Vernon Kay has hailed veteran songwriter Mick Jagger as the “ultimate frontperson” in an interview with The Rolling Stones singer.
Jagger, who paired up with guitarists Keith Richards and Ronnie Wood for the new album Foreign Tongues, has shared how he managed to become such a legendary frontman. Speaking to promote the upcoming album, the band’s first since Hackney Diamonds and second without drummer Charlie Watts, Jagger confirmed that much of his on-stage persona had been built around being a “show-off”. Jagger’s stage-strutting is the stuff of legend, and with the band’s most recent tour in 2024, it appeared the frontman had lost none of his iconic style. Jagger has privately studied ballet and takes dance lessons to maintain his on-stage energy, but broke down how this persona came about when speaking with BBC Radio.
He said: “I never thought about it. It’s what you have to be, it’s what you are. There’s no getting away from it. I like it, yeah. It’s what I do. That’s the exciting thing about it, being this big show-off. You have to be a bit more professional than just being a silly show-off, but at the beginning that’s all you are.
“You have to be an extrovert, there’s really no room for shrinking violets in that role. You can be a shrinking violet as a bass player or a drummer even, but you can’t be a shrinking violet as a frontperson. So you have to give yourself in to the crowd and you become part of them and have a relationship with them.”
Bandmate Richards was previously full of praise for Jagger, and says that he truly appreciated the stress of being a frontman when he began releasing his own music. Richards said: “It was a weird period. Looking back on it now, it was a necessary hiatus. Once we started back again, I felt stronger than I had for a long time. I had learned a lot more about being the frontman.
“In other words, I came back to the Stones with a lot more knowledge of what Mick’s job entails. And it’s quite surprisingly different, you’re out there all the time. I mean, you are nonstop. With the Stones, I can slide my time.
“But doing the Winos, while I was working the Winos singing and playing guitar too, that tightened me up a lot. And I brought a lot of knowledge and a much tighter feel when I got back to the Stones.”
Richards’ reflections on The Rolling Stones this century had him credit John Lennon as a “strong” influence on the band. The guitarist went as far as to say Lennon is the reason The Rolling Stones stuck together, and that without The Beatles, there would be no band.
In a conversation with Hunter S. Thompson, Richards said: “There was very little difference between The Beatles and ourselves. There would be no Stones without The Beatles. Have to take my hat off to John, he was the strong one. If they hadn’t kicked the door in there wouldn’t be a way through the door.”
Listen to The Rolling Stones special edition of Tracks Of My Years today on Radio 2 at 5am (or on BBC Sounds and iPlayer from 6am).
Discover more from Cult Following
Subscribe to get the latest posts sent to your email.
