Sir Michael Philip "Mick" Jagger (born 26 July 1943) is a Golden Globe- and Grammy Award-winning English singer, songwriter, and occasional actor, best known for his work as lead vocalist of The Rolling Stones. According to britishhitsongwriters.com he is the nineteenth most successful songwriter in UK singles chart history based on weeks that compositions he has co-written have spent on the chart.

Early life

Jagger was born into a middle-class family at the Livingstone Hospital, Dartford, Kent, England. His father, Basil Fanshawe ("Joe") Jagger, and his paternal grandfather, David Ernest Jagger, were both teachers. His mother, Eva Ensley Mary Scutts (13 April 1913 – 18 May 2000), an Australian immigrant to England, was a hairdresser and an active member of the Conservative Party. Jagger was the elder of two sons and was raised to follow in his father's career path.

In the book According to the Rolling Stones, Jagger states "I was always a singer. I always sang as a child. I was one of those kids who just liked to sing. Some kids sing in choirs; others like to show off in front of the mirror. I was in the church choir and I also loved listening to singers on the radio - the BBC or Radio Luxembourg - or watching them on TV and in the movies."

Academically successful, he attended Dartford Grammar School where he passed 3 A-levels, before entering the London School of Economics on a scholarship. As a student, Jagger frequented a London club called "The Firehouse".Fact: date=October 2008 At the age of 19, Jagger began performing as a singer. Jagger had no formal musical training and did not know how to read music.Fact: date=October 2008

In the early 1950s Keith Richards and Mick Jagger (who as a youngster preferred to be known as "Mike") were classmates at Wentworth Primary School in Dartford, Kent. Having lost contact with each other when they went to different schools at the age of 11, Richards and Jagger resumed their friendship in 1960 after a chance encounter and discovered that they had both developed a love for rhythm and blues music. They moved into a flat in Chelsea with a guitarist they had encountered named Brian Jones. While Richards and Jones were making plans to start their own rhythm and blues group, Jagger continued his business courses at the London School of Economics."Mick Jagger." Contemporary Musicians, Volume 53. Thomson Gale, 2005. Although he studied for a degree in accounting and finance, with a minor in physical education, he attended for less than a year and did not graduate, leaving instead to pursue a musical career.

Career

main: The Rolling Stones

Early years: 1960s

In their earliest days the members played for no money in the interval of Alexis Korner's gigs at a basement club opposite Ealing Broadway tube station (subsequently called "Ferry's" club). At the time the group had very little equipment and needed to borrow Alexis' gear to play. This was before Andrew Oldham became their manager. The group's first appearance under the name The Rollin' Stones (after one of their favourite Muddy Waters tunes) was at a jazz club called the Marquee Club on 12 July 1962. The lineup did not at that time include drummer Charlie Watts and bassist Bill Wyman. By 1963, they were finding their stride as well as popularity. By 1964 two unscientific opinion polls rated them as England's most popular group outranking even the Beatles.