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The Rolling Stones

The Rolling Stones are an English rock band formed in London in 1962.[1][2] The first settled line-up consisted of Brian Jones on guitar and harmonica, Ian Stewart on piano, Mick Jagger on lead vocals and harmonica, Keith Richards on guitar and vocals, Bill Wyman on bass and Charlie Watts on drums. Since Wyman's retirement in 1993, the band's full members have been Jagger, Richards, Watts and guitarist Ronnie Wood who joined in 1975, replacing Mick Taylor (who followed Jones). Jones founded and led the band, but Jagger and Richards assumed leadership after becoming the band's primary songwriters, as Jones' physical and mental troubles gradually incapacitated him prior to his drowning death in 1969. Longtime regular bassist Darryl Jones and keyboardist Chuck Leavell are not full band members. The Rock and Roll Hall of Fame inducted the Rolling Stones in 1989 noting that critics and the public recognized their claim to the title of “World’s Greatest Rock and Roll Band.”[1] Rolling Stone magazine ranked them 4th on their "100 Greatest Artists of All Time" list, and their album sales are estimated to have been more than 200 million worldwide.[3][4]

The Rolling Stones early popularity in Europe preceded their success in North America where they were in the vanguard of the so-called British Invasion of musical acts in the mid-sixties. The Rolling Stones have released twenty-two studio albums in the United Kingdom (24 in the United States), eleven live albums (ten in the US), and numerous compilations.[3] Their album Sticky Fingers (1971) began a string of eight consecutive studio albums reaching number one in the United States. Their most recent album of new material, A Bigger Bang, was released in 2005. In 2008, Billboard magazine ranked the Rolling Stones at number ten on "The Billboard Top All-Time Artists", and as the second most successful group in the Billboard Hot 100 chart.[5]

The Rolling Stones' advent brought greater international recognition to the primitive urban blues typified by Chess Records' artist Muddy Waters, writer of "Rollin' Stone", the song for which the band is named.[6] Critic and musicologist Robert Palmer said their endurance and relevance stems from being "rooted in traditional verities, in rhythm-and-blues and soul music" while "more ephemeral pop fashions have come and gone".[7] In 2012 the band celebrated their 50th anniversary.[8]