Background

Lewis Brian Hopkin Jones was born on February 28, 1942, in Cheltenham, Gloucestershire, the United Kingdom, to middle-class parents, Lewis Blount Jones and Louisa Beatrice Jones (née Simmonds). Both Jones' parents were interested in music: his father, Lewis, was a piano teacher in addition to his job as an aeronautical engineer, and his mother, Louisa, played piano and organ and led the choir at the local church, so by the time Brian was in high school, he had learned to play the piano, clarinet, saxophone and guitar. Brian also had two sisters: Pamela, who died of leukaemia in infancy; and Barbara.

Education

Jones attended local schools, including Dean Close School from September 1949 to July 1953, and Cheltenham Grammar School for Boys (now Pate's Grammar School) from 1953 to 1959. However, he found school regimented and disliked the school uniforms and conforming in general; he angered teachers with his behaviour, though he was popular with classmates. His hostility to authority figures resulted in his suspension from school on two occasions. Jones quit school in disgrace shortly after a scandal in which he fathered an illegitimate baby boy who was subsequently given up for adoption.

In 1961, Jones applied for a scholarship to Cheltenham Art College. He was initially accepted into the programme, but two days later the offer was withdrawn after an unidentified acquaintance wrote to the college, calling Jones an irresponsible drifter.

Career

In 1959, Jones was travelling for a summer through northern Europe and Scandinavia. 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, he ran short of money and returned to England.

After Jones left Cheltenham and moved to London, he started playing blues in local bars, calling himself "Elmo Lewis," playing slide guitar. In the spring of 1962, he formed the Rolling Stones with pianist Ian Stewart, singer Mick Jagger, and Jagger's childhood friend and guitarist Keith Richards. Bassist Bill Wyman and jazz-influenced drummer Charlie Watts joined the band in 1963.

The Rollin' Stones (the first version of band's name) played their first gig on 12 July 1962 at the Marquee Club in London, with a line-up of Jagger, Richards, Jones, Stewart, bass player Dick Taylor (later of the Pretty Things) and drummer Tony Chapman. During that time, Jones was also working as a band manager for a short time. As the most photogenic band member, his antics and fashion sense were quickly adopted by the swingers of 1960s London.

In 1963, the band hired manager Andrew Loog Oldham, who helped them cultivate a rough, somewhat menacing persona. Oldham recognised the financial advantages of bandmembers' writing their own songs. At the same time, Jones saw his influence over the Stones' direction slide as their repertoire comprised fewer of the blues covers than he preferred; more Jagger/Richards originals developed, and Oldham increased his own managerial control, displacing Jones from yet another role. Thus, his arrival marked the decline of Jones as a ringleader, and Jagger and Richard, who did much of the songwriting, soon moved into the spotlight.

The band released their first album "The Rolling Stones" in 1964 which became one of the year’s biggest sellers in the UK, staying at No. 1 for 12 weeks. Propelled by the success of their debut album, the Rolling Stones released their next album "The Rolling Stones No. 2" in 1965 which featured several R&B covers. This too was a big success and peaked at No. 1 in the UK, becoming one of the year's biggest sellers. The band also released several other albums in quick succession: "Out of Our Heads" (1965), "December's Children" (1965), "Aftermath" (1966), "Their Satanic Majesties Request" (1967), and "Beggars Banquet" (1968).

Though the band which Brian Jones founded was achieving success upon success, the man himself was going through a very difficult phase. The constant travelling and the pressure of Rolling Stones’ rising fame took a toll on Jones’ mental health and he began overindulging in alcohol and drugs. His increasing dependency on alcohol and drugs coupled with his mood swings and asocial behaviour alienated him from his bandmates. He was even arrested for the possession of marijuana, cocaine, and methamphetamine two times but was let off without any major consequences.

In November 1968, Brian purchased "Cotchford Farm", the house was formerly occupied by A.A. Milne, author of the "Winnie-the-Pooh" tales. The following month, he made his last public appearance with the Stones for their "Rock and Roll Circus" special.

On June 8, 1969, following the recording of Let it Bleed, Jones was asked to leave the band. A month later, on July 3, 1969, Brian Jones was found at the bottom of his swimming pool at his home in Hartfield, East Sussex, England. The death was ruled an accident. He was 27 years old.

In 1999, Brian's ex-girlfriend, Anna Wohlin, who was with him on the night he died, wrote a book stating that Brian was murdered by a friend who had been doing some work to his property.

Achievements

• Brian Jones was a noted British musician, multi-instrumentalist, who co-founded the band the Rolling Stones along with Keith Richards and Mick Jagger, and was considered as the original leader of the band. With their longish hair and unconventional look, the Rolling Stones became the epitome of the youthful and rebellious counterculture of the 1960s and were at the forefront of the phenomenon known as the British Invasion of the United States. During those years, the band has produced a number of successful albums, including "The Rolling Stones" (1964), "The Rolling Stones No. 2" (1965), "Out of Our Heads" (1965), "December's Children" (1965), "Aftermath" (1966), "Their Satanic Majesties Request" (1967), and "Beggars Banquet" (1968), that became huge sellers in the United Kingdom and the United States.
  
  Initially a slide guitarist, Jones would go on to play a wide variety of instruments on Rolling Stones recordings and in concerts, such as rhythm and lead guitar, slide guitar, upright bass, sitar, dulcimer, various keyboard instruments such as piano and mellotron, marimba, harmonica, wind instruments such as recorder, saxophone, drums and numerous others. 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).
  
  Exact examples of Jones' contributions are his slide guitar on "I Wanna Be Your Man" (1963), "I'm a King Bee", "Little Red Rooster" (1964), "I'm Movin' On" (1965), "Doncha Bother Me" and "No Expectations". Jones can also be heard playing Bo Diddley-style rhythm guitar on "I Need You Baby" and on "Please Go Home", the guitar riff in "The Last Time"; sitar on "Street Fighting Man" and "Paint It Black"; organ on "Let's Spend the Night Together"; marimba on "Under My Thumb", "Out of Time" and "Yesterday's Papers"; recorder on "Ruby Tuesday" and "All Sold Out"; saxophone on "Child of the Moon" and "Citadel"; kazoo on "Cool, Calm And Collected"; Appalachian dulcimer on "I Am Waiting" and "Lady Jane", Mellotron on "She's a Rainbow", "We Love You", "Stray Cat Blues", "2000 Light Years from Home", and "Citadel"; and the autoharp on "Ride On, Baby" and (for his final recording as a Rolling Stone) on "You Got the Silver". He also played the oboe/soprano sax solo in "Dandelion".
  
  In the early years, Jones also 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", "I'm Alright", "You Better Move On" and "It's All Over Now". He contributed backing vocals as late as 1968 on "Sympathy for the Devil". He is also responsible for the whistling on "Walking the Dog".
  
  Brian Jones was elected to the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame in 1989 (as a member of The Rolling Stones). In 1996, some of Brian's fans and friends collaborated and founded the "Brian Jones Fan Club".
  
  A number of songs and several films have also been produced in memory of Jones. 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. His exceptional musicianship as well as contribution to the band is also featured heavily in the documentary Crossfire Hurricane.
  
  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".

Works

More photos

• music

  • England's Newest Hitmakers 1964
  • 12 X 5 1964
  • The Rolling Stones No. 2 1965
  • The Rolling Stones, Now! 1965
  • Got Live If You Want It 1965
  • Out of Our Heads US Version 1965
  • December's Children Everybody's 1965
  • Aftermath 1966
  • Big Hits High Tide and Green Grass 1966
  • Between the Buttons 1967
  • Their Satanic Majesties Request 1967
  • Beggars Banquet 1968
  • Let It Bleed 1969
  • Yellow Submarine Songtrack 1966
  • You Know My Name Look Up My Number 1970
  • All Along The Watchtower 1968
  • Pipes of Pan at Jajouka 1971

Views

Quotations: "Something to remember on your birthday. Forget the past, it can't be changed. And, forget the present because I didn't get you one."

"I am going to have a cup of tea, like any good Englishman."

"Because we import more than we export, we may get some unusually good-looking data on the surface."

"To lose a son under those circumstances - a violent death like my son went through, it just puts a burden on your heart."

"We'll be able to respond in real time. If we're on question seven, then five or six will already be posted."

"Jimi Hendrix was the most exciting guitarist I've ever heard."

Membership

• 

  Brian Jones formed the Rolling Stones (then, the Rollin' Stones) with pianist Ian Stewart, singer Mick Jagger, and Jagger's childhood friend and guitarist Keith Richards. Bassist Bill Wyman and jazz-influenced drummer Charlie Watts soon joined the band.

  The Rolling Stones , United Kingdom

  July 12, 1962 - June 8, 1969

Personality

Brien Jones was disciplined and always honed a sense of musical direction and his dexterity on guitar and many other instruments.

Physical Characteristics: Brian Jones had dark brown eyes and shoulder-length blonde hair. His height was 5' 6" (1,68 m). Jones suffered from asthma as a child and throughout his life.

Quotes from others about the person

• "Brian Jones got many things wrong in his life, but the most important thing he got right, for his music was world-changing." - Paul Trynka
  
  "There are some people who you know aren't going to get old. Brian and I agreed that he, Brian, wouldn't live very long... I remember saying, 'You'll never make 30, man,' and he said, 'I know.'" - Keith Richards
  
  "He seems never to have been able to find himself, he had a lost quality, not knowing what he wanted to do, or unable to express some part of himself. He was actually quite a nice person who didn't want people to think he was nice. He wanted to be known as an evil character, but he wasn't really, and the end result of it was he just had to be so off to everybody." - Ian Stewart
  
  "Brian should have been put in a straitjacket and treated. I used to know Brian quite well. The Stones have always been a group I really dug. Dug all the dodgy aspects of them as well, and Brian Jones has always been what I've regarded as one of the dodgy aspects. The way he fitted in and the way he didn't was one of the strong dynamics of the group. When he stopped playing with them, I thought that dynamic was going to be missing, but it still seems to be there. Perhaps the fact that he's dead has made that dynamic kind of permanent. A little bit of love might have sorted him out. I don't think his death was necessarily a bad thing for Brian. I think he'll do better next time. I believe in reincarnation." - Pete Townshend
  
  "He was scruffy, moody and not very well liked - partly because of his annoying habit of borrowing small sums of money and never paying them back, and partly because his friends and acquaintances could see that he was plainly wasting his time and rapidly becoming a layabout with a chip on his shoulder. Girls felt sorry for him because he always looked so lonely and depressed and he played this up to his fullest advantage. Maybe because he was so short or maybe just because no one took him very seriously, but he seemed to use girls to get his own back on a world that he imagined had somehow done him wrong. He loved to show visitors the sad bloody sheets from the unfortunate virgin the night before and enjoyed boasting about how many women he had had. He was a creep." - Barry Miles
  
  "I liked Brian and trusted him. You could feel that he had a lot of creativity. He was a poet, an enfant terrible it's true, but he was very much in touch with his time and he was also very much in love with Anita, the only actress in the movie - and its soul. She was bound to inspire him, if he was to write the music for her. Brian was extremely likeable. He really was! Yet he wouldn't often allow you to like him. Strangely at times he'd rather challenge you, provoke you. There was also something definitely devilish about Brian. He'd sense your weakness with incredible intuition and, if the mood took him, he'd exploit it. On the other hand, he could turn around and be incredibly nice to you. I liked Brian, but he was a complicated guy. It must've been hard." - Volker Schlondorff
  
  "At the start of the Stones, it was Brian who was the monster head. Brian was incredibly aggressive in performance. By then his hair was pretty long, and he had what was almost a permanent pout, crossed with a leer, and he used to look incredibly randy most of the time. He used to jump forward with the tambourine and smash it in your face and sneer at you at the same time." - Alexis Korner
  
  "The thing about Brian is that he was an extremely difficult person. You don't really feel like talking bad about someone that's had such a miserable time. But he did give everyone else an extremely miserable ride. Anyway, there was something very, very disturbed about him. He was very unhappy with life, very frustrated. He was very talented, but he was a very paranoid personality and not at all suited to be in show business." - Mick Jagger
  
  "He was different over the years as he disintegrated. He ended up the kind of guy that you dread he'd come on the phone, you know, because you knew it was trouble. He was really in a lot of pain. But in the early days, he was all right because he was young and confident. He was one of them guys that disintegrated in front of you. And he was all right, and he wasn't sort of brilliant or anything, he was just a nice guy." - John Lennon

Interests

• Music & Bands

  Classical music, blues, Elmore James, Robert Johnson, Muddy Waters

Connections

During his life, Brian Jones had been involved with several women and fathered many children. In late summer 1959, Jones' 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 carried the child to term and placed baby Barry David (later Simon) for adoption.

In November 1959, Jones had a one-night stand with a young married woman named Angeline, that resulted in her pregnancy. Angeline and her husband decided to raise the baby, Belinda, born on 4 August 1960. Jones, however, never knew about her birth.

On 22 October 1961, Jones' next girlfriend Pat Andrews gave birth to his third child, Julian Mark Andrews. During that time, Jones lived with them for a while.

On 23 July 1964 another woman, Linda Lawrence (later married to Donovan), gave birth to Jones' fourth child, Julian Brian.

Finally, Brian had a fourth son named John Paul Andrew Jones, by Dawn Molloy, born 24 March 1965. After Molloy announced to Brian and the band's management that she was pregnant by him, she received a cheque for £700 (equivalent to £13,934 in 2018) from group manager Andrew Loog Oldham. In return, she signed an agreement that the matter was now closed and that she would make no statement about Brian Jones or the child to the public or the press.

From 1965, Brian Jones was in a relationship with Anita Pallenberg, who in March 1967, after two years of being together, left him for Keith Richards when Jones was hospitalised during a trip the three made to Morocco.

The last relationship of Brian Jones was with his Swedish girlfriend, Anna Wohlin, who was with him on the night he died.

Father:

Lewis Blount Jones

Mother:

Louisa Beatrice Jones (née Simmonds)

Sister:

Pamela Jones

Pamela Jones was born on 3 October 1943. She soon died on 14 October 1945 of leukaemia.

Sister:

Barbara Jones

ex-girlfriend:

Valerie Corbett

Son:

Simon Jones

ex-girlfriend:

Anita Pallenberg

ex-girlfriend:

Linda (Lawrence) Donovan

Son:

Julian Brian Jones

ex-girlfriend:

Pat Andrews

Son:

Julian Mark Andrews Jones

Daughter:

Belinda

Son:

John Paul Andrew Jones

ex-girlfriend:

Dawn Molloy

girlfriend:

Anna Wohlin

References

• Brian Jones: The Making of the Rolling Stones
  2015
• Brian Jones - The Final Truth: The Murder Of A Rolling Stone
  2016
• Brian Jones' Diary
  2013
• Brian Jones: The Untold Life and Mysterious Death of a Rock Legend
  2011
• Sympathy for the Devil: The Birth of the Rolling Stones and the Death of Brian Jones
  2001
• Golden Stone: The Untold Life and Tragic Death of Brian Jones
  1993
• Death of a Rolling Stone: The Brian Jones Story
  1982