fourth solo album was released in 2001 under the title Goddess in the Doorway.
The former rebel was knighted in 2003, and since then he has been called Sir Mick. The award stirred up a storm, because Jaggert's anti-elite views and troubled private life led to World War II. Queen Elizabeth did not consider him worthy of the honor,
and when he did give in, he entrusted the awarding of the award to his son Charles, Prince of Wales (now King Charles III) - on the other hand, Richards criticized his friend for accepting the title.
The Stones still give concerts, in 1995 and 2007 their Hungarian fans could also admire them live. In the summer of 2016, they gave a historic concert in front of half a million people in Havana, where their music was previously banned by the communist regime. The last time they went on tour was last year, on their 60th anniversary, when only Jagger and Richards remained from the original members - Brian Jones died in 1969, he was replaced by Mick Taylor, then Ronnie Wood in 1976, Bill Wymann in 1993 who Charlie Watts died in 2021. In February of this year, Grrr Live! live album recorded during the Stones' 2012 50 and Counting tour.
The ever-moving and unrestrained Mick Jagger seems to have no time. In 2019, he underwent heart valve surgery, but even after eight decades left behind, he still does sports every day, warming up on a treadmill before a concert, which he needs, as he dazzles his audience with more than 20 kilometers of gymnastics in addition to music (in 2019, the A ballet based on his dance moves was also presented at the Mariinsky Theater in St. Petersburg). He is also interested in the arts, and participated in the design of the sets of the band's concerts and several album covers. He is known to be a womanizer, but even the keen paparazzi probably didn't uncover all of his adventures.
He was married only once, but also divorced, and had eight children from five mothers, the youngest from a ballet dancer in December 2016. He is also a five-time grandfather and now a great-grandfather.
Featured image: MTI/EPA/Walter Bieri
