The legendary musician is still in the ranks and still is charismatic and active, despite the tumultuous past
Today, one of the most recognizable artists in the world – the frontman of The Rolling Stones Mick Jagger – is 75 years old. Behind the shoulders of the musician is a huge, rich and incredibly interesting life. At the same time, he does not even dwell on what has been achieved. We decided to recall the 10 funniest facts from the life of the singer. And thus wish him to continue in the same spirit.
Michael Philip Jagger was born on July 26, 1943 in Dartford (Kent, England). When the baby Mike was only five years old, he had a fateful meeting in his life – he met a boy named Keith Richards on the playground of the primary school. It was said that the guys did not like each other at once, that’s why they were not very upset when after a few years their parents divorced them in different educational institutions. But from fate you will not leave and in 1961 Jagger again met Richards, who was traveling with him in the same railway car. The guys got to know each other, got to talking and it turned out that they both are fond of the music of Chuck Berry and Muddy Waters. From that moment on, the countdown to the founding of The Rolling Stones began. Then Mike slightly changed the traditional sounding of his name and became Mick.
Whatever one may say, Jagger had no other choice but to become a singer. Because from the earliest childhood, he only did so, that he sang. In any circumstances and with any listeners. And the main feature of the beginning vocalist was the volume, then the boy took the households mad. One-day Mick was so carried away with the performance of another song that he bit his tongue. To direct the irresistible passion of his son in a constructive channel, his parents gave him to the church choir. And then he took and sang about sympathy for the devil in his legendary hit Sympathy for the Devil. Jagger always had his own special way. By the way, Keith Richards in his book later wrote that technically correct singing Jagger took up only after 2000, and before he was shouting, how God puts his soul to heart. The singer on his colleague for this attack offended. Anyway, and Jagger is officially considered one of the best rock singers in history.
Now it is difficult to believe in this, but in the 1960s. Mick Jagger was considered a countercultural figure. And perhaps the most striking. The audience was shocked by his candid and slightly feminine costumes, sexual gestures and movements on stage, as well as sensual manner of performance. In addition, the singer did not hide his fascination with various drugs and did not make secrets out of violent sexual life. Later in an interview, he joked that in the 60s. in the trinity of “sex, drugs, rock and roll” put sex first, and in the 90s. – drugs. No matter how Jagger’s personal life develops, rock’n’roll is still present in it.
Once, while still quite a young performer, Jagger said that he would finish his musical career at the age of 33. Age of Christ, you see. The statement is no worse than the legendary and scandalous statement of John Lennon that The Beatles are more popular than the same Jesus. As a result, these words turned out to be only coquetry. Sir Mick is still in the ranks and still successfully travels to world tours, collecting entire stadiums.
Mick Jagger, as a notorious rock star, faithful to love never differed, so even married only twice. As a result, eight children from five different women. And the oldest daughter Mika this year will turn 48 years old, and the youngest son in December will celebrate only the second birthday. In addition, the musician is the grandfather of five grandchildren and great-granddaughter of one great-granddaughter. And in 2014, his grandfather and great-grandfather, he almost simultaneously, which, according to relatives, was incredibly happy. Jagger adores children, but his grandchildren are forced to call themselves by name in order to maintain a sense of their own youth.
This is now Mick Jagger is considered one of the main heartthrobers on the rock scene and even outside it, and at first in his success, as a frontman and men, few believed. When The Rolling Stones at the beginning of their career managed to get into the then popular British TV show Thank You Lucky Stars, the producer of the transfer decided to give the musicians “valuable” advice – to get rid of the vocalist urgently. Jagger, he called ugly, and his lips – rubber. On the one hand, he was right, Mick’s appearance is valid far from the classical standards of male beauty. On the other – Jagger and now they know everything, but the name of the producer of the story for obvious reasons is silent.
For 15 years, Jagger in his homeland is called just like Sir Mick. In the year he celebrated his 60th birthday, the Prince of Wales Charles dedicated the knight to the musician, recognizing the great merit of the singer before music and British culture. In fact, the title Jagger was granted a full year and a half earlier, but the musician was so busy preparing for the tour of Forty Licks that he did not find a minute to drop into Buckingham Palace, even the invitation to the concert in honor of the birthday of Queen Elizabeth II was rejected. On the day when Jagger finally cleared his schedule to take the title, the other plans were with the queen – she went to the hospital for an operation on her knee. As a result, the most impressed of the ceremony was invited to her father Mick – at that time 92-year-old Basil Jagger. He was extremely proud of his son. But Keith Richards remained an initiate of his friend dissatisfied. He felt that chivalry does not go well with what Rolling Stones is like.
Among the numerous awards and titles of Jagger there is also a very unusual difference – in honor of him named… a kind of hippos! More precisely, the extinct species of cloven-hoofed animals that led a semi-aquatic life, just like modern hippos. Jaggermeryx naida lived about 19 million years ago, were the size of a small deer, and outwardly resembled a cross between a slender behemoth with a long-legged pig. Paleontologists appropriated the name of the animal to Jagger because of the large and sensitive lips with which to look for food. The singer, as we know, also has a very wide smile. It was reported that the scientists first wanted to name their find in honor of Angelina Jolie, but Jagger’s charisma won in this dispute.
Unlike his fellow musicians, who are trying their best in mass cinema (Keith Richards, for example, brightly lit up in “Pirates of the Caribbean”), Jagger never really aspired to the wide screen. In his filmography, there are several excellent independent films, such as the drama “Escape from the Champs-Elysees”, in which he played with Andy Garcia and Julianne Margulis, and “Obscure Camera”, based on the novel by Vladimir Nabokov, as well as a couple of frankly thrash paintings. One day, Mick could become the star of the legendary screen musical “Rocky Horror Show of Horrors”, but after listening to the role lost to Tim Curry. But as the composer Sir Meek left a huge mark in the cinema. His songs sound in the soundtracks of dozens of paintings – from the “Squad of Suicides” to “Apocalypse Now.” In addition, he wrote music for the romantic drama “Handsome Alfie” with Jude Law.
Jagger in itself has long been a cultural icon, about him writing songs, he is mentioned in literature and cinema, copying the characters of computer games from him, and the number of his appearances as a guest star is no longer counted. But, perhaps, the most recognizable song is not Mika, but about Mika – this is the duet of the group Maroon 5 and Cristina Aguilera – Move like Jagger. In the video for this hit, who just does not try to repeat Sir Michael’s branded stage moves. Try and you, perhaps, it is in them lies the secret of active longevity of one of the world’s top rock stars.