| Brian Jones |
Jones, before The Rolling Stones' performance at Georgia Southern University on 4 May 1965 |
| Background information |
| Birth name |
Lewis Brian Hopkins Jones |
| Also known as |
Elmo Lewis |
| Born |
28 February 1942
Cheltenham, Gloucestershire, England |
| Died |
3 July 1969 (aged 27)
Hartfield, Sussex, England |
| Genres |
Rock, rock and roll, blues rock, psychedelic rock, rhythm and blues |
| Occupations |
Musician, composer, bandleader, record producer |
| Instruments |
Guitar, harmonica, piano, keyboards, vocals, sitar, recorder, appalachian dulcimer, theremin, saxophone, bagpipes, oboe, clarinet, koto, trumpet, marimba, xylophone, cello, bass guitar, banjo, mandolin, accordion, glockenspiel, harp, drums, tambura, tabla, French horn, trombone, ukulele, kazoo, auto-harp, vibraphone, tuba |
| Years active |
1961–69 |
| Labels |
Decca Records, Atco Records, London, Rolling Stones Records |
| Associated acts |
The Rolling Stones, Master Musicians of Joujouka, The Beatles, Jimi Hendrix |
| Notable instruments |
Harmony Stratotone H46
Vox Mark VI
Gibson Firebird
Rickenbacker 330 |
Lewis Brian Hopkins Jones (28 February 1942 – 3 July 1969) was an English musician and a founding member of
The Rolling Stones.
[1]
Jones' main instruments were the guitar, the harmonica, and the
piano, but he was a talented and wide-ranging multi-instrumentalist. His
innovative use of
traditional or folk instruments, such as the
sitar and
marimba, was integral to the changing sound of the band.
Although he was originally the leader of the group, Jones' fellow band members
Mick Jagger and
Keith Richards
soon overshadowed him, especially after they became a successful
songwriting team. He developed a serious drug problem over the years and
his role in the band steadily diminished. He was asked to leave the
Rolling Stones in June 1969 and guitarist
Mick Taylor
took his place in the group. Jones died less than a month later by
drowning in the swimming pool at his home on Cotchford Farm in
Hartfield, East Sussex.
Original Stones bassist
Bill Wyman
said of Jones, "He formed the band. He chose the members. He named the
band. He chose the music we played. He got us gigs. ... Very
influential, very important, and then slowly lost it -- highly
intelligent -- and just kind of wasted it and blew it all away."
[2]
Biography
Early life and fatherhood
Jones was born in the Park Nursing Home in
Cheltenham, Gloucestershire, on 28 February 1942. An attack of
croup at the age of four left him with
asthma, which lasted for the rest of his life.
[3]
His middle-class parents, Lewis Blount Jones and Louisa Beatrice Jones
(née Simmonds) were of Welsh descent. Brian had two sisters: Pamela, who
was born on 3 October 1943 and who died on 14 October 1945 of
leukaemia; and Barbara, born on 22 August 1946.
[3]
Both Jones's parents were interested in music: his mother Louisa was a piano teacher, and in addition to his job as an
aeronautical engineer, Lewis Jones played piano and
organ and led the choir at the local church.
[3]
In 1957 Jones first heard
Cannonball Adderley's
music, which inspired his interest in jazz. Jones persuaded his parents
to buy him a saxophone, and two years later his parents gave him his
first acoustic guitar as a 17th birthday present.
[4]
Jones attended local schools, including
Dean Close School, from September 1949 to July 1953 and
Cheltenham Grammar School for Boys, which he entered in September 1953 after passing the
Eleven-plus exam. He enjoyed badminton and diving at school and became first
clarinet in the school orchestra. In 1957 he reportedly obtained seven
O-level passes, then he continued into the
sixth form and obtained a further two O-levels. He also took three
A-levels in Physics, Chemistry and Biology and passed in Physics and Chemistry, but failed in Biology.
[5] Jones had an IQ of 135 and was able to perform well in exams despite a lack of academic effort.
[5]
Despite academic ability, however, he found school regimented and
disliked conforming. He disliked the school uniforms and angered
teachers with his behaviour, though he was generally popular among
students.
[5] Jones himself said: "When I made the sixth form I found myself accepted by the older boys; suddenly I was in."
[5]
His hostility to
authority figures resulted in his suspension from school on two occasions.
[5] According to Dick Hattrell, a childhood friend: "He was a rebel without a cause, but when examinations came he was brilliant."
[5]
In the spring of 1959, Jones's 14-year-old girlfriend, a Cheltenham
schoolgirl named Valerie Corbett, became pregnant. Although Jones is
said to have encouraged her to have an abortion, she placed the baby boy
for adoption.
[5]
Jones quit school in disgrace and left home, travelling through
Northern Europe and Scandinavia for a summer. During this period, he
lived a
bohemian lifestyle,
busking
with his guitar on the streets for money, and living off the charity of
others. Eventually, Jones ran short of money and returned to England.
[6]
Jones grew up listening to
classical music, but he preferred
blues, particularly
Elmore James and
Robert Johnson.
He began playing at local blues and jazz clubs in addition to busking
and working odd jobs. He was also reported to have stolen small amounts
of money from work to pay for cigarettes, which tended to get him fired.
[7]
In November 1959, Jones went to the Wooden Bridge Hotel in
Guildford
to see a group. He met a young married woman named Angeline, and the
two had a one-night stand that resulted in her pregnancy. Angeline and
her husband decided to bring up the baby together, a girl, born on 4
August the following year. Jones never knew about her birth.
[6]
In 1961, Jones applied for a scholarship to
Cheltenham Art College.
He was initially accepted into the programme, however the offer was
withdrawn two days later. Someone had written to the college saying
Jones was an irresponsible drifter, and the college reconsidered the
offer.
[8]
On 23 October 1961, Jones's girlfriend Pat Andrews gave birth to his third child, Julian Mark Andrews.
[9]
Jones sold his record collection to buy flowers for Pat and clothes for
the newborn and lived with them for a while. On 23 July 1964, another
woman, Linda Lawrence, gave birth to Jones's fourth child, also named
Julian Mark.
[10]
Brian's fifth child was born in
Wimbledon
on 24 March 1965, to teenager Dawn Molloy. He was originally named Paul
Andrew Molloy. Dawn was forced to give the baby up for adoption and
Paul's adoptive parents renamed him John. Finally, on 23 February 1969,
Brian's sixth and youngest child was born to a married but separated
American model named Elizabeth.
[citation needed]
Brian met Elizabeth on 12 May in Wembley and saw her a few times
between 12 and 20 May. She and her husband were reunited in November
1968 and flew back to the United States. The baby, Brian's second
daughter, was born in Chicago, Illinois, and named after Brian's
surviving sister, Barbara. Barbara was brought up by Elizabeth and her
husband.
Forming the Rolling Stones
Jones left Cheltenham and moved to London where he became friends with fellow musicians
Alexis Korner, future
Manfred Mann singer
Paul Jones, future
Cream bassist
Jack Bruce and others who made up the small London
rhythm and blues and jazz scene there. He became a blues musician, for a brief time calling himself "Elmo Lewis", and playing
slide guitar. Jones also started a group with Paul Jones called the
Roosters and in January 1963, after both Brian and Paul left the group,
Eric Clapton took over Brian's position as guitarist.
[11]
Jones placed an advertisement in
Jazz News (a Soho club information sheet) of 2 May 1962 inviting musicians to audition for a new R&B group at the
Bricklayer's Arms pub; pianist
Ian "Stu" Stewart was the first to respond. Later singer
Mick Jagger also joined this band; Jagger and his childhood friend
Keith Richards had met Jones when he and
Paul Jones were playing
Elmore James' "
Dust My Broom" with Korner's band at the
Ealing Jazz Club.
[12]
Jagger brought guitarist Richards to rehearsals; Richards then joined
the band. Jones's and Stewart's acceptance of Richards and the
Chuck Berry songs he wanted to play coincided with the departure of blues purists
Geoff Bradford and Brian Knight, who had no tolerance for Chuck Berry.
[7]
As Keith Richards tells it, Jones came up with the name the "Rollin'
Stones" (later with the 'g') while on the phone with a venue owner. "The
voice on the other end of the line obviously said, 'What are you
called?' Panic.
The Best of Muddy Waters album was lying on the floor—and track five, side one was 'Rollin` Stone'".
[13][page needed]
The Rollin' Stones played their first gig on 12 July 1962 in the
Marquee Club in London with Jagger, Richards, Jones, Stewart,
bass player Dick Taylor (later of
the Pretty Things) and drummer
Tony Chapman.
[14][15]
From September 1962 to September 1963 Jones, Jagger and Richards shared a flat (referred to by Richards as "a beautiful dump")
[16] at 102 Edith Grove,
Chelsea,
with James Phelge, a future photographer whose name was used in some of
the group's early "Nanker/Phelge" writing credits. Jones and Richards
spent day after day playing guitar while listening to blues records
(notably
Jimmy Reed,
Muddy Waters,
Willie Dixon and
Howlin' Wolf). During this time, Jones also taught Jagger how to play harmonica.
The four Rollin' Stones went searching for a bassist and drummer, finally settling on
Bill Wyman on bass because he had a spare
VOX AC30 guitar amplifier[17] and always had cigarettes, as well as a bass guitar that he had built himself.
[18] After playing with
Mick Avory,
Tony Chapman and
Carlo Little, in January 1963 they finally persuaded jazz-influenced
Charlie Watts
to join them. At the time, Watts was considered by fellow musicians to
be one of the better drummers in London; he had played with (among
others) Alexis Korner's group
Blues Incorporated.
Watts described Jones's role in these early days: "Brian was very
instrumental in pushing the band at the beginning. Keith and I would
look at him and say he was barmy. It was a crusade to him to get us on
the stage in a club and be paid half-a-crown and to be billed as an
R&B band".
[13][page needed]
The group played at local blues and jazz clubs, garnering fans in
spite of resistance from traditional jazz musicians who felt threatened
by their popularity. While Jagger was lead singer, Jones, in the group's
embryonic period, was the leader—promoting the band, landing gigs, and
negotiating with venue owners.
[citation needed] Jones played guitar and harmonica, and during performances, especially at the
Crawdaddy Club in Richmond, he proved to be a more lively and engaging performer than even Jagger.
[citation needed]
While acting as the band's business manager, Jones received £5 more
than the other members, which did not sit well with the rest of the band
and created resentment.
[13][page needed]
Keith Richards has said that both he and Mick were surprised to learn
that Brian considered himself the leader and was receiving the extra £5,
especially as other people, like
Giorgio Gomelsky, appeared to be doing the booking.
[19]
Musical contributions
Bill Wyman (left), Brian Jones (centre) and Mick Jagger (right) onstage with the Rolling Stones, 1965
Jones's main guitar in the early years was a
Harmony Stratotone, which he replaced with a
Gretsch Double Anniversary in two-tone green.
[citation needed] In 1964 and 1965 he often used a teardrop-shaped prototype
Vox Mark VI. From late 1965 until his death, Jones used
Gibson models (various Firebirds, ES-330, and a
Les Paul model), as well as two
Rickenbacker 12-string models. He can also be seen playing a Fender Telecaster in the 1968 "
Jumpin' Jack Flash" promo video.
Examples of Jones's contributions are his slide guitar on "
I Wanna Be Your Man" (1963), "
I'm a King Bee" (1964, on the
Rolling Stones), "
Little Red Rooster" (1964), "I Can't Be Satisfied" (1965, on
Rolling Stones No. 2), "
I'm Movin' On" (1965, on the EP
Got Live If You Want It!), "Doncha Bother Me" (1966, on
Aftermath) and "
No Expectations" (1968, on
Beggars Banquet). Jones can also be heard playing Bo Diddley-style rhythm guitar on "
I Need You Baby (Mona)", the guitar riff in
"The Last Time";
[20] sitar on "
Street Fighting Man", "
Paint It, Black", "Gomper", and "Cool, Calm, Collected"; organ on "
Let's Spend the Night Together", "Complicated", and "2000 Man";
marimba on "
Under My Thumb", "Out Of Time" and "
Yesterday's Papers";
recorder on "
Ruby Tuesday" and "All Sold Out"; trumpet on "Child of the Moon";
Appalachian dulcimer on "I Am Waiting" and "
Lady Jane" and
harpsichord on "Lady Jane"; saxophone and
oboe on "
Dandelion";
mellotron on "
She's a Rainbow", "
We Love You";, "Stray Cat Blues" and "
2000 Light Years from Home"; various percussion instruments, various keyboards,
recorder, and
bass guitar on "Gomper"; saxophone and mellotron on "Citadel" and (for his final recording as a Rolling Stone) the
autoharp on "
You Got the Silver".
Jones also played harmonica on many of the Rolling Stones' early songs. Examples of Jones's playing are on "
Stoned" (1963), "
Not Fade Away" (1964), "
I Just Want to Make Love to You", "Now I've Got A Witness" (1964)" (from
The Rolling Stones), "Good Times, Bad Times" (1964), "
2120 South Michigan Avenue" (1964) (from E.P.
Five By Five), "The Under Assistant West Coast Promotion Man", "One More Try" (1965) (from
Out Of Our Heads), "High and Dry" and "
Goin' Home" (1966) (from
Aftermath), "Who's Driving Your Plane?" (1966), "Cool Calm and Collected", "Who's Been Sleeping Here" (1967) (from
Between The Buttons), and "
Dear Doctor" and "Prodigal Son" (1968) (from
Beggars Banquet).
In the early years, Jones often served as a backing vocalist. Notable examples are "
Come On", "I Wanna Be Your Man", "I Just Wanna Make Love to You", "
Walking the Dog", "
Money (That's What I Want)", "I'm Alright", "
You Better Move On" and "
It's All Over Now" just to name a few. He contributed backing vocals as late as 1968 on "
Sympathy For The Devil". He is also responsible for the whistling on "Walking the Dog."
[21]
Richards maintains that what he calls "
guitar weaving"
[22] emerged from this period, from listening to
Jimmy Reed
albums: "We listened to the teamwork, trying to work out what was going
on in those records; how you could play together with two guitars and
make it sound like four or five".
[13][page needed]
Jones's and Richards's guitars became a signature of the sound of the
Rolling Stones, with both guitarists playing rhythm and lead without
clear boundaries between the two roles.
From 1966 onwards Jones's contributions in the recording studio were more as a multi-instrumentalist than as a guitarist.
[citation needed] His aptitude for playing a wide variety of instruments is particularly evident on the albums
Aftermath (1966),
Between the Buttons (1967) and
Their Satanic Majesties Request (1967).
Estrangement from bandmates
Andrew Loog Oldham's
arrival marked the beginning of Jones's slow estrangement, his
prominent role gradually diminishing as the Stones' centre shifted from
Jones to Jagger and Richards.
[citation needed] Oldham recognised the financial advantages of bandmembers writing their own songs, as exemplified by
Lennon–McCartney,
and that playing covers would not sustain a band in the limelight for
long. Further, Oldham wanted to make Jagger's charisma and flamboyance a
focus of live performances. Jones saw his influence over the Stones'
direction slide as their repertoire comprised fewer of the blues covers
that he preferred; more
Jagger/Richards originals developed, and Oldham increased his own managerial control, displacing Jones from yet another role.
[23]
According to Oldham in his book
Stoned, Jones was an outsider from the beginning.
[24]
When the first tours were arranged in 1963, he travelled separately
from the band, stayed at different hotels, and demanded extra pay.
According to Oldham, Jones was very emotional, and felt alienated
because he was not a prolific song writer and his management role had
been taken away. He "resisted the symbiosis demanded by the group
lifestyle, and so life was becoming more desperate for him day by day.
None of us were looking forward to Brian totally cracking up".
[25]
The toll from days on the road, the money and fame and the feeling of
being alienated from the group resulted in Jones's overindulgence in
alcohol and other drugs. He frequently used
LSD, pills, and
cannabis, and he drank heavily.
[citation needed]
These excesses had a debilitative effect on his physical health, and
according to Oldham, Jones became unfriendly and asocial at times. His
health problems caused him to be hospitalised on a number of occasions.
Jones was arrested for drug possession on 10 May 1967, shortly after
the "Redlands" incident at Richards's Sussex home. Authorities found
marijuana,
cocaine, and
methamphetamine
in his flat. He confessed to marijuana use but claimed he did not use
hard drugs. Reacting in a manner similar to the arrests of his band
mates, protesters appeared outside court demanding that Jones be freed,
and he was not kept in jail. He was fined, given
probation, and ordered to see a counselor.
In June 1967, Jones attended the
Monterey Pop Festival with singer
Nico, with whom he had a brief relationship.
[citation needed] There he met
Frank Zappa and
Dennis Hopper, and went on stage to introduce the
Jimi Hendrix Experience, not well known yet in the USA. One review referred to Jones as "the unofficial 'king' of the festival".
[citation needed]
Hostility grew between Jones, Jagger and Richards, alienating him further from the group.
[26]
Although many noted that Jones could be friendly and outgoing, Wyman,
Richards and Watts have commented that he could also be cruel and
difficult.
[27][28]
By most accounts, Jones's attitude changed frequently, one minute
caring and generous, the next making an effort to anger everyone. As
Wyman observed in
Stone Alone: "There were two Brians... one was
introverted, shy, sensitive, deep-thinking... the other was a preening
peacock, gregarious, artistic, desperately needing assurance from his
peers... he pushed every friendship to the limit and way beyond".
[page needed]
In March 1967,
Anita Pallenberg, Jones's girlfriend of two years, left him for Richards when Jones was hospitalised during a trip the three made to Morocco,
[29]
further damaging the already strained relations between Jones and
Richards. As tensions and Jones's substance use increased, his musical
contributions became sporadic. He became bored with the guitar and
sought exotic instruments to play, and he was increasingly absent from
recording sessions. In
Peter Whitehead's promotional film for "
We Love You", made in July 1967, he appears groggy.
Jones's last substantial sessions with the Stones occurred in spring and summer of 1968, when the Stones produced "
Jumpin' Jack Flash" and the
Beggars Banquet album. He can be seen in the
Jean-Luc Godard film
One Plus One
playing acoustic guitar, chatting and sharing cigarettes with Richards,
although Jones is neglected in the music-making. The film chronicles
the making of "
Sympathy for the Devil".
Jones's acoustic guitar can be heard occasionally in the film through
the microphones of the film crew but was not included in the released
version.
[citation needed]
It was clear Jones was not long for the group. Where once he played
multiple instruments on many tracks, now he played only minor roles on a
few pieces. Jones's last formal appearance was in the December 1968
The Rolling Stones Rock and Roll Circus,
a part concert, part circus-act film organised by the band. It went
unreleased for 25 years because Jagger was unhappy with the band's
performance compared to others in the film, such as
Jethro Tull,
The Who, and
Taj Mahal.
[30]
In the DVD release of the film Jones's playing is inaudible except
during "Jumpin' Jack Flash", "Sympathy For The Devil", and "No
Expectations".
[citation needed]
Commentary included as bonus material indicated that almost everyone at
the concert sensed that the end of Jones's time with the Rolling Stones
was near, and
Roger Daltrey and
Pete Townshend of
The Who thought it would be Jones's last live musical performance.
[30]
Departure from the band
Jones was arrested a second time on 21 May 1968, for possession of
cannabis, which Jones said had been left by previous tenants of the
flat. He was facing a long jail sentence if found guilty, owing to his
probation. 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".
[citation needed]
The jury found him guilty, but the judge had sympathy for Jones;
instead of jailing him, he fined him £50 plus £105 in costs and told
him: "For goodness sake, don't get into trouble again or it really
will be serious".
[31]
Jones's legal troubles, estrangement from his bandmates,
substance abuse and
mood swings
became too much of an obstacle to active participation in the band. The
Rolling Stones wanted to tour the United States in 1969 for the first
time in three years, but Jones was not in fit condition to tour and his
second arrest exacerbated problems with acquiring a US work visa. In
addition, Jones's attendance of rehearsals and recording sessions had
become erratic; and when he did appear, he rarely contributed anything
musically, or his bandmates would switch off his guitar, leaving
Richards playing nearly all the guitars. According to Gary Herman, Jones
was "literally incapable of making music; when he tried to play
harmonica, his mouth started bleeding".
[32]
This behaviour was problematic during the
Beggar's Banquet sessions, and had worsened by the time the band commenced recording
Let It Bleed.
In March 1969, Jones borrowed the group's Jaguar and went shopping in
Pimlico Road. After the parked car was towed by police, Jones hired a
chauffeur car to get home.
[33] In May 1969, Jones crashed his motorcycle into a shop window and was secretly taken to a hospital under an assumed name.
[33] From this point, Jones was still attending recording sessions but was no longer a major contributor to the band's music.
[33] By May, he had made two contributions to the work in progress: autoharp on "
You Got the Silver" and percussion on "
Midnight Rambler".
The Stones decided that following the release of the
Let it Bleed
album (scheduled for a July 1969 release in the US), they would start a
North American tour in November 1969. However, the Stones management
was informed that because of his drug convictions, Jones would not
receive a work permit. At the suggestion of pianist and road manager
Ian Stewart,
the Stones decided to add a new guitarist, and on 8 June 1969, Jones
was visited by Mick Jagger, Keith Richards and Charlie Watts, and was
told that the group he had formed would continue without him.
[34]
To the public, it appeared as if Jones had left voluntarily; the
other band members told him that although he was being asked to leave,
it was his choice how to break it to the public. Jones released a
statement on 9 June 1969 announcing his departure. In this statement he
said, among other things, that "I no longer see eye-to-eye with the
others over the discs we are cutting".
[35] Jones was replaced by 20-year-old guitarist
Mick Taylor (formerly of
John Mayall's Bluesbreakers).
During the period of his decreasing involvement in the band, Jones was living at
Cotchford Farm in
East Sussex, the residence formerly owned by
Winnie-the-Pooh author
A. A. Milne[36]
which Jones had purchased in November 1968. There is uncertainty as to
the mental and physical state Jones was in. The last known photographs
of Jones, taken by schoolgirl Helen Spittal on 23 June 1969, shortly
after his departure from the Stones, are not flattering; he appears
bloated, with deep-set eyes.
[citation needed] However,
Alexis Korner,
who visited in late June only shortly after the Spittal photos were
taken, noted that Jones seemed "happier than he had ever been".
[37] He is known to have contacted Korner,
Ian Stewart,
Mitch Mitchell and
Jimmy Miller about intentions to put together another band.
Death
Brian Jones's headstone, located in Cheltenham Cemetery.
At around midnight on the night of 2–3 July 1969, Jones was
discovered motionless at the bottom of his swimming pool at Cotchford
Farm. His Swedish girlfriend, Anna Wohlin, was convinced Jones was alive
when he was taken out of the pool, insisting he still had a pulse.
However, by the time the doctors arrived, it was too late, and he was
pronounced dead. The coroner's report stated "death by misadventure",
and noted his liver and heart were heavily enlarged by drug and alcohol
abuse.
[37]
Many items, such as instruments and expensive furniture, were
reportedly stolen from the home after Jones's death. Rumours also exist
[who?]
that recordings by Jones for his future projects were stolen but
nothing has surfaced to date. A watch given by Alexis Korner to Jones,
with a personal inscription, surfaced in an auction at
Christie's in New York.
[citation needed]
Upon Jones's death,
The Who's
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 published a poem entitled "Ode to L.A. While Thinking of Brian Jones, Deceased".
[38] Hendrix and Morrison both died within the following two years, both
aged 27, the same as Jones.
[39][40][39]
The Rolling Stones performed at a free concert in
Hyde Park
on 5 July 1969, two days after Jones's death. The concert had been
scheduled weeks earlier as an opportunity to present the new guitarist,
and the band decided to dedicate the concert to Jones. Before the
Rolling Stones' set, Jagger read excerpts from "
Adonais", a poem by
Percy Shelley about the death of his friend
John Keats, and stagehands released hundreds of white butterflies as part of the tribute. The band opened with a
Johnny Winter song that was one of Jones's favourites, "I'm Yours and I'm Hers".
Jones was reportedly buried 12 feet (3.7 m) deep in Cheltenham
Cemetery (to prevent exhumation by trophy hunters) in a lavish casket
sent by
Bob Dylan.
[citation needed] Watts and Wyman were the only Rolling Stones who attended the funeral. Mick Jagger and
Marianne Faithfull were travelling to Australia to begin the filming of
Ned Kelly;
they stated that their contracts did not allow them to delay the trip
to attend the funeral. Keith Richards reportedly remained in the
recording studio.
[citation needed]
When asked if he felt guilty about Jones's death, Mick Jagger told
Rolling Stone in 1995: "No, I don't really. I do feel that I behaved in a
very childish way, but we were very young, and in some ways we picked
on him. But, unfortunately, he made himself a target for it; he was
very, very jealous, very difficult, very
manipulative,
and if you do that in this kind of a group of people, you get back as
good as you give, to be honest. I wasn't understanding enough about his
drug addiction. No one seemed to know much about drug addiction. Things
like LSD were all new. No one knew the harm. People thought cocaine was
good for you.
[41]
Murder claims
Conspiracy theories surrounding Jones' death developed soon afterwards, with associates of the
Stones claiming to have information that he was murdered.
[42][43] According to rock biographer
Philip Norman, "the murder theory would bubble back to the surface every five years or so".
[42]
In 1993, it was reported that Jones was murdered by Frank Thorogood,
who was the last person to see Jones alive. Thorogood allegedly
confessed to the murder to the Rolling Stones' driver, Tom Keylock, who
later denied this.
[44] The Thorogood theory was dramatised in the 2005 movie
Stoned.
[45]
In August 2009 Sussex Police decided to review Jones's death for the
first time since 1969, after new evidence was handed to them by Scott
Jones, an investigative journalist in the UK. Scott Jones had traced
many of the people who were at Brian Jones's house the night he died,
plus unseen police files held at the National Archives. In the
Mail on Sunday
in November 2008 Scott Jones said Frank Thorogood killed Brian Jones in
a fight and the senior police officers covered up the true cause of
death. Following the review the Sussex police stated that they would not
be reopening the case. They asserted that "this has been thoroughly
reviewed by Sussex Police's Crime Policy and Review Branch but there is
no new evidence to suggest that the coroner's original verdict of 'death
by misadventure' was incorrect. As such, the case will not be
reopened."
[46]
Songwriting credits
Unsure and insecure as a composer, Jones was not a prolific songwriter. The 30-second "Rice Krispies" jingle for
Kellogg's, co-written with the
J. W. Thompson
advertising agency in 1963 and performed by the Rolling Stones
incognito was credited to Jones; this did not sit well with the rest of
the band, who felt it was a group effort and all should benefit equally.
[47] Jones was also included in the "
Nanker/Phelge" songwriting credit, a pseudonym used on fourteen tracks that were composed by the entire band and Andrew Oldham.
According to Andrew Oldham, the main reason for Jones not writing
songs was that Jones, being a blues purist, did not love simple pop
music enough. Oldham tried to establish a songwriting partnership
between Jones and
Gene Pitney
after "becoming bored senseless by Jones's bleating about the potential
of half-finished melodies that by no means deserved completion" but
after two days of sessions "the results remain best to be unheard, even
by Stones' completists".
[48]
When asked in 1965 if he had written songs, Jones replied: "Always tried. I've written quite a few, but mostly in blues style".
[49]
Many years later after his death, Keith Richards stated: "No, no,
absolutely not. That was the one thing he would never do. Brian wouldn't
show them to anybody within the Stones. Brian as far as I know never
wrote a single finished song in his life; he wrote bits and pieces but
he never presented them to us. No doubt he spent hours, weeks, working
on things, but his paranoia was so great that he could never bring
himself to present them to us".
[50][page needed] Bill Wyman has stated that Jones was "an incredibly gifted musician, but not a song writer";
[citation needed] and in 1995 Mick Jagger told
Rolling Stone
that Jones had been jealous of the Jagger/Richards songwriting team,
and added: "To be honest, Brian had no talent for writing songs. None.
I've never known a guy with less talent for songwriting."
[41]
Marianne Faithful reported that Brian Jones wrote an early version of the melody for
Ruby Tuesday and presented it to the group.
Victor Bockris reported that
Keith Richards and Brian Jones worked out the final melody in the studio.
He is credited (along with Keith Richards) for the instrumental piece; "
Hear It", though it is generally considered Jones's work.
However, in 1966 Jones composed, produced and played on the soundtrack to
Mord und Totschlag (English title:
A Degree Of Murder), an avant-garde German film with Anita Pallenberg. Guitarist
Jimmy Page is one of the musicians Jones hired to play on the soundtrack.
In 1990,
Carla Olson
was given permission from Jones's estate to put one of his poems to
music and thus created the Jones/Olson song "Thank You For Being There".
It appeared on the album
True Voices, performed by Krysia Kristianne and Robin Williamson.
Other contributions
In summer 1968, Jones recorded the Morocco-based ensemble, the
Master Musicians of Joujouka,
as the name of the Moroccan mountain village was spelled at the time,
the more correct spelling of the Arabic name being Jajouka, which was
later used by the band; the recording was released in 1971 as
Brian Jones Presents the Pipes of Pan at Joujouka. Jagger and Richards visited
Jajouka in 1989 after recording "Continental Drift" for the Rolling Stones album
Steel Wheels with
The Master Musicians of Jajouka led by Bachir Attar in Tangier. A homage to Jones entitled "Brian Jones Joujouka very Stoned", painted by
Mohamed Hamri, who had brought Jones to Jajouka in 1967, appeared on the cover of
Joujouka Black Eyes
by the Master Musicians of Joujouka in 1995, this being a splinter
group created by an Irish friend of the former and estranged Moroccan
manager, Mohamed Hamri.
[verification needed] Brian Jones Presents the Pipes of Pan at Jajouka
was rereleased in cooperation with Bachir Attar and Philip Glass in
1995. The executive producers were Philip Glass, Kurt Munkasci and Rory
Johnston, with notes by
Bachir Attar,
Paul Bowles,
William S. Burroughs, Stephen Davis, Brian Jones,
Brion Gysin and David Silver.
[51]
and included additional graphics, more extensive notes by David Silver
and William S. Burroughs, and a second CD, produced by Cliff Mark, with
two “full-length remixes.”
[52] In mid-May 1967, Jones played oboe on The Beatles' "
Baby, You're a Rich Man". Jones played
alto saxophone on The Beatles song "
You Know My Name (Look Up the Number)", which was released in March 1970, eight months after his death.
[52]
Public image and legend
Anita Pallenberg has stated in an interview that he wanted to look like
Françoise Hardy, he loved 'dressing up and posing about' and that he would ask her to do his hair and make-up.
[53]
He was 5 ft 6 in (1.68 m) tall with blue-grey eyes and blond hair.
[54]
His death at 27 was the first of the 1960s rock movement;
Jimi Hendrix,
Janis Joplin and
Jim Morrison
found their own drug-related deaths at the same age within two years
(Morrison dying two years to the day after Jones). The coincidence of
ages has been described as the "
27 Club".
When Alastair Johns, who owned Cotchford Farm for over 40 years after
Jones's death, refurbished the pool, he sold the original tiles to
Jones’s fans for £100 each, paying for half of the work.
[36] Johns noted that Cotchford Farm remained for decades an attraction for Jones' fans.
The Stones' "
Shine a Light"
was written by Jagger after his death and depicts Jones's behaviour and
remoteness from the band, and asks God to shine a light on his soul.
[55]
Several other songs have been written about Jones: The Doors' song
"Tightrope Ride" was originally written for Jones by Morrison, but after
Morrison's death
Ray Manzarek rewrote some of the lyrics so that they apply to both musicians. The
Psychic TV song "Godstar" is about Jones's death, as are
Robyn Hitchcock's "Trash",
The Drovers' "She's as Pretty as Brian Jones Was",
Ted Nugent's "Death by Misadventure" and
Salmonblaster's "Brian Jones".
Toy Love's song "Swimming Pool" lists several dead rock icons including Jones (the others are Morrison, Hendrix, and
Marc Bolan); he is also mentioned in
De Phazz's song "Something Special".
The Master Musicians of Joujouka song "Brian Jones Joujouka Very Stoned" was released in 1974 and 1996.
[56] The Brian Jonestown Massacre was named partially after him.
The 2005 film
Stoned is a fictional account of Jones and his role in the Rolling Stones. The part of Brian was played by English actor
Leo Gregory.
A fictionalised version of Jones and the tribute concert to him appears in
Alan Moore and
Kevin O'Neill's
The League of Extraordinary Gentlemen, Volume III: Century in its second issue, "Paint it Black".
