Stones Ready to Roll Again
By Ray Waddell
Reuters
Saturday, May 14, 2005; 4:59 AM
NASHVILLE - Time is still on the Rolling Stones' side. The most successful touring band in the history of the business will crank it up yet again. And, like every Rolling Stones tour since 1989's Steel Wheels, this trek will be promoted worldwide by Michael Cohl, this time under his vintage Concert Productions International banner.
The tour, announced at a press conference held by the band May 10 at the Juilliard School of Music in New York, begins Aug. 21 at Fenway Park in Boston. Following American Express and fan club presales May 10, tickets will go on sale May 14.
The Biography of THE ROLLING STONES
Formed May 25, 1962 in London, England
Years Active: 1962 through present.
Group's Main Members: Mick Jagger, Keith
Richards, Brian Jones, Charlie Watts, Bill Wyman, Mick Taylor, Ron Wood, Ian Stewart.
The World's Greatest Rock and Roll Band, they
keep proving it over and over again. The Stones were formed by blues purest, guitarist and
harp player Brian Jones in 1962. He wanted to start a R and B band and the first to join
him was pianist Ian "Stu" Stewart, followed by guitarist Geoff Bradford. In
June, Mick Jagger (vocals) and Keith Richards (guitar) joined them. Also to join the band
at that time was bass player Dick Taylor, but no set drummer was to join at first.
Bradford left the band shortly after Richards and Jagger joined. Several drummers
would play with the band - Mick Avory (who later would join the Kinks), Tony Chapman,
Charlie Watts and Carlo Little. Jones was the band's early leader and was the one to come
up with the name, which he took from a Muddy Waters song.
That December Dick Taylor left
and Bill Wyman took over the bass duties. In January '63 Charlie Watts finally decided to
take up on a earlier offer to join the band and the heart and soul of the Rolling Stones
was now in place.
The Stones started out playing small clubs. Their first studio work took
place that March but it wasn't till they met Andrew Loog Oldham that things would start to
click for them.
Oldham signed the band to work for him and partner Eric Easton that May.
But there would be one more change. Oldham didn't feel Stewart's image fit in with the
rest of the band's and insisted on him being out of the main line up.
Luckily for the
Stones, Stu agreed to become their road manager and still play his fine piano in sessions
for the Stones till his death in December of 1985.
Success came to the Stones rather quickly as they transformed from a blues band to a
rock band. In the coming years the Stones would experiment with just about every kind of
rock music out there.
But still, they would never wander too far from the blues. It was
Jones and Richards who wrote the blueprint for rock guitar weaving that so many other
bands would soon partake in. Jones was also the first white man to play slide guitar and
played it superbly. Richards would become know as one of rock's best ever rhythm
guitar players and his guitar riffs became the trademark sound of the Stones.
With Wyman
& Watts the band had one of rocks best rhythm sections too. But with that all said and
done, it was Jagger who was perhaps the main reason for the band's rise to the top.
Jagger
early on took over as the band's leader and as singer was the front man. His stage
presence was unlike his contemporaries and the young fans just loved him.
By the mid sixties the Stones were the number two band in rock behind the Beatles. They
would turn out a number of great songs written by Jagger/Richards that had instruments on
them that were never heard before in rock music. This all came via the versatility of
Jones, "a cat who could play any instrument" as Richards would later say about
him.
But by the late sixties things were not going well between Jones and Jagger/Richards.
Jones wanted writing credit on songs he help write in the studio, which he would never
receive. He also had a drug problem that was getting out of hand and on top of everything
else lost the love of his life, actress Anita Pallenberg, to his now former best friend
Richards in 1968.
In May of '69, it was agreed that Jones would leave the band.
Tragically, less than a month later his body was found at the bottom of his swimming pool.
No credible explanation was given on how he got there and to this day many friends and
fans feel foul play was involved.
The band hired blues guitarist Mick Taylor to take his
spot in the group. Taylor's guitar playing compared to Jones' was a world apart. Taylor
played a more cleaner guitar than Jones and unlike Brian stuck to just the guitar. As the
Stones entered the seventies he pretty much took over most of the lead guitar parts in the
band as Richards' drug problems got somewhat in the way.
While all this went on, Jagger
remained the front man and continued to deliver songs vocally like no one else. It was
during this time period that the Stones would become rock's best live act.With the Beatles
now gone, the Stones were the true kings of rock.
Unfortunately in December of
1974, Taylor suddenly quit the band. Some say it was over his lack of receiving
writing credits that was the cause, a problem Jagger/Richards still hadn't addressed to
the rest of the band. In April of '75 Ron Wood, guitarist for Faces was named as a
temporary replacement for the upcoming tour. But just about everyone knew he would stick,
and in time he did. Unlike Taylor, "Woody" seemed to fit in more with Richards'
style of playing.
For the first time since the Brian Jones days, Richards had someone he
could guitar weave with again. The band's present lineup would stay intact for years to
follow. In the mid eighties things got tense between Jagger and the rest of the band as
Mick wanted to do solo projects and was seen as slipping away from the rest.
For the first
time it seem that maybe the end of the Rolling Stones was near. But by the close of that
decade things were ironed out and the Steel Wheels tour was a huge success. In January of
'93 Wyman quit the band and once again, like Jones and Taylor, a lack of credit for
song writing was one of the reasons cited for his departure. To this day the Stones have
yet to replace him. They have used several different bassist in the studio since and
employ Darryl Jones to play bass on the road.
As of this bio's written date, the Stones have put out twenty six studio albums and
another seven live albums. In addition numerous other live boots, compilations and
greatest hits albums abound. Their top four "monster" albums were released
between '68 and '72: Beggars Banquet
('68), Let It Bleed ('69), Sticky Fingers('71) and Exile on Main Street ('72).
But to sum up all of this, no other bands or artists sing or lives the lifestyle of
sex, drugs and rock & roll like the Stones do!
Return to SBS Ticket Mall Main Page
Rolling Stones Links
| Web | Results 1 - 10 of about 4,280,000 for Rolling Stones. (0.06 seconds) |
RollingStone.com: Music, Videos, Photos, Reviews, News, Politics
Online Version of Rolling Stone Magazine which includes: music reviews, movie
reviews, musical artists, free MP3s, and photos of pop culture entertainers.
www.rollingstone.com/ - 40k - Jul 17, 2005 - Cached - Similar pages |
Rolling Stones
The Rolling Stones' official web site and fan club, featuring news, photos,
concert tickets, merchandise, and more.
www.rollingstones.com/home.php - 4k - Jul 17, 2005 - Cached - Similar pages |
Stones.com
Get yourname@stones.com. Stones music, chat and downloads.
www.stones.com/ - 43k - Cached - Similar pages |
Detecting Plug Ins... (One Moment Please)
The band's official site with news, tour dates, photos, e-mail service, audio
and video clips.
www.garbage.com/ - 12k - Cached - Similar pages |
The Rolling Stones - Free Music Downloads, Videos, CDs, MP3s, Bio ...
The Rolling Stones feature on ARTISTdirect. Includes free downloads, music videos,
bio, discography and merchandise information.
www.artistdirect.com/nad/ music/artist/card/0,,486584,00.html - 65k - Jul 17, 2005 - Cached - Similar pages |
The Rolling Stones
The Rolling Stones, history and discography of the rolling stones.
www.rollingstones.cwc.net/stones.htm - 2k - Cached - Similar pages |
The Rolling Stones Fan Club - It's Only Rock'n Roll
Provides the latest news, links and photographs of the group.
www.iorr.org/ - 5k - Jul 17, 2005 - Cached - Similar pages |
Rolling Stones - Keno's ROLLING STONES Web Site
Rolling Stones song lyrics, album reviews, Stones message board, polls, bios,
updated tour news and more!
www.keno.org/Home.html - 22k - Jul 17, 2005 - Cached - Similar pages |
Rolling Stones Fan Club of Scandinavia, UK and USA - RSFCO ...
The Rolling Stones' web site and fan club, featuring news, photos, concert tickets,
merchandise, and more.
www.stonesplanet.com/ - 18k - Jul 17, 2005 - Cached - Similar pages |
Rolling Stones Beggars Banquet: The Rolling Stones Newsletter
For fans of the Rolling Stones - rare photos,funny stories, current news, rare audio.
www.beggarsbanquetonline.com/ - 7k - Cached - Similar pages |