Jump to content

Mick Jagger

From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

This is an old revision of this page, as edited by 203.166.99.230 (talk) at 04:46, 28 November 2009 (→‎Early life). The present address (URL) is a permanent link to this revision, which may differ significantly from the current revision.

Mick Jagger

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

Main article: The Rolling Stones

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 Loog 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:

I wasn't trying to be rebellious in those days; I was just being me. I wasn't trying to push the edge of anything. I'm being me and ordinary, the guy from suburbia who sings in this band, but someone older might have thought it was just the most awful racket, the most terrible thing, and where are we going if this is music?... But all those songs we sang were pretty tame, really. People didn't think they were, but I thought they were tame.[9]

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

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

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.


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

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

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:

I think of our differences as a family squabble. If I shout and scream at him, it's because no one else has the guts to do it or else they're paid not to do it. At the same time I'd hope Mick realizes that I'm a friend who is just trying to bring him into line and do what needs to be done.[16]

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:

To start my own projects instead of just going in other people's and being involved peripherally or doing music.[17]

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:

This was much easier in 1939, when all the ladies were under contract, and they had to take the roles they were told to.

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:

Takes full advantage of heavy camera coverage and top-notch sound to create an invigorating musical trip down memory lane, as well as to provoke gentle musings on the wages of aging and the passage of time. [23]

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]

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:

I think he would probably like to get the same honour himself. It's like being given an ice cream—one gets one and they all want one. It's nothing new. Keith likes to make a fuss.[49]

Discography

Albums

Year Album details UK[50] US BPI / RIAA Certification
1985 She's The Boss 6

(11 wks)

13

(29 wks)

UK: Silver

US: Platinum

1987 Primitive Cool
  • Release date: September 14, 1987
  • Label: CBS Records
 26

(5 wks)

41

(20 wks)

—
1993 Wandering Spirit 12

(4 wks)

11

(16 wks)

US: Gold
2001 Goddess in the Doorway 44

(4 wks)

39

(8 wks)

UK: Silver
2007 The Very Best Of Mick Jagger 57

(1 wk)

77

(2 wks)

—

Soundtrack

Year Album details US
2004 Alfie 171

(2 wks)

Singles

Release date A-side UK Singles Chart[50] UK Airplay Chart U.S. Billboard Hot 100 U.S. Hot Mainstream Rock Tracks U.S. Hot Dance Club Play
November 1970 "Memo from Turner" 32 (5 wks) - - - -
October 1978 "Don't Look Back" (with Peter Tosh) - - 81 (5 wks) - -
June 1984 "State of Shock" (with The Jacksons) 14 (8 wks) - 3 (14 wks) - 3 (8 wks)
February 1985 "Just Another Night" 32 (6 wks) - 12 (14 wks) 1 (13 wks) 11 (10 wks)
March 1985 "Lonely at the Top" - - - 9 (12 wks) -
May 1985 "Lucky in Love" - - 38 (11 wks) 5 (12 wks) 11 (9 wks)
September 1985 "Dancing in the Street" (with David Bowie) 1 (15 wks) - 7 (14 wks) 3 (9 wks) 4 (6 wks)
July 1986 "Ruthless People" - - 51 (8 wks) 14 (10 wks) 29 (6 wks)
September 1987 "Let's Work" 31 (7 wks) - 39 (9 wks) 7 (6 wks) 32 (5 wks)
November 1987 "Throwaway" - - 67 (9 wks) 7 (11 wks) -
December 1987 "Say You Will" - - - 39 (1 wk) -
January 1993 "Sweet Thing" 24 (4 wks) 9 (5 wks) 84 (6 wks) 34 (2 wks) -
March 1993 "Wired All Night" - - - 3 (15 wks) -
April 1993 "Don't Tear Me Up" - - - 1 (18 wks) -
July 1993 "Out of Focus" - 70 (3 wks) - - -
November 2001 "God Gave Me Everything" - - - 24 (16 wks) -
March 2002 "Visions of Paradise" 43 (1 wk) 57 (5 wks) - - -
October 2004 "Old Habits Die Hard" (with Dave Stewart) 45 (2 wks) - - - -
January 2008 "Charmed Life" - - - - 18 (12 wks)

Filmography

Jagger has appeared in the following movies:

Year Title
1968 Sympathy for the Devil
Performance
1969 Invocation of My Demon Brother
1970 Gimme Shelter
Ned Kelly
1972 Umano non umano
1978 Wings of Ash (TV pilot for a dramatisation of the life of Antonin Artaud)
1981 Fitzcarraldo [51]
1987 Running Out of Luck
1992 Freejack
1997 Bent
1999 Mein liebster Feind (aka My Best Fiend)
2001 Enigma (cameo only, plus co-producer)
The Man From Elysian Fields
Being Mick
2003 Mayor of the Sunset Strip
2008 Shine a Light

References

  1. ^ Anon. "Baptism entry for Mick Jagger, rock musician, from the registers of Dartford St. Alban for 6 October 1943". Medway City Ark Document Gallery. Medway Council. Retrieved 2009-09-17.
  2. ^ Ancestry of Mick Jagger
  3. ^ Deaths England and Wales 1984-2006
  4. ^ Mick Jagger went to Dartford Grammar school, where there is now a Mick Jagger centre there, as part of the school.Family detective: Mick Jagger - Telegraph
  5. ^ Jagger, Mick (2003). According to the Rolling Stones. Chronicle Books. p. 13. ISBN 0-8118-4060-3. {{cite book}}: Unknown parameter |coauthors= ignored (|author= suggested) (help)
  6. ^ White, Charles. (2003), p.119-120 The Life and Times of Little Richard: The Authorised Biography. Omnibus Press.
  7. ^ a b c d e f "Mick Jagger." Contemporary Musicians, Volume 53. Thomson Gale, 2005.
  8. ^ Jagger, Richards, Watts & Wood 2003. p. 84.
  9. ^ Vanity Fair, February 1992.
  10. ^ Anon (2 August 2008). "Who Breaks a Butterfly on a Wheel:Re-telling the story of the Rolling Stones' traumatic summer of 1967". BBC Radio 2. BBC. Retrieved 17 September 2009.
  11. ^ Stones start monster tour - BBC News Online
  12. ^ MSNBC< Another Stones record — this one in Guinness
  13. ^ Jagger vows to keep music rolling , BBC News, 2 october 2007.
  14. ^ Jagger describes love/hate relationship with Richards - IrelandOn-Line
  15. ^ DIS YOU: KEITH AT IT AGAIN - New York Daily News
  16. ^ THE POP LIFE - New York Times
  17. ^ Harlan Jacobson (2001). "The Enigma of Mick Jagger". Talk Cinema.
  18. ^ Blockbuster Online - Being Mick
  19. ^ Long-planned remake of ''The Women'' in development | The Women (Movie - 2008) | Movie News | Movies | Entertainment Weekly
  20. ^ The Women at Hollywood.com
  21. ^ http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/23053099/displaymode/1176/[dead link]
  22. ^ Shine a Light | Movies | OutNow.CH
  23. ^ Shine a Light Review - Film Reviews-Berlin, Entertainment - Variety
  24. ^ ABC.com: The Knights of Prosperity - Homepage
  25. ^ Nicholas Fonseca, Limited Engagement, ew.com
  26. ^ http://www.cnn.com/2005/LAW/04/06/jagger/index.html
  27. ^ http://www.huffingtonpost.com/bianca-jagger
  28. ^ http://m.nypost.com/ms/p/nyp/nyp/view.m?id=23203&storyid=154123[dead link]
  29. ^ Limited Engagement
  30. ^ - Daily Mail - Will Mick Jagger make an honest woman of L'Wren Scott?
  31. ^ "With this ring, has Mick picked bride No3?" The Daily Mail, 16 May 2007, p. 13.
  32. ^ Mick and Jerry Divorce
  33. ^ Jagger Marriage Annulled
  34. ^ Andres Martinez, Landlord files to have Bianca Jagger evicted, CNN, April 6, 2005.
  35. ^ http://www.time.com/time/specials/packages/article/0,28804,1838865_1838857_1838730,00.html
  36. ^ a b c d Richard Simpson. "Mick has more children to see than Santa." The Daily Mail, 20 December 2004. Retrieved 6 January 2009.
  37. ^ Christopher Andersen "Mick Jagger"
  38. ^ "I'm lucky that I grew up poor", Barry Egan, Irish Times, 31 August 2008.
  39. ^ BBC News Online - Jagger's father dies of pneumonia
  40. ^ "Storm thwarted Mick Jagger murder attempt" The Telegraph, UK, Sunday, 2 March 2008
  41. ^ a b Cricinfo - Money talks
  42. ^ Sir Mick Jagger - Sunday Times Rich List 2008
  43. ^ Official announcement of knighthood The London Gazette. 24 August 2004.
  44. ^ a b Stones frontman becomes Sir Mick, BBC News, 12 December, 2003.
  45. ^ Gimson, Andrew (13 December 2003). "I thought people got knighthoods for saving lives." The Daily Telegraph.
  46. ^ United Press International, 4 December 2003.
  47. ^ The Rolling Stones. According to the Rolling Stones, ISBN 0811840603
  48. ^ Arise, Sir Mick: Jagger gets knighted | Mick Jagger | In the News | News | Entertainment Weekly
  49. ^ Stones frontman becomes Sir Mick, BBC News, 12 December, 2003.]
  50. ^ a b Roberts, David (2006). British Hit Singles & Albums (19th ed.). London: Guinness World Records Limited. p. 277. ISBN 1-904994-10-5.
  51. ^ scenes were filmed with Jagger but he had to leave for a Rolling Stones tour and they were reshot without him."Fotokiste: Mick Jagger". Retrieved 2008-11-15. (German)

External links

Wikimedia Commons has media related to Mick Jagger.
Wikiquote has quotations related to Mick Jagger.

Template:Persondata

Retrieved from "https://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=Mick_Jagger&oldid=328324035"