It’s All Over Now: Mick Taylor ‘Stony Broke’
Former Rolling Stones guitarist Mick Taylor is virtually destitute.
Now living in a small, rundown house in Suffolk, apparently with mounting unpaid bills, the 61-year-old told the Mail On Sunday:
“In 1982 they stopped paying me [royalties]. They’d signed to a different record company and had new contracts and were advised they didn’t need to pay me any more.
“I should have got a lawyer. But instead I called them rude words and asked how they could just stop paying me. They all know it’s not right. In fact it is outrageous. They get all the money and I get the plaudits and praise, even from Mick. I’ve tried to talk to Mick a couple of times, but I realise that hiring a lawyer is probably the only way they’ll take me seriously. But they figure I’m not going to do anything about it.”
Yet, despite his financial problems Taylor – who replaced Brian Jones as the Stones guitarist in 1969 – has no regrets about quitting the band in 1974:
“People are always asking me whether I regret leaving The Rolling Stones. I make no bones about it – had I remained with the band, I would probably be dead. I was having difficulties with drug addiction and couldn’t have lasted. But I’m clean now and have been for years.
“My life is so much better now than being a drug-ravaged member of the Stones. So no, I don’t regret leaving. But people who really know me ask another question – whether I regret joining the Stones. To me, that’s far more astute.”
Read more here.
Quite a dperessing article from the Daily Mail (although who would expect any different from them?). He certainly looks like he’s in a bad way. He is however a great guitarist. Saw him with John Mayall back in 2004 and it was a great show. Surely he could make money by making a new album or touring. Or surely some band could hire him.
Drugs fuck you up,thats why he is picking up the pieces of his life at the moment go and sign on.
Pay the man his due.Played on all the best stuff
Glen, he’ll sign on when you take lessons in literacy.
Get well soon, Taylor.
[...] Rock Magazine is reporting that former Rolling Stones guitarist Mick Taylor is virtually [...]
[...] Rock Magazine is reporting that former Rolling Stones guitarist Mick Taylor is virtually [...]
Poor bastard. You’d think the Stones could share just a little of the wealth with the guy. Or to look at it in another light, he could just go and get a bloody job like the rest of the world.
[...] Jeff Allen, manager of former Rolling Stone Mick Taylor, has refuted reports that the guitarist is planning to sue his former bandmates for unpaid royalties. [...]
Mick, Keith & Cahrlie. Pay th eman he was part of the best music you put out.
How much money you need Mick and Keith? You ripped him off on songwriting credits and then you stopped paying him entirely? You learned well from Klein I see. I wish he would sue your butts and I wish I could sit on the jury. Yeah, I know, It’s only Money but I like it, right? What a bunch of talentless losers. Just because you can do something legally, doesn’t mean you HAVE to, you know.
It seems that any sane person would agree that Taylor is due for another look at his contract with The Stones. Even if he is dead broke, I’m sure that there is a lawyer who would take this case for a percentage of the settlement.