Brian Jones

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For other people with the same name, see Brian Jones (disambiguation)

Brian Jones (born Lewis Brian Hopkin-Jones on 28 February, 1942 in Cheltenham, Gloucestershire, England, died 3 July, 1969) was a founding member, lead and rhythm guitarist and backing singer in the British rock group, The Rolling Stones.

He was also known for his multi-instrumental skills, fashionable mod image, drug and sexual excesses, and his early death at age 27.

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Early life

Jones was born in the Park Nursing Home in Cheltenham during World War II, suffering from asthma his entire life. His parents, Louis and Louisa Jones, were of Welsh descent, and middle-class residents of the town. Brian had a sister, Pamela, born in 1943 who died a year later. A second sister, Barbara, was born in 1945.

Jones's mother Louisa was a piano teacher and started teaching her son the instrument at a very young age. Eventually he required formal lessons as he progressed too quickly for her to continue teaching him. In addition, he took up the clarinet. When he was 13 he traded in his clarinet for a saxophone and around this time he also started teaching himself how to play the guitar.

Attending local schools including Cheltenham Grammar School for Boys, Jones was known as an exceptional student, getting very high marks in all of his classes. However he found his schooling to be too regimented and formal, and refused to conform when he reached adolescence. He was known to eschew wearing the school uniforms and anger teachers with his behaviour. As a result, he remained very popular and well-liked with the students.

All this came to an end, however, when in 1958 (aged 16) Jones impregnated his 16-year-old girlfriend, named Valerie. The child was given to an infertile couple upon its birth and Brian left home, travelling throughout northern Europe and Scandinavia for the summer. During this time he lived something of a bohemian lifestyle, playing guitar on the streets for money and eating and sleeping wherever anyone would let him.

Upon his return, Jones became much more interested in various types of music - he was taught classical music at a young age, and he always preferred blues (particularly Muddy Waters and Robert Johnson), however he soon took an interest in country, jazz and rock 'n roll. He began playing at local blues and jazz clubs in addition working various odd jobs, and used the money he earned to buy more instruments. He was also known to steal small amounts of money to pay for cigarettes, which got him fired from jobs on several occasions.

Despite the unwanted attention he received from impregnating his girlfriend at a young age, Jones showed no signs of changing his lifestyle. A second child, who Jones named Julian Mark Andrews (his mother being Jones' then girlfriend Pat Andrews) was born in 1961.

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Forming the Rolling Stones

Jones eventually left home completely and moved to London, where he met and befriended fellow musicians Alexis Korner, future Manfred Mann singer Paul Jones, future Cream bassist Jack Bruce and others who made up the small London Rhythm n' Blues scene that the Rolling Stones soon dominated and spearheaded. He became a proficient blues musician, and Bill Wyman claimed he was one of the first guitarists in the UK to play slide guitar.

Jones recruited Ian "Stu" Stewart and singer Mick Jagger into his band - who with Jagger's childhood friend Keith Richards met Jones when he and Paul Jones were featured playing Elmore James' "Dust My Broom" with Korner's band. On his initiative, Jagger brought guitarist Richards with him to the rehearsals and who then joined the band. Jones' and Stewarts' acceptance of Richards and the Chuck Berry songs he wanted to play coincided with the departure of blues purists Geoff Bradford and Brian McKinght who had no tolerance for Chuck Berry.

Throughout much of 1963 Jones, Jagger and Richards shared an apartment in Chelsea, London at 102 Edith Grove with James Pheldge, a future photographer whose last name would later be used in some of the band's writing credits. While they lived there Jones and Richards spent day after day playing guitar while listening to blues records, and Jones showed Jagger how to play the harmonica properly. Shortly thereafter, Brian would name his band "The Rollin' Stones". The four Rollin' Stones then went searching for a bassist and drummer, and after several auditions and try-outs they settled on Bill Wyman on bass (mainly because he had two large VOX AC30 guitar amps) and cigarettes.After having played with Mick Avory later of the Kinks, Charlie Watts from the Alexis Korner group was chosen to play drums, considered by fellow musicians to be one of the best drummers of the London music scene.

The group played at local blues and jazz clubs around London, eventually forming a solid fan base despite strong resistance from TradJazz musicians who felt threatened by the Stones' popularity. While Mick Jagger was the lead singer, Jones was the leader, promoting the band, getting them shows around London and negotiating with venue owners. Jones would often act more as an entertainer, playing several instruments including vocals, rhythm guitar, slide guitar and harmonica. While acting as business manager, Jones arranged to have himself paid 5 pounds sterling more than the other members of the group, a practice which did not sit well with the rest of the band.

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Fame and fortune

As the Stones' popularity grew, they came to the attention of Andrew Loog Oldham, who met the band in April 1963 at the suggestion of Record Mirror music writer Peter Jones (no relation) and soon became, with Brian Jones, their co-manager. Oldham, who had worked briefly as the Beatles publicist, was an admirer of Anthony Burgess' novel A Clockwork Orange, cultivated an image for the band as unruly and slightly menacing, a kind of blues-inflected, rough-edged answer to the more amiable Beatles, using the novel's protagonist and his gang as his inspiration. Keyboardist Ian Stewart was pushed into the background by Oldham, because his appearance didn't accord with this new image for the band, though he remained the Stones' road manager and principal keyboard player until his death in 1985.

Oldham's arrival also marked the beginning of Jones' own slow estrangement from the band, one which saw his prominent role progressively diminished as Oldham sought to shift the Stones' centre of gravity away from Jones and towards Jagger and Richards. Oldham, and everybody in the group, recognised the financial lucrativity of writing your own songs with the Lennon/McCartney team, as well as the simple fact that playing covers won't keep in the limelight for years to come. Further, Oldham wanted to make Jagger's onstage charisma and flamboyance a central focus of the band's live performances. Jones saw his influence over the Stone's direction slide as their repertoire comprised fewer of the blues covers he would have preferred and more Jagger-and-Richards-penned originals, and as Oldham began asserting increasing managerial control, displacing Jones from another key role.

In 1964 Jones fathered yet another child out of wedlock, this time to girlfriend Linda Lawrence. Jones named this child Julian Brian Lawrence, and Julian would adopt the surname Leitch after Lawrence later married the folk singer Donovan. Jones is said to have named both sons Julian in tribute to the jazz saxophonist Julian "Cannonball" Adderley.

Throughout his career Jones showed a musical aptitude, having the ability to play a myriad of instruments, due to his training on the piano and clarinet in his youth. As the 1960's went on, Jones soon started experimenting with different wind and stringed instruments. Throughout his years with the band he played guitar, slide guitar, piano, sitar, tamboura, organ, dulcimer, mellotron, xylophone, marimba, recorder, clarinet and several other instruments.

In total he is known to have played at least 15 instruments with the Stones. Brian's signature guitar is a teardrop-shaped prototype Vox Phantom Mark III, though he used many others throughout his career, being fond of Gibson models (various Firebirds and ES-330 models) as well, along with the Rickenbacker 12-String model made famous by George Harrison.

Brian contributed significantly to the sounds of the mid-1960's sound of the Stones, playing slide guitar on "I Wanna Be Your Man", "Little Red Rooster", "Doncha Bother Me", "No Expectations", "I Can't Be Satisfied" and "I'm Moving On", the main guitar riff on "The Last Time", "Get Off My Cloud", "19th Nervous Breakdown", and "Mona", sitar on "Paint it, Black", tamboura on "Street Fighting Man", marimba on "Under My Thumb", "Out of Time" and "Ride On, Baby", recorder and piano on "Ruby Tuesday", dulcimer on "Lady Jane", accordion and recorder on "Backstreet Girl", mellotron on "2000 Light Years From Home", "She's A Rainbow" and "We Love You", saxophone and mellotron on "Citadel" and autoharp on "You Got the Silver". It was Brian Jones who played blues harp ("harmonica") on most of the Stones' recordings throughout the 1960s. He also contributed saxophone to the Beatles' "(You Know My Name) Look Up The Number".

Jones and Keith Richards created the guitar weaving technique that has become a signature part of the sound of the Rolling Stones. It involves both guitarists switching between rhythm and lead parts. The 1966 album Aftermath, the 1967 albums Between the Buttons and Their Satanic Majesties Request and the 1968 album Beggars Banquet showcase Jones's multi-instrumental talents throughout.

Around this time Jones purchased Cotchford Farm in East Sussex, the former home of Winnie the Pooh author A. A. Milne.

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Estrangement from the Rolling Stones

The hard days on the road, the money and fame and the feeling of being alienated from the group resulted in Jones' greater and greater indulgence in drugs and alcohol. He frequently used LSD and cocaine, and was known to be a heavy drinker, though he was also known to avoid heroin. Jones was arrested for drug use for the first time in May 1967, shortly after the Redlands incident at Richards' Sussex home. Authorities found marijuana, cocaine and methamphetamine in Jones' possession. He confessed to marijuana use but claimed he did not use hard drugs. Along with his bandmates, protesters appeared outside the court demanding that Jones be freed, and he was not kept in jail for long. He was fined, given probation and made to see a counselor.

In June 1967, Jones attended the Monterey Pop Festival. He attended the festival with singer Nico, with whom he had a brief romantic relationship. Here he met Frank Zappa and Dennis Hopper, and went on stage to introduce the Jimi Hendrix Experience.

Jagger and Richards grew increasingly hostile towards Jones, and Jones became alienated from the rest of the group. By many accounts Jones was often a warm, friendly and outgoing person, yet these same people - including Bill Wyman - commented that Jones could often be an extremely difficult and mean person to get along with. Tensions grew, partly due to Jones's inebriated states. Other observers, again including Bill Wyman, find some fault with Jagger and Richards, claiming they were deliberately trying to push Brian out of the group. However, Jones maintained close relationships with many others outside of the Stones camp, including Bob Dylan, John Lennon, Jimi Hendrix, George Harrison and Steve Marriott.

Life continued to become much more difficult for Jones. In the summer of 1967, Jones's girlfriend Anita Pallenberg ran off with Richards while Jones was in hospital. By this point, Jones was alienated from the band, while he was being harassed by the police and suffering paranoia. Jones last real sessions with the Stones were in the spring and summer of 1968, when the Stones produced the classic "Jumpin' Jack Flash" and the Beggars Banquet album. A relaxed and sober Jones can be seen in the Jean-Luc Godard movie Sympathy For The Devil, playing acoustic guitar, chatting and sharing cigarettes with Richards. The film chronicles the making of the song "Sympathy for the Devil". While he played an acoustic guitar for the backing track, it is not included in the final version, though it is occasionally audible in the film.

Jones' last formal appearance with the Stones was in the December 1968 The Rolling Stones Rock and Roll Circus, a part-concert, part-circus act film organized by the band. It went unreleased for 25 years due to Mick Jagger being unhappy with the band's performance when compared to other bands in the film, such as Jethro Tull, The Who and Taj Mahal. In the film, Jones appears somewhat bored but enjoys the interaction with the audience. At most times during the film his instruments are inaudible, but you can hear his signature lead slide guitar riff on "No Expectations".

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Other contributions

In 1966 Jones produced, played on and wrote the soundtrack for the film "Mord und Totschlag" (aka "A Degree Of Murder"), an avant-garde German film with his then-girlfriend Anita Pallenberg. He hired various musicians to play on the soundtrack, among them guitarist Jimmy Page. Jones and Pallenberg attracted controversy during the making of the film when Jones posed in a Nazi uniform while standing on a naked doll for a photograph, along with Pallenberg. Jones was by no means sympathetic to the Nazis, however many were offended by the photographs.

Jones played percussion on an unreleased version of Bob Dylan's All Along the Watchtower together with a handful of jams with Jimi Hendrix and Dave Mason of Traffic in early 1968, in addition to playing the alto saxophone on a Beatles song, "You Know My Name (Look Up The Number)." In 1968, Jones recorded the Morocco-based ensemble, the Master Musicians Of Joujouka. This is known to many as the birth of interest in World Music.

In 1971, Brian Jones Presents The Pipes Of Pan At Joujouka was posthumously released; it remains a World Music landmark. Mick Jagger and Keith Richards returned to Jajouka in 1989 to record most of backing for the track "Continental Drift" for the Stones album Steel Wheels.

The son of the leader of the Joujouka musicians that Brian Jones had recorded had co-incidentally written to the Rolling Stones at that time, and Jagger and Richards (along with Matt Clifford who was working on the album with them) flew off to meet him. The encounter is documented in a rarely seen BBC film called "Rolling Stones : World Music".

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Death

Jones was arrested a second time in 1968, this time for marijuana possession. Jones claimed the marijuana was left behind by previous owners of his home, but he was facing a long jail sentence if found guilty, due to his probation. Bill Wyman commented "The fact that the police had secured a warrant with no evidence showed the arrest was part of a carefully orchestrated plan. Brian and the Stones were being targeted in an effort to deter the public from taking drugs". The jury found him guilty, yet the judge had sympathy for Jones, instead giving him a fine and warning him, "for goodness sake, don't get into trouble again or it really will be serious." The prosecution's case was very weak, relying on testimony of police who were later found to be corrupt. (The same corrupt officers who harassed Jones would go on to harass Jagger in 1969.)

In early June 1969, Jones was visited by Mick Jagger, Keith Richards and Charlie Watts and was told the group would continue without him. He was replaced by virtuoso guitarist Mick Taylor, who started sessions with the Stones right away.

On 3 July, 1969, Brian Jones was discovered dead in his swimming pool at his home in Hartfield, Sussex, England. The coroner's report stated "Death by misadventure," and noted that his liver and heart were heavily enlarged by drug and alcohol abuse.

However, his then-girlfriend Anna Wohlin claimed in 2000 that he had been murdered by a builder who had been staying with them renovating the house the couple shared. The builder, Frank Thorogood, reputedly confessed to the murder on his death bed but died before a confession could be recorded by the authorities. However, this apparent confession was later recanted by Tom Keylock.

Many items, such as instruments and expensive furniture, were stolen from the home after Jones' death, most likely by Thorogood, driver Tom Keylock, and others who worked on the property. Rumours also exist that demo recordings made by Jones for his future projects were stolen as well, but to date nothing has ever surfaced.

Upon his death, Pete Townshend wrote a poem titled "A Normal Day For Brian, A Man Who Died Every Day" (printed in The Times), Jimi Hendrix dedicated a song to him on US television, and Jim Morrison of The Doors wrote a published poem entitled Ode To L.A. While Thinking Of Brian Jones, Deceased.

When asked by a newspaper reporter his reaction to Jones' death, George Harrison responded, "When I met him I liked him quite a lot. He was a good fellow you know. I got to know him very well, I think, and I felt very close to him: you know how it is with some people, you feel for them, feel near to them. He was born on 28 February, 1942, and I was born on 25 February, 1943, and he was with Mick and Keith, and I was with John and Paul in the groups, so there was a sort of understanding between the two of us. The positions were similar, and I often seemed to meet him in his times of trouble. There was nothing the matter with him that a little extra love wouldn't have cured. I don't think he had enough love or understanding. He was very nice and sincere and sensitive, and we must remember that's what he was."

The Rolling Stones performed a free concert in Hyde Park on 5 July, 1969, two days after his death. Because the concert had already been scheduled weeks earlier in order to present the new guitarist, critics accused the group of being callous and uncaring about their former bandmate. Supporters retorted that the group dedicated the concert to him. Before the concert began, Jagger read a poem by Percy Shelley and released thousands of butterflies. Though The Stones then opened with a Johnny Winter song that was one of Brian's favorites, "I'm Yours And I'm Hers", many would say that their concert that day was the worst that they have ever given.

Jones was buried in a lavish silver and bronze casket sent for his funeral in Cheltenham, England by friend Bob Dylan. The Stones asked fans to stay away, and only Watts and Wyman among the group attended the funeral. Mick Jagger, Keith Richards and Anita Pallenberg didn't attend Jones' funeral.

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Writing credits

To date, only one officially released song is officially credited to Jones, the 30 second "Rice Krispies," jingle for the Kellogg's company, co-written with J.W. Thompson and which the group performed incognito as a commercial (which was common practice for bands to earn money). A second song "Sure I Do" was written completely by Jones, but the only known copy of it remains in Bill Wyman's "Sticky Fingers" restaurant. Unfortunately, nobody has ever heard this song.

A handful of early Stones recordings were credited to "Nanker Phelge," a pseudonym indicating that all members of the group (including Jones) authored the song.

Nanker was a strange face Jones and Richards would often make, and Phelge came from their former roommate James Pheldge.

Among the Nanker Phelge (aka Jagger/Jones/Richards/Watts/Wyman) songs are the following Stones compositions:

  • Stoned
  • Now I've Got A Witness
  • And Mr Spector And Mr Pitney Came Too (co-written with Phil Spector)
  • Little By Little (co-written with Phil Spector)
  • 2120 South Michigan Avenue
  • Stewed And Keef (Brian's Blues)
  • The Under Assistant West Coast Promotion Man

It is disputed as to whether or not Jones should have earned co-writing credits for some songs. Some of the big hits of the Stones clearly have Brian Jones stamped all over them. One of the best examples of the dispute is "Ruby Tuesday". Brian's piano and recorder (a flute) are the key ingredients to this song, and some fans suggest Jones should have received a writing credit. Still other sources say Jones composed a significant portion of it; Jagger himself stated "Beautiful lyrics and music, neither which I wrote".

"Paint It Black" was supposedly a much different song when Jagger and Richards alone had composed it. Mick Jagger wrote the lyrics and Keith Richards the chords. It didn't became the monster hit as we know it until Bill Wyman suggested to use the bass pedals of the organ for the polka-rhythm, and Brian Jones suggested to play a melody on the sitar. It can be argued whether or not Nanker Phelge should be credited with the song, although the song to date remains a Jagger-Richards composition.

The song "Gomper" from the band's album Their Satanic Majesties Request, while also credited to Jagger-Richards, features Jones playing all percussive instruments, sitar, tamboura, flute, and organ in a fairly long instrumental section. An argument can be made that Jones deserves a writing credit for this song as well.

In addition, rumors persist that Jones himself authored the riff to "Honky Tonk Women". Keith Richards claims he took the riff from Ry Cooder, and to date Cooder accuses Keith Richards of "ripping him off". Cooder now refuses to talk about his sessions with the Stones.

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Public image and Legend

Jones' biggest achievement, probably even more important than being a musician, was his status as a fashion icon, exemplified by his rebellious, outlandish fashion sense. As the most photogenic member of the Rolling Stones, his style of dress and manner did more to influence the fashion scene of swinging 1960s London than perhaps any other musician.

He was of small stature at 5'8", with blue-green eyes and blonde hair, yet he was a pioneer in molding the "rock star" image. He was known for deliberately walking around crowded streets until girls would recognize him and start chasing him, at which point he would run away as fast as he could (à la The Beatles in the film A Hard Day's Night).

Jones, along with Jagger, was very politically-inclined, and stated in an interview that abortion and recreational drug use should be legal, and expressed his support for the gay rights movement. He gave interviews frequently and is often regarded as the most eloquent member of the group. His intellect, combined with his outspoken dislike of socially imposed constraints, made him one of the earliest English rock stars, and a role model for the British Invasion.

The 2005 film Stoned is a fictional account of Jones and his role in the Rolling Stones.

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References

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External links

Fans: Yahoo discussion group of Brian Jones and other '60's stars

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