Rome, 26 July 2023 – Mick Jagger blows out 80 candles. Incredible but true, the artist has reached this important milestone in dazzling physical shape, almost as if he had never really aged. The leader of the Rolling Stones is on the crest of the wave today as never before, and represents a point of reference for all those young people and those “old people” who one day dream of becoming a rock idol like him. Here is his incredible personal story.
Mick Jagger, who he is: his origins and beginnings
The rock star’s story begins in Dartford, in a middle-class family: his father is Basil Fanshawe, a teacher by profession, while his mother is a hairdresser named Eva Ensley Mary. Right from the start, little Mick shows that he has an enormous passion for music, which he shares among others with a “certain” Keith Richard, the Rolling Stones colleague whom he already knows in elementary school. The very first public performances date back to 1956, when a very young Mick starts playing live with a group of friends, but without singing. 1961 will be a crucial year for him, given that after a long time he will find his old friend Keith again, discovering that he has the 7-note passion in common for him. Although at first he had started studying economics to please his mother, Mick Jagger soon laid the foundations for the creation of the primordial nucleus from which the Rolling Stones would be born in the following years.
The early years of the Rolling Stones
The initial attempts to create a group at the Ferry Club in London lead to a first set of musicians in 1962 who, from this moment on, will become inseparable: with the addition of Brian Jones, Bill Wyman and Charlie Watts, the Rolling are officially born. Stones. Legend has it that the name of the group is inspired by Bob Dylan’s famous ‘Like a rolling stone’, but it is fake news: Mick and his companions take inspiration from a piece by Muddy Waters. A great artistic partnership was immediately established between Jagger and Richards, who became the beating heart of the group: one deals with the lyrics of the songs, while the other composes the music. It immediately becomes clear to everyone how much Mick Jagger has inside, so to speak, a kind of sacred artistic fire: on stage the singer transforms, becomes a stage animal, holds the scene like no other, transforming himself with his movements into a sex symbol as well as a true rock legend to whom many after him would have looked up to (intercom Harry Styles…).
The solo period and the most difficult years
Not everything went smoothly for Mick Jagger and his fellow adventurers, particularly in the period between the 70s and 80s. In 1969, the group’s guitarist Brian Jones died, while throughout the 1970s his friend Keith Richards continued to struggle against a drug addiction that forced Mick to take further care of the production of the band’s songs. Thus, at the end of the decade, at the stroke of the 80s, an exhausted Mick Jagger decides to momentarily leave the group to embark on a solo career that would then last for 13 years, until 1993, and all this despite the songs and the Rolling Stones albums were doing great. Jagger, at this time, simply needed to switch off and get away from Richards, with whom he was always arguing. In this period, therefore, the first album ‘she She ‘s the boss’ was released, driven by the single ‘Just another night’. There will be a total of three solo albums he has released in recent years, the last of which (‘Wandering Spirit’) which will also be accompanied by a related mini tour.
Politics and activism
The British singer initially openly expressed his support for the British Conservative Party and expressed esteem for former Prime Minister Margaret Thatcher, also known by many by the nickname of “Iron Lady”. However, over time, his interest in politics has waned and the singer, on the contrary, wanted to define himself as “apolitical”. All this, in any case, has certainly not prevented him from taking a stand on some particularly hot topics such as the independence of Scotland, about which he is against, and like Brexit, which he has openly supported. On the other hand, his approach to former US president Donald Trump was very different, especially with respect to a topic dear to him such as global warming. Especially when it comes to environmental protection, Mick Jagger has always been particularly active. The artist is in fact a supporter of the Sea Shepherd association, which fights for the protection of marine life, and of the Soil Association, which works to promote organic farming in the United Kingdom.
Private life: all the loves of Mick
The artist’s first wife, to whom he was married from 1971 to 1978, was Bianca Pérez-Mora Macias, while the second woman he married was Jerry Hall, with whom he remained linked from 1990 to 1999 In the past he also had a relationship with L’Wren Scott, which ended tragically: the woman hanged herself on March 17, 2014. Mick Jagger, who is now happily engaged to the young dancer Melanie Hamrick, has become a father for a total of 8 times: the last time it happened with Hamrick, who made him a parent for the eighth time of little Deveraux, born on December 8, 2016 when Mick Jagger had already reached the venerable age of 73 years. In addition, the artist is also a grandfather and great-grandfather: for the moment, in fact, he boasts 5 grandchildren and a great-granddaughter, Ezra Key, who came into the world on May 19, 2014.
This article is originally published on quotidiano.net
