Mick Jagger's incredible career: From The Rolling Stones to solo success
Take a look back at the music legend's multi-decade-spanning career
Rock 'n' roll legend Mick Jagger has had a phenomenal career, from lead singer of The Rolling Stones, which enabled him to buy a London penthouse, to his solo music and even acting in several films - he's done a lot over the last 60+ years.
From career inception to new music in 2026 with The Rolling Stones - which follows 2023's 'Hackney Diamonds' - Mick Jagger's story is nonpareil. So, ahead of the band's next studio album titled 'Foreign Tongues' this year, we take a look at the legendary artist's incredible story so far...
Take a look through Mick Jagger's incredible career:
Mick Jagger's childhood home
Michael Philip Jagger was born on 26th July 1943 and was brought up in a semi-detached house in Dartford, Kent (pictured). His future bandmate Keith Richards lived just around the corner.
Mick Jagger's early years
Mick Jagger grew up with a keen interest in blues records, and was a fan of the likes of Muddy Waters and Howlin' Wolf. He also always had a love for singing and was in a church choir as a child. He attended the London School of Economics from 1960 and considered becoming a journalist or politician before pursuing his music career.
Before The Rolling Stones, he formed the band Little Boy Blue and the Blue Boys with his friend Dick Taylor and was the lead singer for the group.
1961 - Keith Richards and Mick Jagger meet
Having previously known each other from primary school, Keith and Mick met at Dartford train station in Kent in 1961 and started talking about music. This was the start of a long friendship and hugely successful career.
A commemorative plaque was added to the spot in 2015 and in 2021 The Rolling Stones Twitter account posted a photo of a personalised plectrum and the caption: '60 years on the same train 🚂' to mark the anniversary of their meeting.
1962 - The Rolling Stones form
Rock band The Rolling Stones officially formed in 1962, made up of Mick Jagger, Keith Richards, Charlie Watts, Billy Wyman and Brian Jones.
The group was named after one of their favourite Muddy Waters tracks 'Rollin Stone', and they later added 'The' to their name to sound more formal.
1963 - The Rolling Stones get a record deal
Starting out playing covers of songs and touring throughout 1962, with a five-month residency at Eel Pie Island Hotel on the River Thames, The Rolling Stones signed to Decca Records in 1963 and focused on writing their own music.
1964 - The Rolling Stones release debut album
The Rolling Stones brought out their debut album in 1964. The self-titled album went to Number 1 in the UK and included hit tracks 'Not Fade Away' and 'Tell Me (You're Coming Back)'.
1967: Hits and heartbreaks
During the mid‑60s, Mick was moving fast from blues‑obsessed frontman to era‑defining songwriter, with the band suddenly competing at the very top of the pop hierarchy rather than just trailing behind the blues greats they worshipped. In 1965, the US version of 'Out of Our Heads' featured '(I Can't Get No) Satisfaction', the Keith‑dreamed riff and Mick‑penned lyrics about everyday frustration that gave the Stones their first US Number 1 and, as Parade notes, "captured a spirit of the times" and turned them into a "huge, monster band". The song became the shorthand for how Mick could wrap boredom, lust and social annoyance into something teenagers and young adults instantly recognised, and it set the tone for much of what he wrote across the rest of the decade.
In 1966, they followed it with the album 'Aftermath' and the single 'Paint It Black', where Mick's darker, more inward‑looking lyrics sat against Brian Jones' sitar and a more adventurous, Eastern‑tinged sound that writers now treat as a major step away from straight R&B and simple love‑song territory.
Offstage, from 1963 to 1966 he was in a long‑term relationship with model Chrissie Shrimpton, a period that outlets like Woman's World say helped shape the more biting edge of songs such as 'Yesterday's Papers' and '19th Nervous Breakdown'. By late 1966, he had quietly shifted into a high‑profile relationship with singer Marianne Faithfull, who soon became both partner and muse at the heart of swinging‑London counter‑culture, giving Mick a direct line into its film, art and fashion circles as well as another powerful emotional thread to pull on in his writing.
1968–1972: The Golden Era
Between 1968 and 1972, Mick Jagger led The Rolling Stones through what many fans and critics now regard as their creative and iconic peak, with a slew of albums from 'Beggars Banquet' through 'Exile on Main St.' that defined the band's classic sound, according to RollingStonesData.com. As the outlet notes, 'Beggars Banquet' (1968) and 'Let It Bleed' (1969) marked a gritty, blues‑driven reset and were paired with major tours that sharpened the group's live power.
Britannica groups 'Sticky Fingers' (1971), the live album 'Get Yer Ya‑Ya's Out!' and the double album 'Exile on Main St.' (1972) as part of the period that gave the band "the repertoire and image that still defines them", describing their work then as "an incendiary blend of sex, drugs, Satanism, and radical politics" delivered with Mick's distance and Keith Richards' intensity.
The Rolling Stones online fan forum IORR.org also consideres 1968–72 as "four classic studio albums, one great live album and four successful tours in five years' time" and a triple‑retrospective episode from the Cue Club podcast framing 'Let It Bleed', 'Sticky Fingers' and 'Exile on Main St.' as the core of that classic era.
1969 - The Rolling Stones play at Hyde Park
In 1969, The Rolling Stones were the headline act at Hyde Park, playing to a crowd of 250,000–500,000 people. The show came just days after the tragic death of former member Brian Jones, and was the first time the group had performed together in two years.
Mick Taylor joined the band, replacing Brian as a guitarist until he left in 1964 and the spot was taken by Ronnie Wood in 1975.
1970: Bianca Pérez-Mora MacÃas and fashion icon
Away from the mic, Mick's personal life and look helped turn him into a full‑blown pop‑culture character, not just a singer in a band. Over the years he's had a string of high‑profile relationships – from his marriage to Bianca Jagger to his long partnership with Jerry Hall – and become a father of eight with five women, all of it playing out under the tabloids' gaze.
On stage, that skinny, androgynous frame, the tight trousers, the satin shirts and the outrageous hip‑shaking became a blueprint for how a rock frontman could move and dress, influencing everyone from glam and punk bands to later gender‑bending performers.
Fans point out that this mix of physicality and style is a big part of why Mick still feels like the template for the modern rock star, not just the frontman of a 60s band.
1970 - Mick Jagger starts acting career
As well as singing, Mick also tried his hand at acting and has appeared in several films over the years. He took on the role of Ned Kelly in the film of the same name in 1970 as well as playing the character Turner in Performance in the same year. Mick went on to appear in the films Freejack (1992), Bent (1997), and The Man From Elysian Fields (2002).
1985 - Mick Jagger releases music as a solo artist
Tensions in the band led Mick Jagger to focus on solo music and his individual artistry, and he released 'She's The Boss' in 1985 which was met with good reception, and the track 'Just Another Night' was a real hit with fans.
He followed this up with the album 'Primitive Cool' in 1987, 'Wandering Spirit' in 1993 and 'Goddess In The Doorway' in 2001.
1989 - The Rolling Stones comeback
After taking a break in the late 80s, The Rolling Stones reunited to bring out 'Steel Wheels' in 1989 and 'Voodoo Lounge' in 1994.
Their 'Voodoo Lounge' album went to Number 1 in the UK and won the GRAMMY Award for Best Rock Album in 1995. They also went on a year-long tour to promote the album, which broke records as the highest-grossing tour of its kind at the time.
1995 - Mick Jagger starts Jagged Films
In 1995, Mick Jagger got behind the camera and co-founded production company Jagged Films with Victoria Pearman. He produced several movies, with the first being historical drama Enigma (2001) starring Kate Winslet. That year they also released a documentary about the singer called Being Mick.
2003 - Mick Jagger receives Knighthood
In 2003, Mick became Sir Mick Jagger as he was awarded a Knighthood by Prince Charles for his services to music. He was joined by his father Joe and daughters Elizabeth and Karis at the ceremony and commented that his father was "very proud".
2009 - Mick Jagger joins SuperHeavy
In 2009, Mick joined the group SuperHeavy which also included Joss Stone, Dave Stewart, A. R. Rahman, Leon Mobley, and Damian Marley. They released their debut self-titled album in 2011.
2019- 2021 - The Rolling Stones go on 'No Filter' tour
In recent years, The Rolling Stones have put more focus on touring than releasing new music, and in 2019 the band embarked on their 'No Filter Tour' in the UK and US. However, some of the tour had to be rescheduled to 2021 due to the COVID-19 pandemic.
Charlie Watts sadly passed away in August 2021, and the US leg of the tour was the band's first without their friend and bandmate. At the first show back on the tour, Mick Jagger dedicated the show to Charlie, addressing the crowd to say: "It's a bit of a poignant night for us because its the first tour in 59 years that we've done without our lovely Charlie Watts. We've got so many memories of Charlie, and I'm sure some of you that have seen us before have got memories of Charlie as well. And I hope you remember him like we do."
2022 - James Brown doc, Slow Horses theme song and TRS 'SIXTY' tour,
In February 2022, a new documentary called James Brown: Say It Loud was announced, with Mick Jagger as one of the executive producers. The series to aired the following year in 2023.
In April 2022, Mick Jagger co-wrote and recorded the track 'Strange Game' for the Apple TV+ series Slow Horses. The 'atmospheric and infectious' song was co-written by Academy Award-nominated film composer Daniel Pemberton, and was released along with the series premiere on 1st April.
To celebrate their 60th anniversary, The Rolling Stones embarked on a UK tour in June and July. The three-date 'SIXTY' tour saw the group play classics such as 'Satisfaction', 'Paint It Black', 'Tumbling Dice', 'Sympathy for the Devil' and 'Gimme Shelter'.
2023: Mick Jagger's very own harmonica and 'Hackney Diamonds' album released
From 18th January 2023, Mick began teasing on his Instagram page that he had an upcoming collaboration with Lee Oskar harmonicas. Then, on 25th January, he shared the official design, uploading an energetic clip of him playing his brand new harmonica! Upon it's release, Mick wrote: 'Always loved Lee Oskar harmonicas and now I've been lucky enough to collaborate with them on a harmonica of my own.'
Later that year, The Rolling Stones announced their first album with original music in 18 years, called 'Hackney Diamonds'. They also released the first song from their album - called 'Angry' - exactly 18 years to the date of their previous album, on 6th September 2023.
'Hackney Diamonds' was released on 20th October 2023, and after landing the Number 1 spot on the UK Albums Chart, is also now certified Gold here in the UK.
2024: Hackney Diamonds stadium tour
In 2024 Mick spent much of the year fronting The Rolling Stones' 'Hackney Diamonds' stadium tour across the US and Canada. The 16‑date run, which opened in Houston on 28 April, saw the band playing NFL‑sized venues like NRG Stadium, BC Place in Vancouver and SoFi Stadium in Los Angeles, mixing classics with several songs from 2023's 'Hackney Diamonds'. Reviews highlighted how energetic Mick still was at 80, with Reuters noting he was 'singing, dancing and strutting across stadium concert stages' and that the new material sat confidently alongside the hits. They also revived deeper hits like 'Out of Time' on selected dates.
2025: GRAMMY win for Best Rock Album
In 2025 Mick stepped back from heavy touring and focused more on studio work and milestones. The Stones' 2023 album 'Hackney Diamonds' won the GRAMMY for Best Rock Album, giving them a significant late‑career boost. Producer Andrew Watt confirmed he was back in the studio with Mick, Keith and Ronnie, describing it as "like working for Batman" and saying all he could officially admit was that they'd been recording together.
Those sessions were described as very productive, and the band revisited years of unfinished ideas and then developed additional new songs once they found a groove. Ronnie Wood has suggested they recorded more than 20 tracks with Watt, with around a dozen used on 'Hackney Diamonds' and the remainder forming the core of a new album of roughly 13 songs, mixing leftover material with brand‑new recordings. A possible European tour was discussed but never finalised, so 2025 for Mick was defined more by GRAMMYs and building the next record than by large‑scale touring.
2026: New studio album
Variety reports that The Rolling Stones quietly scrapped plans for a 2026 UK and European stadium tour before any dates were officially announced, after Keith Richards decided he couldn't commit to another long stadium run. Instead, the band are expected to put their energy into finishing and releasing their next studio album 'Foreign Tongues' with producer Andrew Watt, a follow‑up to 'Hackney Diamonds', with a 2026 release target.
You can hear The Rolling Stones on Greatest Hits Radio 70s.
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