Book The Rolling Stones

By the time The Rolling Stones began calling themselves the World's Greatest Rock & Roll Band in the late '60s, they had already staked out an impressive claim on the title. Throughout their career, Mick Jagger (vocals) and Keith Richards (guitar, vocals) remained at the core of The Rolling Stones. The pair initially met as children at Dartford Maypole County Primary School. They drifted apart over the next ten years, eventually making each other's acquaintance again in 1960, when they met through a mutual friend, Dick Taylor, who was attending Sidcup Art School with Richards.

At the time, Jagger was studying at the London School of Economics and playing with Taylor in the blues band Little Boy Blue and the Blue Boys. Shortly afterward, Richards joined the band. Within a year, they had met Brian Jones (guitar, vocals), a Cheltenham native who had dropped out of school to play saxophone and clarinet. As he played with his group, Jones also moonlighted under the name Elmo Jones at the Ealing Blues Club. At the pub, he became reacquainted with Blues, Inc., which now featured drummer Charlie Watts, and, on occasion, cameos by Jagger and Richards. Jones became friends with Jagger and Richards, and they soon began playing together with Taylor and Stewart. Before Taylor's departure, the group named itself the Rolling Stones, borrowing the moniker from a Muddy Waters song. The Rolling Stones gave their first performance at the Marquee Club in London on July 12, 1962. By 1963, the band's lineup had been set, and the Stones began an eight-month residency at the Crawdaddy Club, which proved to substantially increase their fan base. It also attracted the attention of Andrew Loog Oldham, who became the Stones' manager. With Oldham's help, the Rolling Stones signed with Decca Records, and that June, they released their debut single, a cover of Chuck Berry's 'Come On.' The single became a minor hit, reaching number 21, and the group supported it with appearances on festivals and package tours. At the end of the year, they released a version of Lennon-McCartney's 'I Wanna Be Your Man' that soared into the Top 15. Early in 1964, they released a cover of Buddy Holly's 'Not Fade Away,' which shot to number three. 'Not Fade Away' became their first American hit, reaching number 48 that spring.. In the spring of 1964, the Stones released their eponymous debut album, which was followed by 'It's All Over Now,' their first U.K. number one. That summer, they toured America to riotous crowds, recording the Five by Five EP at Chess Records in Chicago in the midst of the tour. By the time it was over, they had another number one U.K. single with Howlin' Wolf's 'Little Red Rooster.' Although the Stones had achieved massive popularity, Oldham decided to push Jagger and Richards into composing their own songs, since they -- and his publishing company -- would receive more money that away. In June of 1964, the group released their first original single, 'Tell Me (You're Coming Back),' which became their first American Top 40 hit. Shortly afterward, a version of Irma Thomas' 'Time Is on My Side' became their first U.S. Top Ten. It was followed by 'The Last Time' in early 1965, a number one U.K. and Top Ten U.S. hit that began a virtually uninterrupted string of Jagger-Richards hit singles. Still, it wasn't until the group released '(I Can't Get No) Satisfaction' in the summer of 1965 that they were elevated to superstars. Driven by a fuzz-guitar riff designed to replicate the sound of a horn section, 'Satisfaction' signaled that Jagger and Richards had come into their own as songwriters, By early 1968, they had fired Andrew Loog Oldham and hired Allen Klein as their manager. The move coincided with their return to driving rock & roll, which happened to coincide with Richards' discovery of open tunings, a move that gave the Stones their distinctively fat, powerful sound. The revitalized Stones were showcased on the malevolent single 'Jumpin' Jack Flash,' which climbed to number three in May 1968. Their next album, Beggar's Banquet, was finally released in the fall. 1972's release, Exile on Main St. over timecame to be considered one of the group's defining moments. Goats Head Soup, released in 1973, reached number one, as did 1974's It's Only Rock 'n' Roll. The band reconvened in 1978 to record Some Girls, an energetic response to punk, new wave, and disco. The record and its first single, the thumping disco-rocker 'Miss You,' both reached number one, and the album restored the group's image. . Tattoo You, released the following year, fared better both critically and commercially, as the singles 'Start Me Up' and 'Waiting on a Friend' helped the album spend nine weeks at number one. The Stones supported Tattoo You with an extensive stadium tour captured in Hal Ashby's movie Let's Spend the Night Together and the 1982 live album Still Life. In 1989 the Stones released Steel Wheels, which was received with good reviews, but the record was overshadowed by its supporting tour, which grossed over 140 million dollars and broke many box office records. The group reconvened in 1994 and released the Don Was-produced Voodoo Lounge. The album received the band's strongest reviews in years, and its accompanying tour was even more successful than the Steel Wheels tour. On top of being more successful than its predecessor, Voodoo Lounge also won the Stones their first Grammy for Best Rock Album. Upon the completion of the Voodoo Lounge tour, the Stones released the live, 'unplugged' album Stripped in the fall of 1995. Similarly, after wrapping up their tour in support of 1997's Bridges to Babylon, the group issued yet another live set, No Security, the following year. A high-profile greatest-hits tour in 2002 was launched despite the lack of a studio album to support, and its album document Live Licks appeared in 2004. A year later, the group issued A Bigger Bang.