Mick Jagger

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Mick Jagger
Live at San Siro Stadium, Milan, Italy 10 June 2003
Background information
Birth name	Michael Philip Jagger
Born	26 July 1943 (1943-07-26) (age 66) Dartford, Kent, England
Genres	Rock, rock and roll, psychedelic rock, blues, reggae, blues-rock
Occupations	Singer, songwriter, musician, record and film producer, actor
Instruments	Vocals, harmonica, percussion, guitar, bass guitar, keyboards
Years active	1961 - present
Labels	Virgin, Rolling Stones, ABKCO, Universal
Associated acts	The Rolling Stones
Website	MickJagger.com

Sir Michael Philip "Mick" Jagger (born 26 July 1943)^[1] is a Golden Globe and Grammy Award winning English musician, singer, songwriter, record producer, occasional film producer and actor, best known for his work as lead vocalist and frontman of The Rolling Stones.

The Rolling Stones started in the early 1960s as a rhythm and blues cover band with Jagger as frontman. Jagger and guitarist Keith Richards developed a songwriting partnership and by the mid-1960s the group had evolved into a major rock band. Frequent conflict with the authorities, including alleged drug use, and his romantic involvements ensured that during this time Jagger was never far from the headlines, and he was often portrayed as a counterculture figure. In the late 1960s Jagger began acting in films (starting with Performance and Ned Kelly), to mixed reception.

In the 1970s, Jagger, with the rest of the Stones, became tax exiles, consolidated their global position and gained more control over their business affairs with the formation of the Rolling Stones Records label. During this time, Jagger was also known for his high-profile marriages to Bianca De Macías and later to Jerry Hall. In the 1980s Jagger released his first solo albums. He was knighted in 2003.

Early life

Jagger was born into a middle-class family at the Livingstone Hospital, Dartford, Kent, England. His father, Basil Fanshawe ("Joe") Jagger (13 April 1913 - 11 November 2006), and his paternal grandfather, David Ernest Jagger, were both teachers. His mother, Eva Ensley Mary Scutts^[2] (6 April 1913 – 18 May 2000),^[3] an Australian immigrant to England, was a hairdresser^[4] and an active member of the Conservative Party. Jagger is the elder of two sons (his brother Chris Jagger was born in 1949) and was raised to follow in his father's career path.

In the book According to the Rolling Stones, Jagger states "I was always a singer. I always sang as a child. I was one of those kids who just liked to sing. Some kids sing in choirs; others like to show off in front of the mirror. I was in the church choir and I also loved listening to singers on the radio - the BBC or Radio Luxembourg - or watching them on TV and in the movies."^[5]

In the early 1950s Keith Richards and Mick Jagger (who as a youngster preferred to be known as "Mike") were classmates at Wentworth Primary School in Dartford, Kent. Having lost contact with each other when they went to different schools at the age of 11, Richards and Jagger resumed their friendship in 1960 after a chance encounter and discovered that they had both developed a love for rhythm and blues music, which began for Jagger with Little Richard.^[6] They moved into a flat in Chelsea with a guitarist they had encountered named Brian Jones. While Richards and Jones were making plans to start their own rhythm and blues group, Jagger continued his business courses at the London School of Economics.^[7]

Career

Early years: 1960s

In their earliest days the members played for no money in the interval of Alexis Korner's gigs at a basement club opposite Ealing Broadway tube station (subsequently called "Ferry's" club). At the time the group had very little equipment and needed to borrow Alexis' gear to play. This was before Andrew Oldham became their manager. The group’s first appearance under the name The Rollin' Stones (after one of their favourite Muddy Waters tunes) was at a jazz club called the Marquee Club on 12 July 1962. The lineup did not at that time include drummer Charlie Watts and bassist Bill Wyman. By 1963, they were finding their stride as well as popularity. By 1964 two unscientific opinion polls rated them as England's most popular group outranking even the Beatles.^[7]

By the autumn of 1963, Jagger had left the London School of Economics in favour of his promising musical career with the Rolling Stones. The group continued to mine the works of American rhythm and blues artists such as Chuck Berry and Bo Diddley, but with the strong encouragement of Andrew Oldham, Jagger and Richards soon began to write their own songs. This core songwriting partnership would flourish in time; one of their early compositions, "As Tears Go By", was a song written for Marianne Faithfull, a young singer being promoted by Loog Oldham at the time.^[8] For the Rolling Stones, the duo would write "The Last Time", the group's third number-one single in the UK (their first two UK number-one hits had been cover versions). Another of the fruits of this collaboration was their first international hit, "(I Can't Get No) Satisfaction". It also established The Rolling Stones’ image as defiant troublemakers in contrast to The Beatles' "lovable moptop" image.^[7]

Jagger told Stephen Schiff in a 1992 Vanity Fair profile:

The group released several successful albums including December's Children (And Everybody's), Aftermath, and Between the Buttons, but their reputations were catching up to them. In 1967 Jagger and Richards were arrested on drug charges and were given unusually harsh sentences: Jagger was sentenced to three months' imprisonment for possession of four over-the-counter pep pills he had purchased in Italy. On appeal Richards' sentence was overturned and Jagger's was amended to a conditional discharge after an article appeared in The Times, written by its traditionally conservative editor William (now Lord) Rees-Mogg,^[10] but the Rolling Stones continued to face legal battles for the next decade. Around the same time internal struggles about the direction of the group had begun to surface.

1970s

Mick Jagger on stage in 1972, NYC
Photo: Dina Regine

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After the band's acrimonious split with their second manager, Allen Klein, in 1971, Jagger took control of their business affairs and has managed them ever since in collaboration with his friend and colleague, Rupert Löwenstein. Mick Taylor, Brian Jones's replacement, left the band and was replaced by Ronnie Wood in 1975, who also operated as a mediator within the group, and between Jagger and Richards in particular.

1980s

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While continuing to tour and release albums with the Rolling Stones, Jagger also began a solo career. In 1985 he released his first solo album She's the Boss produced by Nile Rodgers and Bill Laswell, featuring Herbie Hancock, Jeff Beck, Jan Hammer, Pete Townshend, and the Compass Point All Stars. It sold fairly well, and the single "Just Another Night" was a Top Ten hit. In 1985 Jagger and David Bowie's rendition of "Dancing in the Street" hit the number 1 spot on the UK charts.

In 1987, he released his second solo album, Primitive Cool. While it failed to match the commercial success of his debut, it was critically well received.

In 1988 he produced the songs "Glamour Boys" and "Which Way to America" on Living Colour's album Vivid.

In 2001 he released Goddess in the Doorway spawning the hit single "Visions of Paradise".

1990s

Wandering Spirit was the third solo album by Mick Jagger and was released in 1993. It would be his only solo album release of the 1990s. Jagger aimed to re-introduce himself as a solo artist in a musical climate vastly changed from what had witnessed the release of his first two projects, She's the Boss and Primitive Cool.

Following the successful comeback of The Rolling Stones' Steel Wheels (1989), which saw the end of Jagger and Keith Richards' well-publicised feud, Jagger began routining new material for what would become Wandering Spirit. In January 1992, after acquiring Rick Rubin as co-producer, Jagger recorded the album in Los Angeles over seven months until September 1992, recording simultaneously as Richards was making Main Offender.

Jagger would keep the celebrity guests to a minimum on Wandering Spirit, only having Lenny Kravitz as a vocalist on his cover of Bill Withers' "Use Me" and bassist Flea from Red Hot Chili Peppers on three tracks.

Following the end of The Rolling Stones' Sony Music contract and their signing to Virgin Records, Jagger elected to sign with Atlantic Records (which had signed the Stones in the 1970s) to distribute what would be his only album with the label.

Released in February 1993, Wandering Spirit was commercially successful, reaching #12 in the UK and #11 in the US, going gold there. The track "Sweet Thing" was the lead single, although it was the third single, "Don't Tear Me Up", which found moderate success, topping Billboard's Album Rock Tracks chart for one week. Critical reaction was very strong, noting Jagger's abandonment of slick synthesizers in favour of an incisive and lean guitar sound.[citation needed]

Contemporary reviewers tend to consider Wandering Spirit a high point of Jagger's latter-day career achievements.

2000s

Jagger celebrated The Rolling Stones' 40th anniversary by touring with them on the year-long Licks tour in support of their career retrospective Forty Licks double album.^[11]

On 26 September 2007, Mick Jagger and The Rolling Stones made $437 million on their A Bigger Bang tour, which got them into the current edition of Guinness World Records for the most lucrative music tour.^[12] Jagger has refused to say when the band will finally retire, stating in 2007: "I'm sure the Rolling Stones will do more things and more records and more tours. We've got no plans to stop any of that really."^[13]

Relationship with Keith Richards

Jagger's relationship with band mate Keith Richards is frequently described as "love/hate" by the media.^[14][15]

Richards himself, in a 1998 interview, has said:

Acting and film production

Jagger has also had an intermittent acting career, most notably in Nicolas Roeg's Performance (1968) and as Australian bushranger Ned Kelly (1970). He composed an improvised soundtrack for Kenneth Anger's film Invocation Of My Demon Brother on the moog synthesizer in 1969. He auditioned for the role of Dr. Frank N. Furter in the 1975 film adaptation of The Rocky Horror Show, a now iconic role that was eventually played by the original performer from its run on London's West End, Tim Curry. Appeared as himself in The Rutles film All You Need Is Cash in 1978. In the late 1970s, Jagger was cast as Wilbur, a main character in Werner Herzog's Fitzcarraldo. However a delay and the illness of main actor Jason Robards in the film's notoriously difficult production resulted in his being unable to continue due to schedule conflicts with a band tour; some of the footage of his work is shown in the documentary Burden of Dreams. He developed a reputation for playing the heavy later in his acting career in films including Freejack (1992), Bent (1997), and The Man From Elysian Fields (2002).

In 1995, Mick Jagger founded Jagged Films with Victoria Pearman:

Its first release was the World War II drama Enigma in 2001. That same year, it produced a documentary on Jagger entitled Being Mick. The program, which first aired on television 22 November, coincided with the release of his fourth solo album, Goddess in the Doorway.^[18]

In 2008, the company began work on The Women, an adaptation of the George Cukor film of the same name. It was directed by Diane English.^[19][20] Reviving the 1939 film has met with countless delays, but Jagger's company was credited with obtaining $24 million of much-needed financing to finally begin casting. English told Entertainment Weekly:

The Rolling Stones have been the subjects of numerous documentaries, including Gimme Shelter, which was made as the band was gaining fame in the United States. Martin Scorsese worked with Jagger on Shine A Light, a documentary film featuring the Rolling Stones with footage from the A Bigger Bang Tour during two nights of performances at New York's Beacon Theatre. It screened in Berlin in February 2008.^[21][22] Variety's Todd McCarthy said the film:

He predicted the film would fare better once released to video than in its limited theatrical runs.

Jagger was a producer of, and guest-starred in the premier episode of the short-lived comedy The Knights of Prosperity, which aired in 2007 on ABC.^[24]

Personal life

Jagger is known for his multiple high-profile relationships. He has been married twice, and has had numerous affairs.

In 1970 he began a relationship with Bianca De Macias, whom he married on 12 May 1971 in a Roman Catholic ceremony in Saint-Tropez, France. In May 1978 she filed for divorce on the grounds of his adultery;^[25] the divorce was finalized in 1979.^[26][27]Bianca later said "My marriage ended on my wedding day."^[28] In 1977 he began seeing model Jerry Hall^[29], while still married to Bianca. After a lengthy cohabitation and several children together, the couple married on 21 November 1990 in a Hindu beach ceremony in Indonesia. Jagger later contested the validity of the ceremony, and the marriage was annulled in August 1999. This was subsequent to Jagger's affair with and the pregnancy of model Luciana Gimenez. Since 2001 he's been in a relationship with fashion designer L'Wren Scott. Jagger has also been romantically linked to other women: Chrissie Shrimpton, Marianne Faithfull, Anita Pallenberg, Marsha Hunt, Pamela Des Barres, Uschi Obermaier, Bebe Buell, Carly Simon, Mackenzie Phillips, Janice Dickinson, Carla Bruni and Sophie Dahl, among others.^{[30][31][32][33][34][35]}

Jagger has seven children by four women:^[36]

• By Marsha Hunt, he has daughter Karis Hunt Jagger (born 4 November 1970).
• By Bianca Jagger, he has daughter Jade Sheena Jezebel Jagger (born 21 October 1971).^[36][37]
• By Jerry Hall he has daughter Elizabeth Scarlett Jagger (born 2 March 1984), son James Leroy Augustin Jagger (born 28 August 1985), daughter Georgia May Ayeesha Jagger (born 12 January 1992) and son Gabriel Luke Beauregard Jagger (born 13 December 1997)^[7][36]
• By Luciana Gimenez, he has son Lucas Maurice Morad Jagger (born 18 May 1999).^[36]

He also has four grandchildren.^[7][38]

His father died on 11 November 2006 at the age of 93.^[39]

In 2008 it was revealed that members of the Hells Angels had plotted to murder Jagger in 1975. They were angered by Jagger's public blaming of the Hells Angels, who had been hired to provide "security" at the Altamont Free Concert in December 1969, for much of the crowd violence at the event. The conspirators reportedly used a boat to approach a residence where Jagger was staying on Long Island, New York; the plot failed when the boat was nearly sunk by a storm.^[40]

Jagger is an avid cricket fan.^[41] He founded Jagged Internetworks so he could get coverage of English Cricket.^[41] Mick Jagger also introduced Paul Getty to cricket.

His personal fortune was estimated in 2008 at £225m.^[42]

Knighthood

On 12 December 2003, Jagger was knighted for Services to Music, as Sir Michael Jagger by The Prince of Wales.^[43][44] Mick Jagger's knighthood received mixed reactions. Some fans were disappointed when he accepted the honour as it seemed to contradict his anti-establishment stance.^[45]

As United Press International noted, the honour is odd, for unlike other knighted rock musicians, he has no "known record of charitable work or public services." Jagger was absent from the Queen's Golden Jubilee pop concert at Buckingham Palace that marked her 50 years on the throne.^[46]

Charlie Watts was quoted in According to the Rolling Stones as saying, "Anybody else would be lynched: 18 wives and 20 children and he's knighted, fantastic!"^[47] The ceremony took place in December 2003. Jagger’s father and daughters Karis and Elizabeth were in attendance.^[7]

Jagger's knighthood also caused some friction between him and bandmate Keith Richards, who was irritated when Jagger accepted the "fucking paltry honour".^[48] Richards said that he did not want to take the stage with someone wearing a "coronet and sporting the old ermine. It's not what the Stones is about, is it?"^[44] Mick Jagger retorted:

Discography

Albums

Soundtrack

Singles

Filmography

Jagger has appeared in the following movies:

References

External links

Wikimedia Commons has media related to: Mick Jagger

Wikiquote has a collection of quotations related to: Mick Jagger

• Official site
• Mick Jagger at the Internet Movie Database
• The Rolling Stones – Mick Jagger
• Mick Jagger Joins a New ABC Sitcom
• 1983 Audio interview with Mick Jagger-discusses "Undercover" album Classic Rock Central
• An interview with Charlie Rose in 2002.