Mick Jagger Biography
Summary
"Sir Michael Phillip 'Mick' Jagger" (born July 26, 1943) is a English rock musician, actor, songwriter, record and film producer and businessman. He is one of the world's most famous celebrities, best known as the frontman of the rock band The Rolling Stones.
Early life
Jagger was born into a middle-class family at the Livingstone Hospital, East Hill, Dartford, Kent, England. His father, Basil Fanshawe ('Joe') Jagger (6 April, 1913 - 11 November, 2006), and his paternal grandfather, David Ernest Jagger, were both teachers; his mother, Eva Ensley Mary Scutts (13 April 1913 - 18 May 2000), an Australian immigrant to England, was an active member of the Conservative Party. Jagger was the elder of two sons and was raised to follow in his father's career path. According to Jagger in the book "According to the Rolling Stones", '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 Luxemburg - or watching them on TV and in the movies.' Academically successful, he attended Dartford Grammar School where he passed 3 A-levels, before entering the London School of Economics on a scholarship. He studied for a degree in accounting and finance, but attended for less than a year and did not graduate, leaving to pursue a musical career.
As a student, Jagger frequented a London club called 'the Firehouse'. At the age of 19, Jagger began performing as a singer. Like Keith Richards and other members of The Rolling Stones, Jagger had no formal musical training and did not know how to read music.
While Jagger knew Keith Richards as a schoolmate, the songwriters reunited when Richards saw Jagger with a blues record under his arm and asked him where he had purchased it. The two, combined with Jones, Bill Wyman, Ian Stewart, and Charlie Watts, formed the Rolling Stones, basing their name on the Muddy Waters tune 'Rollin' Stone.' Stewart was dropped from the band for not fitting the image desired by manager Andrew Loog Oldham, but still toured with the band as a pianist until his death in 1985. It was Oldham who insisted that Jagger call himself 'Mick' rather than 'Mike', a name he continued to use among friends; for example, John Lennon calls him Michael in the 1968 film "The Rolling Stones Rock and Roll Circus".
The Rolling Stones
On September 26, 2007, Mick Jagger and the Rolling Stones made $437 million on their "A Bigger Bang Tour"? to list them in the latest edition of Guinness World Record.
International success
After the band's acrimonious split with their second manager, Allen B. Klein, Jagger took control of their business affairs and has managed them ever since in collaboration with his friend and colleague, Prince Rupert Löwenstein. Decades after the band's creation, The Rolling Stones continue to perform and to court controversy. The release of their 2005 album "A Bigger Bang" included the song 'Sweet Neo Con' in which Jagger's lyrics openly attack the presidency of George W. Bush. The Stones went on to make their first visit to Puerto Rico, playing to a sell-out audience of 20,000 at the new Jose Miguel Agrelot Coliseum. Tickets to the concert were being sold for up to $1,000, more than twice the top published price of $460. On 8 April 2006, the Stones performed in Shanghai, their first ever show in mainland China.
Acting and film production
Jagger also has an acting career, most notably in Nicolas Roeg's "Performance" (1968) and as Australian bushranger "Ned Kelly" (1970). In the early 1980s, Jagger was cast as a main character in Werner Herzog's "Fitzcarraldo", however numerous delays in the film's notoriously difficult production resulted in him 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". More recently he appeared as a persistent heavy in "Freejack" (1992) and in art films such as "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'. Its first release was the World War II drama "Enigma" in 2001.
In late February, 2007 Paramount Pictures (announced) that Jagger will be teaming up with Academy-Award-winning director Martin Scorsese to co-Produce a new film titled "The Long Player."
Jagger has also signed on to appear regularly as himself in a television sitcom based on the theme of a small group of inept thieves who want to rob him. The sitcom's working title was "Let's Rob Mick Jagger" but was later renamed "The Knights of Prosperity"; on January 3, 2007 Jagger guest starred in the premiere episode.
Private life and public image
UFO
In his book "Alien Rock: The Rock 'n' Roll Extraterrestrial Connection", Michael C. Luckman wrote that Mick Jagger and Keith Richards claimed to had experienced close encounters with UFOs.
In an interview with BANG Showbiz, Luckman said that:
Solo discography
"She's the Boss" (25 February 1985) UK #6 11 wks; US #13 29 wks
"Primitive Cool" (14 September 1987) UK #26 5 wks; US #41 20 wks
"Wandering Spirit" (8 February 1993) UK #12 4 wks; US #11 16 wks
"Goddess in the Doorway" (19 November 2001) UK #44 4 wks; US #39 8 wks
"The Very Best of Mick Jagger" (1 October 2007) UK #57; US #77
Soundtracks
"Alfie" (18 October 2004) UK #36 3 wks, US #171 2 wks
"Ruthless People" (1987) U.S. #2
"Bent" (1997) (sings 'Streets of Berlin' co-written with Philip Glass)
Singles
'Memo from Turner' (November 1970) #32 UK
'Don't Look Back' (September 1978) #43 UK; #81 US (with Peter Tosh)
'State of Shock' (June 1984) #14 UK; #3 US (The Jacksons & Mick Jagger)
'Just Another Night' (February 1985) #32 UK; #12 US US Mainstream Rock #1
'Lucky in Love' (April 1985) #91 UK; #38 US US Mainstream Rock #5
'Lonely at the Top' (April 1985) US Mainstream Rock #9
'Hard Woman' (July 1985) #57 GER
'Dancing in the Street' (with David Bowie) (August 1985) #1 UK; #7 US US Mainstream Rock #3
'Ruthless People' (July 1986) #51 US US Mainstream Rock #14
'Let's Work' (September 1987) #31 UK; #39 US US Mainstream Rock #7
'Throwaway' (November 1987) #67 US US Mainstream Rock #7
'Say You Will' (December 1987) US Mainstream Rock #39
'Sweet Thing' (January 1993) #24 UK; #84 US US Mainstream Rock #34
'Wired All Night' (March 1993) US Mainstream Rock #3
'Don't Tear Me Up' (April 1993) #86 UK US Mainstream Rock #1
'Out of Focus' (July 1993) #70 GER
'God Gave Me Everything' (October 2001) US Mainstream Rock #24
'Visions of Paradise' (March 2002) #43 UK
'Old Habits Die Hard' (October 2004) (Mick Jagger & Dave Stewart) #45 UK
Filmography
Jagger has appeared in the following movies:
"Sympathy for the Devil" (1968)
"Performance" (1968)
"Invocation to My Demon Brother" (1969)
"Gimme Shelter " (1970)
"Ned Kelly" (1970)
"Umano non umano" (1972)
"Wings of Ash" (1978) - pilot for a dramatisation of the life of Antonin Artaud
"Running Out of Luck" (1987)
"Freejack" (1992)
"Bent" (1997)
"Mein liebster Feind" (aka "My Best Fiend") (1999)
"Enigma" (2001) - cameo only, plus co-producer
"The Man From Elysian Fields" (2001)
"Mayor of the Sunset Strip" (2003)
External links
(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.)
Credit
This article is licensed under the GNU Free Documentation License. It uses material from the Wikipedia article about Mick Jagger.
