The Beginning of The Rolling Stones

The year 1951 saw Mick Jagger and Keith Richards at classmates ate Wentworth Primary School. The next year Richards attended Sidcup Art College and Jagger The London School of Economics. The two joined mutual friend Dick Taylor and formed Little Boy Blue and the Blue Boys. Brian Jones and Ian Stewart were very active at the time in the London rhythm and blues scene that was fostered by Alexis Korner and Cyril Davies. Brian Jones met Mick Jagger and Keith Richards while he was playing slide guitar with Korner's Blues Inc. One interesting fact is that Korner hired Jagger from time to time and Charlie Watts on a frequent basis. The first ever rehearsal was organized by Brian Jones and saw Stewart, Richards and Jagger. Then, in 1962 we had a lineup of Jagger, Stewart, Taylor, Jones, Richards and Tony Chapman. Eventually Taylor left the group and Brian Jones was the one that gave the band the name The Rollin' Stones, which came after Muddy Waters' song "Rollin' Stone".

The first regular gig the band had was on July 12th 1962 at the Marquee club in central London. The line up at that time was Brian Jones, Richards, Mick Jagger, Tony Chapman on drums, Taylor on bass and Stewart on piano. Jones wanted that the band will mainly play Chicago blue although Richards and Jagger are responsible for bringing in the rock and roll style of Bo Diddley and Chuck Berry. December of that year meant that Bill Wyman joined the band together with Charlie Watts, which came in January.

The first manager of the Rolling Stones was Giorgio Gomelsky and he booked them to play at Crawdaddy Club and they did that for around 8 months. Their fan base became interesting and it even included the Beatles. It was the Beatles that recommended the Stones to Andrew Loog Oldham and this saw the band signing a management deal with Eric Easton. Decca Records then signed the Stones at the persuasion of George Harrison. The first EP and album, both bearing the name of the band, were composed of covers from the live repertoire of the band. We also saw the first ever Rolling Stones Top 40 single, written by Richards and Jagger and entitled "Tell Me (You're Coming Back)". This marked the beginning of the Rolling Stones as a growing band!