Satisfaction as rock’s rock of ages turns 70

LONDON: He is still a bundle of energy on stage, still wearing skintight jeans and crooning with the same sexy voice that has helped sell millions of records for the last 50 years.

But Mick Jagger yesterday passed a milestone that few of his fans could have imagined when he sang the famous lyrics of Satisfaction in 1965: he’s turned 70.

However, when he sings such hits these days, he’s still, in many ways, the same skinny frontman of the Rolling Stones, the legendary British band that Jagger rode to fame.

Whichever hit he sings, it would be sung through the same fat lips that have become an almost iconic symbol of the Rolling Stones, a band that keeps on performing and performing, powered partially by Jagger’s nonstop energy.

Just last month the Stones toured the US. Shortly afterward, Jagger, now a two-time grandfather, donned a jacket covered in green sequins to perform at the Glastonbury Festival in England. Earlier this month, the band thrilled thousands of fans at a concert in Hyde Park in London.

The schedule hardly sounds like that of the geriatric band dubbed the Strolling Bones in the British press. The band itself is more than a half century old, having started after a chance meeting between Jagger and Keith Richards at an English train station.

Known for his thin frame and tight dance moves, Jagger also has worked on his own projects, including the solo album She’s the Boss in 1985.

When it came to women, Jagger was the ultimate bad boy. Once asked in an interview when he realised he was a womaniser, he said it was when he was about 18, after the Stones started playing in London clubs. He realised he was getting a lot of attention from women, which he said normally wasn’t the case.

Tabloid newspapers, in particular, relished writing headlines about Jagger’s private life. The twice-married Jagger has seven children with four women.

Although Jagger hasn’t completely lost his bad boy image, he’s made fewer headlines in recent years. For his contributions to pop music, Jagger was knighted in 2003.

Asked what it meant to him, Jagger told The Guardian newspaper “not much”, but added that his father was very proud. – Sapa-dpa

PICTURE: REUTERS START HIM UP? Mick Jagger, at 70, shows he’s still got all the moves, swagger and lip power as he performs on the Pyramid Stage at Glastonbury music festival at Worthy Farm in Somerset last month