Brian Jones

CHELTENHAM CHILDHOOD

Lewis Brian Hopkin-Jones, better known as Brian Jones, was born in The Park Nursing Home in Cheltenham on Saturday, 28 February, 1942 to Louis and Louisa Jones, who were of Welsh origin. He had one sister Pamela, born on October 3, 1943. She died 2 years later on October 14, 1945 of leukemia. His other sister Barbara was born in 1946. Both of Brian's parents encouraged him to take up music - although an aeronautical engineer by profession, Brian's father played both piano and organ, and led the choir at the local church, Brian's mother was a piano teacher. Educated at Cheltenham's Dean Close School, situated close to his home at 335 Hatherley Road, even as a child Brian was interested in music. He took piano lessons and his teachers very quickly discovered his rare musical talent. He eventually took up the clarinet and played it at the school orchestra.

When he was 14, he persuaded his parents to buy him a saxophone and learnt to play it as well and finally at the age of 17 he got his first accoustic guitar as a birthday present. After passing his eleven-plus in 1953 Brian went to Cheltenham Grammar School for Boys. His exam results were excellent, but his refusal to conform to the authority brought the anger of the teachers upon him. In 1959 his 14-year-old girlfriend Valerie got pregnant and she chose to have the baby boy adopted, refusing any further contact from Brian. The matter reached the local newspaper and Brian left school and went travelling through Europe. When he come back to Cheltenham, he began playing at local blues and jazz clubs (among others at what is today called The Prom) with a local group called The Ramrods, in addition to busking and working various odd jobs, such as a bus conductor and an assistant on the record counter of a local shop, and used the money he earned to buy more instruments. In 1961 his second child, Julian Mark Andrews, was born and for a while Brian settled with his then girlfriend Pat Andrews.

The Rolling Stones

THE ROLLING STONES FOUNDER

Soon after though, Brian left Cheltenham for London. He became a proficient blues musician. A favorite hangout for Brian became the Ealing Club where he would see an act called Alexis Korner's Blues Inc., with nineteen-year-old drummer Charlie Watts. In 1962 Brian recruited Ian "Stu" Stewart, Mick Jagger and Keith Richards into his newly formed band. It was also Brian who came up with the name The Rollin' Stones, after the track on Muddy Waters album. The Stones had their first gig on 12 July 1962 in the Marquee Club in London with the following line-up: Jagger, Richards, Jones, Stewart, bass player Dick Taylor (later of The Pretty Things) and drummer Tony Chapman. Charlie Watts and Billy Wyman joined the group after several auditions and try-outs.

While Mick Jagger was the lead singer, Jones, in the group's embryonic period, was the leader, promoting the band, getting them shows around London and negotiating with venue owners. Jones would often act more as an entertainer in these early days, playing several instruments including vocals, rhythm guitar, slide guitar and harmonica. It was an eight month stint at one of London's premier clubs, "The Crawdaddy" in Richmond , that the Rolling Stones really began to create a stir throughout London with their unique brand of R&B.

Andrew Loog Oldham, who met the band in April 1963, became the band's manager and promoted them as the "Nasty Opposites of the Beatles" and coined the promo phrase "would you let your daughter marry a rolling stone?", modelling the band on his favourite book Clockwork Orange. The Stones signed to Decca and released a succession of cover records throughout 1963. In the period between 1963 and 1966, Brian was very much the leader of the band. His mark continued to be made and his adventurous musical tendencies and experimentations prominently featured on classics such as, "Lady Jane" and "I Am Waiting" (Brian playing dulcimer), "Under My Thumb" (playing marimba) and "Painted Black" (playing sitar).

On 23 July 1964 Jones fathered yet another child out of wedlock, this time to girlfriend Linda Lawrence. Jones named this child Julian Brian Lawrence, and Julian would adopt the surname Leitch after Lawrence later married the folk singer Donovan. Jones is said to have named both sons Julian in tribute to the jazz saxophonist Julian "Cannonball" Adderley.

THE ESTRANGEMENT

Unfortunately for Brian, manager Oldham saw the band's future with Mick Jagger as the central focus, displacing Brian from both of his original posts as the group's leader and promoter. The emphasis was put on Jagger-Richards's song writing, in an attempt to create a similar creative partnership as John Lennon and Paul McCartney. Brian's increasing drink intake and drug experimentation lead to him to missing rehearsals and recordings, his mood swings contributing to even further alienation from the rest of the group. Late 1965 - 66 saw Oldham relieving Jones of his backup singing duties and pushing forward a reluctant Keith to fill in the void. Oldham went so far as to turn off Brian's mic during recordings as well as fading out his guitar parts. Brian's downward spiral was not immediate and was indeed a long and painful process that lasted roughly from 1966 up until his official departure from the band in 1969.

Brian's last substantial sessions with the Stones were in the spring and summer of 1968, when the Stones produced the classic "Jumpin' Jack Flash" and the Beggars Banquet album. Jones' last formal appearance with the Stones was in December 1968 in The Rolling Stones Rock and Roll Circus, a part-concert, part-circus act film organized by the band. It went unreleased for 25 years due to Mick Jagger being unhappy with the band's performance when compared to other bands in the film. Brian was replaced by 20-year-old virtuoso guitarist Mick Taylor (formerly of John Mayall's Bluesbreakers).

THE DEATH

Just before his official departure from The Rolling Stones in 1969, Brian Jones had purchased A. A. Milne's country estate in Hartfield, Sussex and had begun extensive restorations. It seems to some who had contact with Jones around this time that he was beginning to get himself together, laying off the drugs and had even begun discussing future musical projects with the likes of Alexis Korner and Mitch Mitchell. On June 9, 1969, Brian's departure from The Stones became official, a statement released simply read, "I no longer see eye to eye with the others over the discs we are cutting".

Just three weeks later at around midnight on July 3, 1969 Brian Jones was found dead in his swimming pool. His girlfriend Anna Wohlin is convinced he was still alive when they took him out; she insists that he still had a pulse. However when the doctors arrived, it was too late for Brian and he was pronounced dead on the scene. The official verdict handed down by the coroner shortly thereafter read, "Death by misadventure, cause of death drowning". Having suffered asthma from childhood, it was thought at the time that Brian had suffered an asthma attack while swimming. However, the autopsy reports said that the condition of his lungs were not light and bulky, which is usually the case when death occurs as a result of an asthma attack.

The conspiracy theories in this case are numerous and the possibility of Brian being murdered have spawned a number of theories to be put forward. Anna Wohlin claimed in 2000 that he had been murdered by a builder who had been staying with them renovating the house. An apparent death bed confession in 1993, by Frank Thorogood, the builder who was drinking with Brian that evening and the last person to see Brian alive, set off a flurry of books and television specials. It is said that many items, such as instruments and expensive furniture, were stolen from the home after Brian's death.

After a service in St. Mary's Church, Brian Jones was buried at Cheltenham Cemetary. Cheltenham commemorated its famous son on 15th November 2005 when The “Golden Boy” Bronze Bust of Brian Jones was unveiled in Cheltenham's Beechwood Shopping Centre. It was designed by local sculptor Maurice Juggins, and was cast into a bronze by Castle Fine Arts Foundry Ltd.