1943-present
Mick Jagger News: Rolling Stones Kicking Off Hackney Diamonds Tour
Mick Jagger and the Rolling Stones are hitting the road again, this time in support of their 2023 studio album Hackney Diamonds. The 80-year-old Jagger, Keith Richards, and Ronnie Wood begin their Stones Tour ‘24 across North America on April 28 in Houston. The iconic rock group will play 19 shows in total through mid-July, making stops at stadiums in Philadelphia, Atlanta, and Los Angeles, and other major cities.
Jagger posted an Instagram video in March showing his tour prep, with the frontman rocking out on an electric guitar. “Looking forward to seeing you all when the tour starts next month!” he wrote in the caption. The 2024 tour marks the band’s first concert series in two years.
Save your seat to see the Stones on StubHub or Ticketmaster.
Who Is Mick Jagger?
Mick Jagger is the lead singer of the Rolling Stones rock band and has delighed fans for more than five decades with his exuberant stage presence. Leaving the London School of Economics to start a band with Keith Richards, Jagger took the Rolling Stones to the top of the music world with major hits like “(I Can’t Get No) Satisfaction,” “Angie” and “Miss You,” propelling the band and himself to a status unknown by most performers.
Quick Facts
FULL NAME: Michael Philip Jagger
BORN: July 26, 1943
BIRTHPLACE: Dartford, England
SPOUSES: Bianca Jagger (1971-1978) and Jerry Hall (1990-1999)
CHILDREN: Karis, Jade, Elizabeth, Georgia, James, Gabriel, Lucas, and Deveraux
ASTROLOGICAL SIGN: Leo
Young Mick Jagger
Mick Jagger was born Michael Phillip Jagger on July 26, 1943, in Dartford, England.
The oldest son of a teacher and a homemaker, Jagger was a good student and popular among his classmates. He developed an interest in American blues and R&B music at an early age and got his first guitar at age 14. As a teenager, Jagger started collecting blues records from the likes of Muddy Waters and Howlin’ Wolf. He and his friend Dick Taylor soon started a band together called Little Boy Blue and the Blue Boys with Jagger as its singer.
In 1960, Jagger was accepted to the London School of Economics. He lived at home and commuted into the city to attend classes. Also working on his band, Jagger soon added a new member, guitarist Keith Richards. The two had known each other growing up in Dartford. Exploring London’s emerging blues scene together, Jagger and Richards spent some time at the Ealing Club. There they saw Alexis Korner’s Blues Incorporated play and were wowed by guitarist Brian Jones, who made guest appearances with the group. After a while, Jagger also appeared as a guest vocalist with Blues Incorporated.
Forming the Rolling Stones
Jagger, Keith Richards, and Dick Taylor soon joined up with Brian Jones, who wanted to start his own group. Pianist Ian Stewart was also an early member of what would become the Rolling Stones. By 1963, Charlie Watts had joined the band as its drummer and Taylor departed, replaced by Bill Wyman. Stewart stayed on to serve as road manager, though he continued playing and recording with the band.
Under the direction of their manager Andrew Loog Oldham, the Rolling Stones were marketed as a group of wild and rough rockers. The group’s style helped them land a deal with Decca Records. Jagger was a key ingredient in the band’s growing success, attracting audiences with his stage antics and sex appeal.
At first, the group mostly recorded cover versions of other people’s songs, but Richards and Jagger, along with their bandmates, soon emerged as a powerful songwriting team—occasionally using the pseudonym “Nanker Phelge” for some of their early work.
Hit Songs and Albums
Mick Jagger performs on the television show Ready Steady Go! in London in 1966.
The Stones first made the British charts in 1964 with a cover version of Bobby Womack’s “It’s All Over Now.” That same year, the band released their debut album and toured the United States, having their first American hit with “That Girl Belongs to Yesterday.” More hits soon followed, including the chart-topping “(I Can’t Get No) Satisfaction” and “Paint It Black” along with albums like Out of Our Heads (1965) and Aftermath (1966).
By the end of the decade, Jagger and the rest of the band were enjoying huge success. Beggars Banquet was released in 1968 and featured a straightforward rock style. One of its singles, “Jumpin’ Jack Flash,” hit the No. 1 spot on the U.K. charts and reached the top 5 in the United States.
Outside of the band, Jagger was branching out in acting. He played the title character, a legendary outlaw, in the 1970 movie Ned Kelly, and for In Performance (1970), Jagger played a reclusive rock star. Neither film made much of an impression on movie audiences.
Although screen success escaped him, Jagger remained a popular rock star. The Stones had several hit albums in the 1970s and early ’80s, including Sticky Fingers (1971), Exile on Main St. (1972), Some Girls (1978), Emotional Rescue (1980), and Tattoo You (1981).
Arrests and Band Tragedies
Jagger’s personal life made headlines throughout the band’s rise. He and his girlfriend, singer Marianne Faithfull, were among those arrested during a police raid of Richards’ country home in England in 1967. During their search, police officers found drug paraphernalia and illegal substances. Both Jagger and Keith Richards were tried and convicted for drug-related offenses, but their sentences were dropped on appeal. Two years later, Jagger and Faithfull were arrested for drug possession after authorities raided Jagger’s London home.
The year 1969 proved to be a tough year for the Stones. Brian Jones left the group that June after his many drug arrests prevented him from leaving the country for a U.S. tour. Less than a month later, he was found drowned in his pool. According to the coroner’s report, Jones was under the influence of drugs and alcohol at the time of his death, which was ruled “death by misadventure.”
In response to Jones’ untimely demise, the Stones performed a free concert in Hyde Park on July 5, 1969, two days after their former bandmate’s death. Originally scheduled as an opportunity to present their new guitarist, 20-year-old Mick Taylor, the group dedicated the concert to Jones. Before the concert began, Jagger read excepts from Percy Shelley’s “Adonais,” a poem about the death of a friend. Stagehands released hundreds of white butterflies as part of the tribute, and the Stones played one of Jones’ favorite songs: “I’m Yours And I’m Hers.”
Tragedy struck again several months later when the band launched their highly anticipated Let It Bleed (1969) album. To promote the record, the Stones organized a free concert at Altamont Speedway in northern California that December. While the band was playing “Under My Thumb,” a young man in the audience was stabbed and killed by a member of the Hells Angels motorcycle gang. The tragic event was captured on film and featured in the 1970 documentary Gimme Shelter.
Solo Career and Band Reunion
By the mid-1980s, the relationship between Jagger and Richards had become increasingly strained. Jagger focused much of his energy on a solo career with mixed results. While his first effort, 1985’s She’s the Boss, sold well enough to go platinum, his second album Primitive Cool (1987) failed to interest music buyers.
In 1989, the Stones were inducted into the Rock & Roll Hall of Fame. Jagger and Richards decided to work together again around this time, resulting in Steel Wheels (1989), which reached No. 3 on the Billboard 200 album chart in the States. To promote the record, the band toured extensively.
Jagger tried his hand at another solo record, 1993’s Wandering Spirit, which was met with lukewarm enthusiasm. The following year, he fared much better with the Stones’ next effort, Voodoo Lounge (1994). The record received strong marks from critics, winning a Grammy for Best Rock Album.
In between recording Bridges to Babylon (1997) and A Bigger Bang (2005) with his band, Jagger again aspired to establish himself as a solo artist with 2001’s Goddess in the Doorway. He also developed a career for himself as a film producer, working on such projects as The Women (2008) and the animated Ruby Tuesday.
Once viewed as a rebellious rocker, Jagger was the picture of decorum when he was knighted by then-Prince Charles in 2003.
Historic Concert in Havana
The Stones made history on March 25, 2016, when they played a free concert to 500,000 people in Havana, where their music previously had been banned by Cuba’s Communist regime for being subversive. The concert followed a historic visit from President Barack Obama just days prior, which was part of an effort to normalize U.S. relations with Cuba.
“We have performed in many special places during our long career, but this show in Havana will be a milestone for us, and, we hope, for all our friends in Cuba, too,” the band said in a statement. The show at Havana’s Ciudad Deportivo sports arena was the band’s first concert in Cuba and part of its 2016 South American tour.
That same year, the Stones released an album titled Blue & Lonesome, consisting entirely of blues music and, more specifically, cover songs. It went on to win the Grammy Award for Best Traditional Blues Album in 2018.
Meanwhile, Jagger and his bandmates continued to captivate fans with their live performances. However, they had to postpone a North American tour scheduled to kick off in April 2019 to give Jagger the opportunity to recover from heart surgery.
Hackney Diamonds and U.S. Tour
Mick Jagger and the Rolling Stones perform in October 2023 in New York City to promote the release of the Hackney Diamonds album.
In September 2023, Jagger and the Stones announced the release Hackney Diamonds, the group’s first album of original material since A Bigger Bang almost two decades earlier. It also marked the first album since the death of drummer Charlie Watts in 2021. Arriving in October 2023, Hackney Diamonds is named after a British slang term for shards of glass that are left after a break-in.
The 19-track album featured an array of superstar guests contributing either vocally or to musical arrangements, including Elton John, Paul McCartney, Stevie Wonder, and Lady Gaga. It also featured the return of bassist Bill Wyman, who had left the Stones in 1992.
Jagger explained that the band wanted the album to be distinctly modern. “We don’t want it to sound like 40 years ago, and of course, it doesn’t. It sounds like now—the clarity of it, you know, and fidelity of it. And if you listen to it—compare it to an old Rolling Stones record—it’s very, very different,” he told podcast host Tom Power. Fans seemingly liked it, with the album going to No. 1 on the U.K. chart and No. 3 in the United States. The Stones thus became the only act with a top-10 album on the Billboard 200 in every decade since the 1960s.
The band also announced a 19-date 2024 North American tour in correlation with the album, kicking off April 28 in Houston.
Girlfriend and Ex-Wives
Melanie Hamerick and Mick Jagger, seen here in September 2023, have been dating since 2014 and share a son together.
Known for his sex appeal on stage, Jagger has had numerous romantic relationships, including two marriages, behind the scenes. He is currently dating former ballerina Melanie Hamrick, who is 43 years younger than the musician. The couple has been together since 2014 and share one son together.
Jagger’s ex-wives are Bianca Jagger and Jerry Hall. The rock star became involved with model and actor Bianca, formerly Blanca Perez Moreno de Macias, around 1970. They were married from 1971 to 1978, though neither was faithful throughout the union. One of Bianca’s “very few affairs” was with actor Ryan O’Neal, while Mick had a number of extramarital flings. His final, with Hall, proved to be the breaking point in his first marriage.
Mick and Bianca Jagger were married for seven years.
Jerry Hall and Mick Jagger were together for more than 20 years.
Mick and Hall, a model, were together for more than a decade and had two of their four kids before tying the knot in 1990. Ultimately, Hall ended their relationship after discovering Jagger had an affair with model Luciana Gimenez Morad. The former couple reached a settlement and obtained an annulment in July 1999, as their marriage wasn’t legally binding under English law.
Jagger also was romantically linked to designer L’Wren Scott, who launched a fashion brand in 2006. In March 2014, Scott died by an apparent suicide at age 49. At the time of her death, Jagger was on tour in Australia with his bandmates.
How Many Kids Does Mick Jagger Have?
In total, Jagger has eight children with five different women, is a grandfather of five, and is also a great-grandfather.
His oldest daughter, Karis Hunt Jagger, was born in November 1970 to the rocker and actor Marsha Hunt. In October 1971, he and wife Bianca Jagger welcomed their daughter, Jade Jagger.
Mick and his second wife, Jerry Hall, had four children together: Elizabeth, born in March 1984; James, born in August 1985; Georgia, born in January 1992; and Gabriel, born in December 1997.
After an initial dispute about paternity, Mick was confirmed to be the father of Lucas Morad, who was born in May 1999. Jagger had an affair with Lucas’ mother Luciana Gimenez Morad while married to Hall.
Jagger’s youngest child is Deveraux Jagger. News broke in July 2016 that the musician and girlfriend Melanie Hamrick were expecting a child. Jagger was 73 years old when their son arrived that December.
Net Worth
According to Celebrity Net Worth, Jagger’s total fortune is estimated at around $500 million as of November 2023. Long after the Rolling Stones’ heyday, the band has continued to rake in money through ticket sales. In 2021, Jagger and his bandmates earned $115.5 million from their 14-show No Filter U.S. tour, making them the highest-earning touring act of the entire year.
Quotes
- I have never wanted to give up performing on stage, but one day the tours will be over.
- The past is a great place, and I don’t want to erase it or regret it, but I don’t want to be its prisoner either.
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