“Yes I want
to be famous, and no, I don’t want to live till 30.” - Brian Jones
Brian Jones, the founder – and
the best musician – of ever-popular The Rolling Stones - didn’t
know how to handle fame. He was destroyed by popularity. The more fame Brian gathered, the more drugs he ingested, until...
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| Jones: Leader of the Pack |
He gave The Rolling
Stones its name, booked its early gigs, made up set lists, led the way in its
rebellious attitude and style – and was fired
by the other members.
With his beautiful,
angelic golden pageboy haircut, his
dandy suits, his just-above-a-whisper voice, his obvious fragility, who
would have known he sired and abandoned eight children and beat women?
He wanted The Rolling
Stones to remain as a rhythm & blues band, not a rock n’ roll group, and
battled the others to control the artistic vision. He was ignored. In a brief
time, The Rolling Stones became known as the world’s greatest rock band.
Brian Jones was the
first international pop star to embrace – what became known as – world music with his production of the
record Brian
Jones Presents the Pipes of Pan at Joujouka. Released in
1971, it failed to sell. World music went on to explode in the 1980s.
He met and lived with actress/model
Anita
Pallenberg. (It’s been said she was the only woman he ever loved). She left
him for Keith Richards whom she left for Mick Jagger, kind of…
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| Two J's: soon gone |
He was the only Stone to
appear on a Beatles song, performing a great, meandering sax solo for You Know My Name (Look Up
the Number). He also played on Baby You’re a Rich Man. He never received
credit.
When he died, he owed debts
amounting to over 200,000 pounds – which was finally cleared in 1982. Today, his
sister receives about $21,000 annually in royalties. Sir Mick Jagger is worth
about$360-million dollars.
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| Jones: The coolest Stone of all |
It’s likely that he was drowned
in his pool by a handyman whom he had just fired. Due to Brian’s lifestyle,
the suspicion was never pursued.
He was the first big rock
star to be admitted into the ’27 Club’,
followed by the three J’s - Jimi, Janis and Jim.
Appropriately, the sad soundtrack of Brian Jones’ life is his beloved Blues:
Born under a bad sign
Been down since I could crawl
If it wasn't for bad luck
You know I wouldn't have no luck at all
- - Albert King