On this day in 1969, Brian Jones officially left the Rolling Stones

Jones started The Rolling Stones in 1962, when he advertised for bandmates to join his new group after leaving his previous band Blues Incorporated. The ad was answered by Ian Stewart, Keith Richards, Mick Jagger, Tony Chapman and Dick Taylor, though Taylor would soon be replaced with Bill Wyman and Chapman with Charlie Watts, forming the classic Rolling Stones line-up that would soon become global stars. The “Rolling Stones” name was chosen by Jones during a phone call to the Jazz News, where a journalist asked for the new group’s name. A Muddy Waters LP on the floor provided the answer, with one of the track’s being called Rollin’ Stone. 

The band quickly built a massive following throughout the 1960’s and were commonly positioned as rivals of The Beatles, despite a long friendship between the two groups. As their popularity grew, so too would the controversy surrounding the band. Their rough image and often brash music prohibited them from playing at a number of venues and saw them banned them from certain countries.  A number of these issues stemmed from the bands increasing drug use, with a number of the Stones being arrested in possession throughout the decade.

Despite most members clearly suffering from substance abuse issues, the one hit the hardest was arguably the band’s founder, Brian Jones. The charismatic guitarist had been found in possession of several drugs on two occasions, and this increasing usage led to Jones starting to miss practices and shows. Tensions also rose over the uneven splitting of the band’s profit amongst the members, with many claiming Jones was being paid much more than the others. Finally the rift between members became too big to ignore and on June 8, Jones was officially dismissed from the band, though their press statement on the matter would claim that he had left of his own accord to focus on other music. The following day, Jones would release his own statement, claiming “I no longer see eye to eye with the others over the discs we are cutting… I want to play my own music, which is no longer the Stones music.”

Whether Jones had actually intended to produce more music remains unknown, as the singer was tragically found drowned in his swimming pool the following month on July 3rd, at the age of 27. Over time bizarre conspiracy theories have surfaced claiming Jones was murdered, with one theory even naming a killer, Frank Thorogood, who had recently completed some building work for the musician. None of these theories have ever been proven and the coroner’s report stated “death by misadventure” as the official cause. Two days after Jones’ tragic death, the Stones played a free show in Hyde Park, originally intended to showcase their new guitarist Mick Taylor but instead acting as a tribute to their founder and friend. Before the show, Mick Jagger read excerpts from the poem “Adonais”  and stagehands released hundreds of white butterflies, before the band opened with one of Jones’ favourite songs, I’m Yours and I’m Hers by Johnny Winter.