Mick Jagger

Author Phillip Norman, whose previous bestseller, John Lennon: The Life, was praised as a “haunting, mammoth, terrific piece of work” (New York Times Book Review) and whose classic Shout! is widely considered to be the definitive biography of the Beatles, now turns his attention to the iconic front man of the Rolling Stones, “the greatest rock ’n’ roll band in the world.” Norman’s Mick Jagger is an extraordinarily detailed and vibrantly written in-depth account of the life and half-century-long career of one of the most fascinating and complex superstars of rock music—the most comprehensive biography to date of the famously enigmatic musician. Keith Richards had his say in Life. Now it’s time to get to know intimately the other half of the duo responsible for such enduring hits as “Paint It Black,” “Sympathy for the Devil,” “Gimme Shelter,” and “(I Can’t Get No) Satisfaction.” Mick Jagger is a must read for Stones fans, and everyone who can’t get enough of the serious memoirs and biographies of popular musicians, like Patti Smith’s Just Kids, Does the Noise in My Head Bother You? by Steven Tyler, and the Warren Zevon story, I’ll Sleep When I’m Dead.
|

A supreme achiever to whom his colossal achievements seem to mean nothing . . .

A supreme extrovert who prefers discretion . . .

A supreme egotist who dislikes talking about himself . . .

Philip Norman has long towered above other rock biographers with his definitive studies of the Beatles, the Rolling Stones, Elton John, Buddy Holly, and John Lennon—legends whom the world thought it knew, but who came to life as never before through the meticulousness of Norman's research, the sweep of his cultural knowledge, and the brilliance of his writing.

Now Norman turns to a rock icon who is the most notorious yet enigmatic of them all. Throughout five decades of fronting the Rolling Stones, Mick Jagger has been seen as the ultimate arrogant, narcissistic superstar, whose sexual appetite and cavalier treatment of women rival Casanova's and whose supposed reckless drug use touched off the most famous scandal in rock history. Now a grandfather nearing seventy and a British knight of the realm, he still creates excitement at the mere mention of his name; still remains the model for every young rock singer who ever takes the stage.

Norman shows Jagger to be a character far more complex than the cold archseducer of myth: human, vulnerable, often impressive, sometimes endearing. Here at last is the real story of how the Stones' brilliant first manager, Andrew Oldham, transformed a shy economics student named Mike Jagger into a modern Antichrist...of Jagger's vicious show trial and imprisonment on minuscule drug charges in 1967...his remarkable feat at the Stones' Hyde Park concert in making a quarter of a million people keep quiet and listen to poetry...his unpublicized heroic role at the Altamont festival that brought the sunny sixties to a horrific end...the cavalcade of beautiful women from Chrissie Shrimpton to Jerry Hall, whom he has bedded but not always dominated...the enduring but ever-fraught partnership with his "Glimmer Twin," Keith Richards.

While playful about some aspects of Sir Mick, Norman gives him long overdue credit as a songwriter, whose "Sympathy for the Devil" is one of the few truly epic pop singles, and as a harmonica player fit to rank among the great blues masters who inspired the Stones before money became their raison d'etre.

Mick Jagger, above all, explores the keen and calculating intelligence that has kept the Stones on their plinth as "the world's greatest rock 'n' roll band" for half a century.

|

“[Norman] sharpens what we know about Lennon at just about every turn…devotees will relish the new information, while casual readers will find a familiar story told more truly than ever before.” - Rolling Stone

“[Norman’s] definitive biography draws impressively on exclusive and extensive interviews with Yoko Ono and, for the first time on the record, their son Sean…densely detailed, intricately woven and elegantly told, John Lennon: The Life neither condemns nor condones, nor does it consecrate its subject. - USA Today

“A highlight is the way Norman weaves in the intricate compositions Lennon wrote with his partner of approximately 12 years, Paul McCartney…He writes an intimate look at the fine balance between creativity, friendship and competing ambitions that defined their relationship. This book also draws on a great many sources, including the many people in John’s life, from the famous, to the forgotten. The information gleaned from Lennon’s many family members in Liverpool adds interesting elements as well to create a rich portrait of Lennon, (many) warts and all… Overall, this a moving tale of the formation of a complicated personality who touched the world, lifted it up and made it better.” - Pittsburgh Post-Gazette

“Fascinating…Mr. Norman, author of the well-regarded Shout! The Beatles in Their Generation, provides enormously detailed accounts of John’s childhood in middle-class Liverpool and his lifelong insecurities; the birth, rise and contentious death of the Beatles; and the Yoko years… Mr. Norman’s meticulous research includes Aunt Mimi’s papers and interviews with Ms. Ono, Beatles producer George Martin and Mr. McCartney. Each is positively represented… But in the end, neither Ms. Ono nor Mr. McCartney seemed pleased with Mr. Norman’s book. The reader should have no such problems.” - Dallas Morning News

“Remarkably thorough. . . The level of detail--and revelations--dwarfs the amount found in the other recent Jagger books... A must-read for Stones fans. . . It’s easily the best rock ‘n’ roll biography of Jagger yet.” - Boston Globe

"Norman is a wonderful writer, a painter with words . . . A must for Jagger and Stones fans alike." - Booklist

“The second, livelier and all-around better of two major unauthorized Jagger biographies . . . Norman consistently provides evidence of Jagger’s better side: his bouts of generosity (particularly toward friends and lovers in need), the sensitivity that frequently drives him to tears, his mutual adoration of his children by several mothers.” - Kirkus Reviews

“Many biographies of Jagger and Stones are tawdry affairs, but Norman is too talented a writer to wallow in cheap sensationalism. Even as he engages the reader with wild tales illustrating the dramatic arcs and valleys of Jagger’s enviable life, he showcases Mick’s occasional kindness, generosity, and even his tendencies toward conformity. As a result, Mick Jagger has a bit of a seesaw quality: again and again, we are reminded that its subject was capable of behavior that was both roguish and redemptive. Stones fanatics may not be accustomed to this type of balanced portrayal, but ultimately Norman deserves credit for honoring his subject’s complexity.” - New Republic

“There’s hard work and then there is chance - as in roulette, you need a healthy dose of pure luck to win. MICK JAGGER, Philip Norman’s new biography, captures this part of it beautifully . . . Norman’s book reads like a thrill ride. He captures as well as anybody that magical combination of youth, talent and low rent that would eventually become the Rolling Stones.” - New York Times

“Norman is far ahead of the journalistic pack… [he] marshals myriad detail.” - USA Today

“In John Lennon: The Life by Philip Norman, the author of the acclaimed 1981 Beatles biography Shout! uncovers new details about the rock icon’s psychologically scarred childhood, his possessiveness (which nearly drove Yoko away), the $50 million offer for the Beatles to reunite (‘I’d stand on me head in the corner for that kind of money,’ said Lennon), and his poignant efforts to reconcile with the father he believed deserted him.” - AARP Magazine

“More moving and less plausible than most fiction, Lennon’s life is one of the great 20th century fables, and it’s told here definitively by a major Beatles scholar. Even as Lennon went from young tough to global pop star to hippie prophet, he never ceased to be a shattered, motherless little boy. When have so many ever followed anyone so lost? A.” - Time Magazine

“Norman (Shout!: The Beatles in Their Generation) offers a grand, comprehensive, yet sprightly biography of the late Beatle. His sympathetic but sharp treatment captures Lennon’s charm and charisma, but also his cruelty to loved ones, his rebel posturings, his resentment of Paul McCartney’s matchless songwriting powers and growing dominance of the band, his debaucheries, his drunk and disorderlies, his shoplifting and his Oedipal yearnings. Norman is a smart analyst of pop music and its cultural setting and a scintillating miniaturist of Beatlemania…He manages the difficult trick of loving Lennon’s music without swooning over it…from Norman’s portrait, we see why so many consider him a soul mate.” - Publishers Weekly (starred review)

“Powerful and heartfelt. . . . Norman displays the same gift for brisk, what-happened-next narrative that made Shout! a page turner.” - Washington Post Book World

“So rich and enveloping that it demands to be read. . . . It’s a clear-eyed and compassionate study of a man. . . . Norman coaxes fresh insights out of both Ono and producer George Martin. And, thanks to a rare interview with Sean Ono Lennon, he turns the postscript into a touching sort of hymn to a lost dad. A–” - Entertainment Weekly

“The most complete account of the genius and madness of an insecure misfit.” - Los Angeles Times