Brian Jones, guitarist and founder member of The Rolling Stones, was found dead at his home in Cotchford Farm, East Sussex.
Born in Cheltenham on 28th February 1942, Jones expressed an interest in music from a young age, becoming an accomplished piano, organ and clarinet player by the age of 14, he was given his first guitar as a present for his 17th birthday. After moving to London in his late teens, he emersed himself in the fledging blues and R n B scene in the city and soon had formed his own band, who Jones named The Rolling Stones. By 1963, Mick Jagger, Keith Richards, Bill Wyman and Charlie Watts were all in place with Jones and the band embarked on their first major tour in the autumn of that year.
After releasing a string of covers in their early years, original compositions by Jagger and Richards became the driving force for the band. The two former school friends began producing classic hits such as ‘Satisfaction’ and ‘Paint It, Black’ and, despite Jones’ distinctive guitar playing and elaborate fashion sense becoming synoymous with The Rolling Stones, he found his control and influence over the band gradually shifting to the two songwriters.
The music track for these backstage shots is Brian Jones with Jimmy Hendrix.
By 1968, Jones was becoming more and more isolated from the rest of the band, contributing very little in the studio and was being consumed by drug problems. Growing tensions within the band came to a head when Jones was unable to join them on a planned tour of the US in November 1969 due to prior drug convictions. Ahead of the tour, in June 1969, Jones was informed by the other members that the band would embark on the tour without him and on June 9th 1969, Jones released a statement announcing his departure. He was replaced by Mick Taylor.
Less than a month later, Jones’ body was discovered at the bottom of the swimming pool of his country residence shortly after midnight, by his girlfriend Anna Wohlin. He was 27 years old.