This is an old revision of this page, as edited by Dunks58 (talk | contribs) at 03:17, 4 October 2004. The present address (URL) is a permanent link to this revision, which may differ significantly from the current revision.
Revision as of 03:17, 4 October 2004 by Dunks58 (talk | contribs)(diff) ← Previous revision | Latest revision (diff) | Newer revision → (diff)Sir Michael "Mick" Philip Jagger is a British rock musician, actor, writer, composer, record and film producer and businessman. He is most famous for being the lead singer and co-founder (with guitarist Brian Jones) of the British rock and roll band The Rolling Stones. He is also the songwriting partner of Stones guitarist Keith Richards and the pair have composed almost all the Rolling Stones' original material, as well as numerous songs for other arists including As Tears Go By (for Marianne Faithfull and Out Of Time (for Chris Farlowe).
Jagger was born to Joe and Eva Jagger on July 26, 1943 in Dartford, Kent, England. He discovered early rock & roll music during his teenage years and formed the band Little Boy Blue & the Blue Boys. In his late teens, he met up with future Rolling Stones guitarist Keith Richards, who he had initially met when both attended the Dartford Maypole County Primary School. They started the band shortly after, due to their mutual love of rock & roll and blues music.
Jagger attended the London School of Economics. During the 1960s he was romantically linked first with Chrissie Shrimpton (the sister of supermodel Jean Shrimpton) and then with singer Marianne Faithfull, for whom Jagger and Richards composed several songs including her signature tune, As Tears Go By. They remained a couple until late 1969 when Jagger and Faithfull travelled to Australia to star in the Tony Richardson film Ned Kelly (1970 movie). Soon after their arrival in Sydney, Faithfull overdosed on sleeping tablets and almost died. The relationship was over by the time she was sent home to England to recuperate. Jagger then embarked on a series of liaisons including rumoured dalliances with Richards' girlfriend of the time, Anita Pallenberg, and singers Merry Clayton and Marsha Hunt.
In 1967 Jagger and Richards were arrested and charged with drug possession following a highly publicised raid on Richards' country house, during which (it was alleged) Faithfull was found naked except for a fur rug wrapped around her. The raid was later revealed to have been prompted by a tip-off to the London Drug Squad by journalists working for Rupert Murdoch's News Of The World, which at the time was running a series of lurid reports about the alleged use of illegal drugs by British pop stars.
In one of these reports, Jagger was alleged to have spent an evening at a London club in the company of a Murdoch journalist, during which he openly discussed his drug-taking and invited others back to his flat "for a smoke". When the report was published, it became obvious that the hapless journalist had mistaken Brian Jones for Jagger -- who promptly sued News Of The World for defamation.
But this legal action was stymied by his and Richards' subsequent arrest. The trial -- including transportation to and from court in handcuffs -- made front-page news around the world. Despite Jagger haveing credible evidence that the tablets allegedly found in his possession had been prescribed to him, both were found guilty.
The severity of the sentences handed down (imprisonment with hard labour) caused a huge public outcry. It was also the sbject of the famous leader by William Rees-Mogg, editor of The Times. Entitled Who Breaks a Butterly On A Wheel', Rees-Mogg asserted that it was Jagger and Richards' celebrity which had caused them to be made examples of, and that they had received sentences for a first offence that were arguably far harsher than thta which might be expected to be given to "any purely anonymous young man". The pair were subsequently released after their convictions were overturned on appeal, although the other person arrested with them, noted London art dealer Robert Fraser, served six months.
It was during this period that Jagger took over as the effective leader of The Rolling Stones, as founder Brian Jones became more and more incapacitated by his spiralling drug use. Jones eventually left the band in early 1969 but accidentally drowned in his swimming pool only weeks later (although rumours persist that he was murdered).
Jagger's first child, Karis (by singer Marsha Hunt), was born in 1970. In May 1971 he married Bianca Perez Morena de Macias, and she gave birth to their daughter Jade while the band recorded "Sticky Fingers," one of their most popular albums to date. During this Jagger also appeared in films such as the Nicholas Roeg cult thriller "Performance (movie)" in 1970.
Following the band's acrimonious split with their second manager, Allen B. Klein, Jagger took control of the band's business affairs and has managed them ever since, in collaboration with his friend and colleague, Prince Rupert Von Lowenstein.
He has also appeared in the following movies:
- Mayor of the Sunset Strip, 2003
- The Man from Elysian Fields, 2001
- Enigma, 2001
- Mein liebster Feind (aka My Best Fiend)- with Klaus Kinski 1999
- Bent, 1997
- Freejack, 1992
- D Wings of Ash: Pilot for a Dramatization of the Life of Antonin Artaud 1978
- Umano non umano 1972
- Ned Kelly 1970
- Performance 1970
Mick Jagger was knighted on 12 December 2003, for his "services to popular music" . His fellow rolling stone Keith Richards was unimpressed. "I thought it was ludicrous to take one of those gongs from the establishment...it's not what the Stones is about, is it? I don't want to step out on stage with someone wearing a fucking coronet and sporting the old ermine. I told Mick, 'It's a fucking paltry honour.'"