The guitarist Brian Jones was a crucial part of The Rolling Stones’ sound and songwriting in the early days of the band but later lost space to Mick Jagger and Keith Richards, who were encouraged by the band’s manager to write more.
In an interview with Classic Rock, the band’s classic bassist Bill Wyman recalled why Jones ended up being fired.
Bill Wyman recalls why Brian Jones was fired from the Stones
“Andrew Oldham (Manager) decided to get Mick and Keith to start writing songs because he realized that Mick, being the frontman, would probably be the most famous later. Brian originally got much more fan mail than the rest of us. All the girls went for Brian. But he was pushed aside.”
“Then Andrew stopped me, Brian and Charlie doing interviews, which also elevated Mick and Keith’s profile. Obviously it was ultimately beneficial for Mick and Keith to take on the music. But Brian, who I shared a room with at the time, was always a bit sad. (He was) upset that we weren’t doing the kind of music he really liked, because we started out doing real blues and he was a blues purist.”
(…) “There was no malice (when Brian was fired), they just got fed up with his drug taking. None of the rest of us took drugs. Well, Keith… They did a bit, but there was no heavy stuff for years. I never had any, nor did Charlie, we were always completely clean. We had responsibilities, so we behaved ourselves,” Bill Wyman said.
The bassist Bill Wyman was a member of the Rolling Stones from 1962 until he decided to retire in 1993.
In 2024, at the age of 88, the original Wyman released his ninth solo studio album, which is called “Drive My Car”. It is his first album in nine years, since the most recent one “Back to Basics” was released back in 2015.