The ROLLING STONES Facts

The Rolling Stones at Granada Studios
Manchester - 23 August, 1965 (Tom Buist, Mirropix)

• They are an are an English rock band formed in Dartford in 1962.
• The earliest members consisted of Brian Jones (guitar, harmonica), Ian Stewart (keyboards, piano), Mick Jagger (lead vocals, harmonica), Keith Richards (guitar, vocals), Bill Wyman (bass) and Charlie Watts (drums). Since Wyman's retirement in 1993, the band's full members have been Jagger, Richards, Watts and guitarist Ronnie Wood who joined in 1975. Darryl Jones (bassist) and Chuck Leavell (keyboardist) are regular contributors but not full band members. 
• The Rock and Roll Hall of Fame inducted the Rolling Stones in 1989, noting that "critical acclaim and popular consensus has accorded them the title of the “World’s Greatest Rock and Roll Band.”  Rolling Stone magazine ranked them 4th on their "100 Greatest Artists of All Time" list, and their album sales are estimated to have been more than 200 million worldwide.
• Ian Stewart (18 Jul 1938-12 Dec 1985), aka 'Stu', the Rolling Stones piano player and trusted road manager from earlier days when the band was playing around the London clubs was once asked why he did not play piano on “Wild Horses.” Stu laughed and said “minor chords! “I don’t play minor chords. When I’m playing on stage with the Stones and a minor chord comes along, I lift me hands in protest.” 
• Among the many Stones tracks on which Stu appears are, ‘Around and Around’, ‘Down the Road Apiece’, ‘Honky Tonk Women’, ‘Let It Bleed’, ‘Brown Sugar’, ‘Star Star’ and ‘It’s Only Rock ‘n Roll (But I Like It).’
• Stu died of a heart attack, in a Harley Street specialist’s waiting room, he was 47.
• The Rolling Stones weren't always popular in North American until the mid-1960s British Invasion. They have released twenty-two studio albums in the United Kingdom (24 in the United States), eleven live albums (twelve in the US), and numerous compilations. Their album Sticky Fingers (1971) began a string of eight consecutive studio albums reaching number one in the United States. Their most recent album of new material, A Bigger Bang, was released in 2005. 
• In 2008, Billboard magazine ranked the Rolling Stones at number ten on "The Billboard Top All-Time Artists", and as the second most successful group in the Billboard Hot 100 charts.