Mick Taylor Biography

Mick Taylor played guitar with The Rolling Stones for five years before shocking everyone by leaving the band at the height of its popularity in 1974.

Mick Taylor grew up near London and began playing guitar as a lad, working. his way through the usual roster of teen bands. He joined John Mayall’s Bluesbreakers in 1967, touring widely and appearing on albums like Blues from Laurel Canyon in 1968. The next year he joined The Rolling Stones, replacing original member Brian Jones; he was just 20 years old. The Stones were already rock royalty, and Taylor slid in beside lead guitarist Keith Richards, providing steady melodic support and  bluesy lead lines and solos behind Mick Jagger‘s vocals.

Baby-faced and quietly intense, Taylor toured the world with The Stones and played on their most famous albums, including Sticky Fingers (1971), Exile on Main Street (1972) and Goat’s Head Soup (1973), and on singles like “Honky Tonk Woman” and “It’s Only Rock and Roll.”

He quit the band at the end of 1974 for reasons that have never been completely clear, and was replaced by Ronnie Wood, who stuck with the band for the next three decades. Taylor spent those decades doing his own thing, fronting a series of blues and rock bands, while also battling problems with cocaine and heroin. He released solo albums including Mick Taylor (1979), Live at the 14 Below (1995) and A Stone’s Throw (2000), and played on Bob Dylan‘s albums Infidels (1983) and Empire Burlesque (1985), among other gigs.

In 2012 he had a reunion of sorts with The Rolling Stones, joining the band as a “special guest” on a number of their tour dates over the following years. He was inducted into the Rock ‘n Roll Hall of Fame as a member of the band in 1989.