Mick Taylor, who was the lead guitarist for the Rolling Stones from 1969 to 1974, has revealed that he is writing his memoir — but he says that it will not be filled with the sorts of tales of sex, drugs and debauchery that can be found in "Life," the 2010 best-selling memoir from Rolling Stones guitarist Keith Richards.
Taylor revealed the news about his memoir in an exclusive interview with BANG Showbiz at an Ian Stewart tribute concert, held March 9, 2011, at the Ambassadors Theatre in London. (As previously reported, Rolling Stones guitarist Ronnie Wood, Rolling Stones drummer Charlie Watts, ex-Rolling Stones bass player Bill Wyman and Taylor all performed at the tribute event.)
In the interview with BANG Showbiz, Taylor said: "I don’t want to write the kind of book that will shock people, about the
scandals, sex, drugs and rock and roll because Keith’s done that with his book. It’s a hard book to write. My time will come but it’s not yet."
Taylor also said that he had mixed feelings about his time with the Rolling Stones, the band that made him famous: "I kind of loved it. I loved it and I hated it. The more successful the Stones became the more seriously they took themselves. Why I left will be in my book. It certainly wasn’t because I didn’t like the rest of the band, or had a huge falling out, or anything like that. It’s much more personal than that."
Taylor commented on how he has been documenting his memories: “I jot down my memories all the time and have done for years in case I ever lose my mind."
When Taylor was chosen by the Rolling Stones to replace the late Brian Jones (who died less than a month after he was fired from the band), Taylor had been a relatively unknown guitarist who previously played in John Mayall's Bluesbreakers. Taylor quit the Rolling Stones at the end of 1974, when the band was preparing for its 1975 tour, and he was replaced by Wood.
During Taylor's time in the Rolling Stones, the band recorded what many critics believe are most of the Rolling Stones' best albums: 1969's "Let it Bleed," 1971's "Sticky Fingers," 1972's "Exile on Main Street," 1973's Goats Head Soup" and 1974's "It's Only Rock'n'Roll." Some of the classic Rolling Stones hits Taylor recorded with the band include "Gimme Shelter," "You Can't Always Get What You Want," "Brown Sugar," "Wild Horses," "Tumbling Dice," "It's Only Rock'n'Roll (But I Like It)" and "Angie."
Taylor has given several interviews over the years, saying that he quit the Rolling Stones because he had problems dealing with fame and the band's lifestyle, and he wanted to play more blues-oriented music. Taylor went on to do various solo projects, but they were never as commercially successful as what he did when he was in the Rolling Stones.
If Taylor's memoir is published, he would be the fourth past or current member of the Rolling Stones to write his own solo memoir. Wyman was the first (his "Stone Alone" autobiography was published in 1990), followed by Wood (with 2007's "Ronnie"), and then Richards, who had the biggest-selling Rolling Stones memoir of them all, with 2010's "Life." In 2003, the Rolling Stones published an official band autobiography, titled "According to the Rolling Stones," which was essentially a photo book with a collection of quotes, written like interview transcripts.
Given that Taylor has a long history of unpredictability (including numerous canceled concert performances in recent years), it will be interesting to see if Taylor's book really would get completed and published. Rolling Stones lead singer Mick Jagger famously planned to write a memoir in the 1980s, but scrapped those plans because the publishing company reportedly wanted it to be a tell-all book, and Jagger did not. Jagger's second ex-wife, Jerry Hall, also reportedly had a memoir book deal canceled: This time it was in 2009, and the deal was canceled because she allegedly did not have enough scandalous details in the book. Instead, in 2010, she released a photo book ("Jerry Hall: My Life in Pictures") via a publishing deal with a different company.
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