Blues-obsessed Dartford teens outlasted six decades of rock
The Rolling Stones formed in 1962 and remain among rock’s longest-running giants, with more than 250 million albums sold and a Rock and Roll Hall of Fame berth. Jagger and Richards, childhood friends from 1950 Dartford, fronted a British Invasion blues charge that later billed itself “the greatest rock and roll band in the world.”
Early sets covered blues and R&B before original writing stuck. Brian Jones left weeks before his 1969 death; Mick Taylor filled the guitar chair as the stage boast hardened. Four Grammys plus a Lifetime Achievement Award mark industry scorekeeping beside the sales estimate.
A 1962 Jazz News tip about Alexis Korner’s Ealing club pulled the Blues Boys into London’s R&B circuit that incubated the Stones.
Through Korner's club they met slide guitarist Brian Jones, who advertised for bandmates in Jazz News in May 1962; pianist Ian Stewart answered first, and Jagger and Richards joined in June. Billed as the Rollin' Stones, they played their first show at London's Marquee Club on 12 July 1962 and soon toured Britain with Chicago blues by Chuck Berry and Bo Diddley. In February 1963 their acting manager Giorgio Gomelsky secured them a regular Sunday slot at Richmond's Crawdaddy Club.
In May 1963 they signed Andrew Loog Oldham, just 19 and so young his mother had to co-sign contracts, who had been steered to them by the Beatles. He dropped the matching-suits idea and sold the Stones as the scruffy, unsmiling opposite of the Beatles. Decca, which had passed on the Beatles, offered triple the usual royalty for a new act, full artistic control and ownership of the master tapes. Their first single, a cover of Chuck Berry's Come On released on 7 June 1963, climbed to number 21, helped by fan-club members buying copies at chart-polled shops.
Source: The Rolling Stones
