JAGGER
Michael

• 1. Early life

Sir Michael Philip Jagger is an English singer, songwriter, actor, and film producer who has achieved international fame as the lead vocalist and one of the founder members of the Rolling Stones. His songwriting partnership with Keith Richards is one of the most successful in history. Jagger's career has spanned over six decades, and he has been described as "one of the most popular and influential frontmen in the history of rock & roll". His distinctive voice and energetic live performances, along with Richards' guitar style, have been the Rolling Stones's trademark throughout the band's career. Jagger gained press notoriety for his romantic involvements and illicit drug use — and was often portrayed as a countercultural figure.

Jagger was born and grew up in Dartford, Kent. He studied at the London School of Economics before abandoning his studies to join the Rolling Stones. Jagger has written most of the Rolling Stones' songs together with Richards, and they continue to collaborate musically. In the late 1960s, Jagger starred in the films Performance (1970) and Ned Kelly (1970) to a mixed reception. In the 2000s, he co-founded a film production company, Jagged Films, and through them has produced a number of feature films, beginning with the 2001 historical drama Enigma. He began a solo recording career in 1985, releasing his first album, She's the Boss and joined the electric supergroup SuperHeavy in 2009. Relationships with the Stones' members, particularly Richards, deteriorated during the 1980s, but Jagger has always found more success with the band than with his solo and side projects. Jagger has been married and divorced once, and has had several other relationships, resulting in eight children with five women.

In 1989, Jagger was inducted into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame, and in 2004 into the UK Music Hall of Fame with the Rolling Stones. As a member of the Rolling Stones, and as a solo artist, he reached number one on the UK and US singles charts with 13 singles, the top 10 with 32 singles and the top 40 with 70 singles. In 2003, he was knighted for his services to popular music.

Early life

Michael Philip Jagger was born into a middle-class family in Dartford, Kent, on 26 July 1943. His father, Basil Fanshawe "Joe" Jagger (13 April 1913 – 11 November 2006), a former gymnast, was a physical education teacher who helped popularise basketball in Britain; his grandfather David Ernest Jagger was also a teacher. His mother, Eva Ensley Mary (née Scutts; 6 April 1913 – 18 May 2000), born in Sydney, Australia, of English descent, was a hairdresser and an active member of the Conservative Party. Jagger's younger brother, Chris (born 19 December 1947), is also a musician. The two have performed together.

Although brought up to follow his father's career path, Jagger said in According to the Rolling Stones. "I always sang as a child. I was one of those kids who just liked to sing. Some kids sing in choirs; others like to show off in front of the mirror. I was in the church choir and I also loved listening to singers on the radio – the BBC or Radio Luxembourg – or watching them on TV and in the movies."

In September 1950, Keith Richards and Jagger were classmates at Wentworth Primary School, Dartford, before the Jagger family's 1954 move to Wilmington, Kent. The same year he passed the eleven-plus examination and attended Dartford Grammar School, which now has the Mick Jagger Centre, named after its most famous alumnus, installed within the school's site. Jagger and Richards lost contact with each other when they went to different schools, but after a chance encounter on platform two at Dartford railway station in July 1960, resumed their friendship and discovered their shared love of rhythm and blues, which for Jagger had begun with Little Richard.

Jagger left school in 1961 after passing seven O-levels and two A-levels. He and Richards moved into a flat in Edith Grove, Chelsea, London, with guitarist Brian Jones. While Richards and Jones planned to start their own rhythm and blues group, Jagger continued to study finance and accounting on a government grant as an undergraduate student at the London School of Economics. He had seriously considered becoming either a journalist or a politician, comparing the latter to a pop star.

Brian Jones, using the name Elmo Lewis, began working at the Ealing Club – where a "loosely knit" music ensemble known as Blues Incorporated was performing, under the leadership of Alexis Korner. Jones, Richards, and Jagger began to jam with the group, with Jagger eventually becoming the featured singer. Soon, the three of them began meeting on their own to practice, laying the foundation for what would become the Rolling Stones.