Mick Jagger

Philip Norman does exceptional work. He. Is a novelist, biographer, journalist and playwright. No detail is too insignificant and he starts this book when Jagger was in grade school. Readers get a picture of the family dynamics as well as Jagger’s experiences and influences outside of the home. The fact that Norman grew up at the same time as well as the same general circle only helps to bring more insight to his focus in Jagger, his band and all those who were a part of his life. Norman completed and published this book in 2012. From childhood to that date there is not a more complete written record of the man and his life. For whatever reason the description of this book on this site states the publishing date as 2024. That is incorrect. For those who want updated information, Wikipedia is a good reference. Briefly, this book ends with Jagger having seven children and in a relationship with L’Wren Scott. She committed suicide on 3/2014. Later in 2014 he began a relationship with Melanie Hamrick, a young model, and had his eighth child, a son, on 2016. Charlie Wells died 8/21 after an undisclosed medical procedure at London Hospital. There have been films, concerts large and small. Jagger now at 81, has not significantly slowed down. Whether a devoted fan or someone who just enjoyed some of his music readers will find after reading this book, that they know more about Jagger, his life and those he knew well, as well as they know their own family.

While reading a book is not the same as meeting someone, as in, meeting your heroes, as in, don't meet your heroes because you'll be disappointed, I learned a lot about Mick Jagger, and yes, he did disappointment me as a fellow human being. The book is well written. It flows from one chapter to the next, one scene to the next very well. It also kept me up a few nights way past my bedtime, which for me is a sign that a book was good enough that I lost track of time and/or didn't care that I should have been asleep a couple of hours ago. The author has an annoying way of spelling out phonetically how Mick Jagger speaks. I guess he was intrigued by the array of accents Jagger spoke in, depending on who he was addressing. A couple of times, okay, but it was too many times, and sometimes, I really could not make out the quote the author was trying to spell out. There were a few sections, especially in the beginning, that seemed to go into too much detail, and some that didn't give enough detail--like how did Jagger and Keith Richards meet, aside from living close to each other? How did they become music buddies before The Rolling Stones existed, when they were just kids? I don't think there's much in the book about this, and I was interested in knowing a little more about that. Those are about the only things I can really criticize about the book. Other than that, I think it's well written. Bonus for American English speakers: if you take the time to look up the meanings of the words you don't know (easy with Kindle), you'll enlarge your vocabulary. None of those words seemed to be included in a disingenuous way; they served the author's purpose well and never came off as pseudo-intellectual. Now, for the story itself. I myself have never considered myself a Stones fan. I like some of their songs, but they were a little before my time, and even though I know lots of people who really adore them, that was never me. Like, yes, but I was never really that much into them. I have only owned two albums by them, and one was a gift that I never really got into. I am, however, always interested in knowing more about successful musicians, especially of the classic rock era, and one night a couple of weeks ago, I found myself on the Keith Richards side of YouTube watching interviews. That guy is so entertaining. He's funny and interesting and seems like a very happy person after all these years. So I started out with his memoir, Life. Well, I like listening to Richards giving interviews, but the book is written in the same stream-of-consciousness way that he talks, and it was too hard for me to read. I kept losing interest. So then I wound up downloading this, hoping for more about all of the Stones, not only Mick Jagger. There is not a whole lot about the other musicians, and I'd have liked to know more about Charlie Watts, Bill Wyman, Ron Wood, Richards, and even Brian Jones. That's not really a relevant criticism of the book, since it only purports to be a biography of Jagger, but I do wish there had been more. One of Jagger's "secrets" to his legendary performance to this day is that he got off the partying bandwagon before he really got out of hand like too many other musicians of that era ( and later generations too). To my knowledge, he was never into heroin. There are not many incidents of his being drunk in the book. Ditto cocaine, though I'm sure like most musicians of that era--I mean the 70s--he did some. He just stopped before he did permanent damage to his body and did as his father, the gym teacher, had taught him as boy: got into exercise. By the end of the book (2011), his exercise routine is described as: running, biking, yoga, pilates, and weight training. That'll do it. The man has a physique and the stamina of a man half his age. Amazing. What disappointed me is how he seems just plain mean, greedy and manipulative--what he did to Marsha Hunt, the black woman from the musical Hair who inspired the song Brown Sugar is just plain rotten to the core. Read the book to find out how he treated her. (And. my god, the song, the song .... and Tina Turner did duets with them of that song???) Later, he actually tricked Jerry Hall into believing they were married, knowing that the marriage was not legal in the country where they did it. Jerry Hall found this out after she could take no more of his philandering ways and filed for divorce. Surprise, surprise: as Jerry found out, she was never legally married to the man and therefore, was not entitled to alimony. That had to have been a very bitter pill to swallow, especially after all the running around he did that finally pushed her hand to leave him. And it seems that Jagger paid her off not to publish her own memoirs, so that no one will ever really know. So he had the money to buy her off like that, but gave her a mediocre settlement that she described as "very, very generous" when she got her non-divorce. Later, she finds she needs money, which is what leads her to write her memoirs--then he had more money for her. This is not an honorable man. He was cheap with child support with all of his children and I just can't overlook that. It's one of the greediest things a man can do when it comes to his children. And what he did to Marsha Hunt and her daughter, Karis, is just beyond the pale. So the relationships did not work out: Okay, fine, but those are his children. And Marsha Hunt's daughter, Jagger's oldest child, got the worst deal of all. I can't fathom how the guy could do such a thing. Bianca does not come off as a very interesting character at all in the book. Whether that is the case in real life, I don't know. I don't know much about her, and this book didn't make me curious about her in any way. I would like to know more about Marianne Faithfull, because she does come off as interesting in this book. Tragic, but interesting. Then there is Bill Wyman who actually made more money with his restaurants after he left the band than he did as a member of the band. Ron Wood was on salary, also not making the money he should have. Allegedly, Charlie Watts was also not paid commensurately. How much money does one man needs? (Or two, I guess, Richards and Jagger being the two who paid themselves the lion's share.) Greed is always a turn off for me, and this just grossed me out. The book is interesting, and Jagger is a really interesting person. I'm glad I read this, but I think I'll forever regard him as a miserly person who cared more about keeping more and more money for himself than doing the right and good thing when it came to people who should have a mattered more: his children and his band mates. There is plenty about the early influences, the black blues artists who were the biggest inspiration, and I found those parts just great. There was not very much about the Beatles, though it seems Jagger and Lennon were fairly good friends. There are also stories about Mick and the movie industry. I don't think he was destined to be a star of the big screen, but he seems to have been well liked by the people he did work with in the couple of films he did. The guy is a real chameleon--can be incredibly rotten and demanding but also shy and kind. There are also some stories about how their early experiences being shafted by their record company and a couple of managers. Oh, they got even with their first record company that had ripped them off badly. I won't go into detail--you'll have to read it yourself and laugh as hard as I did. So I liked this book quite a bit. Jagger--maybe not so much. Still, the music is good, and Jagger is a very interesting person. He might be a cheapskate, but he's super talented, hard working and at this point, just plain amazing, and this book does a good job (I think--I wasn't there) describing Mick Jagger the person. Good book. I'm glad I read it.

The book is a little worn, but so are the books I bought brand new and have read. All the pages are intact, the dust jacket is intact and not torn, the pages are clean and there are no pencil or pen marks on any of the pages. I grew up with the Stones and the Beatles in the 60s, but had always been a Beatles fan. It wasn't until their most recent tour that I "re-discovered" the Rolling Stones. This book puts a whole different spin on who I thought Mick Jagger was. It's hard to believe that the man who sings, struts, runs/skips and gyrates all over the stage, is the same man who is shy, smart, knowledgeable, and chivalrous - yes, chivalrous. He went to jail for Marianne Faithfull rather than expose her for putting "pills" in his jacket pocket. And he's not the "druggie" everyone thought he was. I have a new respect for this man, and how he took this band to the top - where they've stayed for 50 freaking years! He's 72!!! Philip Norman is a reliable biographer and can be trusted with his facts. If you're a Stones' fan, this book is for you.

It is an interesting read for me who grew up as the Stones grew up. The 60's and 70's are an era I loved, especially the music. If not for thta this might have been rated one star. At times it felt as though the author was not writing about what he knew. It also made Jagger feel less sympathetic a character than I ever would have thought. Guess he really is not the kindest man, just the most charismatic. Basically, I kept reading for the parts about the making of the music.

Jagger must have had a gremlin looking over his shoulder all those years. The gremlin's name was Philip Norman. This is such a detailed record, it's difficult to believe Norman wasn't there. Jagger seems a difficult person to like and his treatment of the women in his life is disgraceful. How he demands paternity tests and tries to wriggle out of the 'marriage that wasn't' in Bali to poor old Jerry Hall. He's got seven children - it's a wonder there aren't more. I love the Stones music and have always been aware of tensions within the band, and it's fascinating to read the background to these. It took me ages to read all 600 pages of this book but it's the sort of book you can put down and come back to. Reading it brings back all the excitement, buzz and scandals of the 60s: the Redlands drug bust, the 'Mars bar' incident, Altamount etc. It's all there, and more. But do I know what makes Mick tick? No. He is an astute and savvy business man, maltreater and user of women, superb showman, rude, arrogant, stingy and generous, charming when he chooses to be and with surprising moments of vulnerability. It dwells a lot on the women in his life: Chrissie, Marianne, Bianca, Jerry, Angelina Jolie (and many more). The way he deals with his relationships (with both men and women)say a lot about the character of the man. It must be difficult to be in his skin. If you read no other biography of Mick Jagger, read this one. It won't leave you wanting.

Damaged cover and product

J'ai passé un bon moment avec Mike et sa tyrannie du cool comme le dit Norman. Ouvrage bien construit, assez détaillé, je ne suis pas d'accord avec les critiques littéraires qui disaient en substance qu'à la fin l'on apprenait rien de nouveau. J'ai lu à peu près tout ce est sérieux sur les stones et celui-ci m'a encore surpris par l 'éclairage différent sur Mike que je n'avais pas trouvé ailleurs même si bien sûr à force de lire des trucs sur les stones on finit par relire les mêmes choses, Bien surpris et surtout bien écrit.

Philip Norman zeichnet ein hautnahes Bild von Mick Jagger, dem man ja nachsagt, dass er niemanden wirklich an sich heranlasse. Da werden sowohl seine Schrullen in der Leitung der Band deutlich als auch sein widersprüchliches Verhältnis zu Frauen.

I just read Keith Richards book. So when I started the one on Mick Jagger, I had a déjà vu feeling. I am about half way in the book. Not sure I will finish it.