Iggy Azalea on equalling The Beatles chart record: 'I'd rather be The Rolling Stones'

June 10, 2014 12:44

Rapper recently scored both the Number One and Number Two spots in the Billboard Hot 100

Iggy Azalea has responded to those who criticise her authenticity while also dismissing the way she recently matched a US chart record previously held by The Beatles.

The Australian artist has received repeated criticism of her Americanised rap voice in reviews but says that she does not feel the need to pay notice to her roots when making music.

"We get so caught up, especially in rap, with what's authentic, and I wish people would think more about what the fuck that even means," she told Billboard. "One critic was like, 'Why didn't you talk about more Australian things?' I don't understand why I'm supposed to write a song about living in the outback and riding a kangaroo to be authentic."

Elsewhere in the interview, Azalea says that the fact she recently matched The Beatles US chart record, scoring both the Number One and Number Two spots in the Billboard Hot 100, "doesn't mean anything". Distancing herself from the record, she said: "I'd rather be The Rolling Stones."

Iggy Azalea made news last week when she criticised Lorde's appearace at Nirvana's Rock And Roll Hall Of Fame induction, arguing that her appearance wasn't appropriate as she was not a peer of Kurt Cobain.

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Rolling Stones release back catalogue on iTunes

Mick Jagger (2nd L) performs with Ronnie Wood (rear L-R), Keith Richards and Charlie Watts of the Rolling Stones at a concert during the band's ''50 and Counting'' tour in Chicago May 28, 2013.

Credit: Reuters/John Gress

LONDON | Wed Jun 19, 2013 12:39pm EDT

LONDON (Reuters) - The Rolling Stones released a career-spanning digitally re-mastered back catalogue on Apple Inc's iTunes Store on Wednesday as part of their 50th anniversary celebrations.

The new iTunes release chronicles the British group's entire oeuvre, from their introductory 1963 cover of Chuck Berry's "Come On" to last year's Greatest Hits collection "GRRR!", their record label Universal Music said on Wednesday.

The Rolling Stones - Mick Jagger, Keith Richards, Ronnie Wood and Charlie Watts - emerged alongside the Beatles in the early 1960s.

They became one of the most successful groups in rock and roll history with hits such as "(I Can't Get No) Satisfaction", "Jumpin' Jack Flash" and "Sympathy for the Devil".

The new releases have been re-mastered exclusively for iTunes and will feature all the band's classic studio albums as well as live albums and compilations.

In addition, the complete catalogue is available in two parts on iTunes, spanning the periods 1963-1971 and 1971-2013.

The Stones kicked off their biggest tour in six years in Los Angeles last month after a sell-out mini-tour of Europe and the United States last year.

The veteran rockers are also set to headline Britain's biggest musical festival, Glastonbury, for the first time on June 29, and perform in London's Hyde Park for the first time since a tribute concert to founder member and guitarist Brian Jones 44 years ago, two days after his death.

"It seems like yesterday," Richards told the BBC in April. "It's going to be a great summer, man ... All the gigs we haven't done or wanted to redo are popping up."

They last went on the road for their "A Bigger Bang" tour from 2005 to 2007, playing 144 shows around the world and grossing more than $550 million, one of the world's most lucrative rock tours.

The Stones have sold more than 200 million albums worldwide and toured 40 times, mostly across Europe and North America in the 1960s and 1970s.

Live performances have emerged as the major money earner in the music business as record sales go digital, with growing numbers of veteran acts returning to the stage and attracting well-heeled, ageing fans willing to pay high ticket prices.

(Reporting by Paul Casciato; Editing by Kevin Liffey)

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What Else? Twitter Funding, Apple's 'Problem,' Lauryn's Hill, Rolling Stones, Omnifone, Beyonce's Ban...

There's more to Twitter music than just Twitter #music.  Enter Chirpify, the in-tweet commerce engine that just rustled a $2 million series A from Voyager Capital.  That brings the broader financing level to $3.3 million, according to the company. Snoop Dogg, Puma, and Lil Wayne are now signed on as 'enterprise customers'.   

So it seems that Apple has a problem: it's smashingly-excellent past.  The company reported fairly solid second quarter financials on Tuesday — $9.5 million in profits on $43.6 billion in sales —though CEO Tim Cook admitted that growth rates are slowing.  Perhaps more importantly to Wall Street: current-quarter expectations are lower than expected, which probably means more downward movement on AAPL.

And it's rain/pour for Lauryn Hill, who basically checked out from both celebrity and broader society sometime in the early 2000s.  Hill is now facing sentencing for tax evasion (non-payment on nearly $2 million in income), though TMZ is now reporting eviction proceedings on Hill's rented mansion in New Jersey.  Court documents show that Hill has inked a $1 million recording contract with Sony Music to manage the tax debt.

And what's more important than the Rolling Stones?  The NBA Playoffs, that's what: according to official word from the band, the opening date for the upcoming '50 & Counting' trek will be moved one day to May 3rd (still at Staples Center), to avoid a hoops-related conflict. 

Over the pond in London, Omnifone has just named David Finch as CFO, effective immediately.  Omnifone, a b2b-focused digital music service provider, is helping to power the just-launched MySXM personalized radio service.

And, can you really control the cameras anymore (or the blogs, Tumblrs, Tweets and websites that distribute them)?  After the publication of wildly-unflattering Super Bowl pics, Beyonce is now banning all photo credentials on her upcoming, Mrs Carter tour.  Beyonce will only release authorized pics taken by an authorized photographer.  And what about everyone else in the crowd?

More ahead!

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Rolling Stones turn back clock with hit-filled comeback

Mick Jagger performs with the Rolling Stones at the O2 Arena in London November 25, 2012. The Stones took to the stage on Sunday after a five-year hiatus to celebrate the golden jubilee of one of the most successful and enduring bands in rock and roll history. Now in their mid-60s to early 70s, lead singer Jagger, guitarists Keith Richards and Ronnie Wood and drummer Charlie Watts were joined by former members Bill Wyman and Mick Taylor for concerts in London and the United States.

Credit: Reuters/Toby Melville

By Mike Collett-White

LONDON | Sun Nov 25, 2012 11:16pm EST

LONDON (Reuters) - The Rolling Stones turned back the clock in style on Sunday with their first concert in five years, strutting and swaggering their way through hit after familiar hit to celebrate 50 years in business.

Before a packed crowd of 20,000 at London's O2 Arena, they banished doubts that age may have slowed down one of the world's greatest rock and roll bands, as lead singer Mick Jagger launched into "I Wanna Be Your Man".

More than two hours of high-octane, blues-infused rock later, and they were still going strong with an impressive encore comprising "You Can't Always Get What You Want" and "Jumpin' Jack Flash".

In between there were guest appearances from American R&B singer-songwriter Mary J. Blige, who delivered a rousing duet with Jagger on "Gimme Shelter" and guitarist Jeff Beck who provided the power chords for "I'm Going Down".

Former Rolling Stones Bill Wyman and Mick Taylor were also back in the fold, performing with the regular quartet of Jagger, Ronnie Wood and Keith Richards on guitar and Charlie Watts on drums for the first time in 20 years.

"It took us 50 years to get from Dartford to Greenwich!" said Jagger, referring to their roots just a few miles from the venue in southeast London. "But you know, we made it. What's even more amazing is that you're still coming to see us...we can't thank you enough."

The Sunday night gig was the first of two at the O2 Arena before the band crosses the Atlantic to play three dates in the United States.

The mini-tour is the culmination of a busy few months of events, rehearsals and recordings to mark 50 years since the rockers first took to the stage at the Marquee Club on London's Oxford Street in July, 1962.

There has been a photo album, two new songs, a music video, a documentary film, a blitz of media appearances and a handful of warm-up gigs in Paris.

"STYLE AND PANACHE"

The reunion nearly did not happen. One factor behind the long break since their record-breaking "A Bigger Bang" tour in 2007 has been Wood's struggle with alcohol addiction, while Jagger and Richards also fell out over comments the guitarist made about the singer in a 2010 autobiography.

But they eventually buried the hatchet, and Richards joked in a recent interview: "We can't get divorced - we're doing it for the kids!"

Critics were fulsome in their praise of the first comeback gig.

"Keith Richards has said that the beauty of rock and roll is that every night a different band might be the world's greatest. Well, last night at the O2 Arena, it was the turn of the Rolling Stones themselves to lay claim to the title they invented," wrote Neil McCormick of the Daily Telegraph.

"And they did it with some style and panache."

The big question on every fan's lips is whether the five concerts lead to a world tour and even new material. The Stones sang their two new tracks "Doom and Gloom" and "One More Shot", which appeared on their latest greatest hits album "GRRR!".

Richards has hinted that the five concerts ending at the Newark Prudential Center in the United States on December 15 would not be the last.

"Once the juggernaut starts rolling, it ain't gonna stop," he told Rolling Stone magazine. "So without sort of saying definitely yes - yeah. We ain't doing all this for four gigs!"

The band has come in for criticism from fans about the high price of tickets to the shows - they ranged from around 95 pounds ($150) to up to 950 pounds for a VIP seat.

The flamboyant veterans, whose average age is 68, have defended the costs, saying the shows were expensive to put on, although specialist music publication Billboard reported the band would earn $25 million from the four shows initially announced. A fifth was added later.

"Everybody all right there in the cheap seats," Jagger asked pointedly as he looked high to his left at the arena. "They're not really cheap though are they? That's the trouble."

Among the biggest cheers on the night were for classics including "Wild Horses", "It's Only Rock and Roll" and "Start Me Up".

There was even time for the odd reference to their advancing years.

"Good to see you all," said Richards with a mischievous grin. "Good to see anybody."

(Reporting by Mike Collett-White, editing by Paul Casciato)

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Rolling Stones memorabilia auctioned after divorce

By Andrea Burzynski

NEW YORK | Sun Oct 28, 2012 6:29pm EDT

NEW YORK (Reuters) - An assortment of Rolling Stones memorabilia and artwork provided by Rolling Stones guitarist Ronnie Wood and his ex-wife was sold in a two-day auction, Julien's Auctions said on Sunday.

The collection featured memorabilia spanning four decades from the guitarist's work with the band, and included several worn leather and velvet jackets, real and cardboard guitars, tour ephemera and a signed lithograph of Eric Clapton.

Among the items were a white leather coat worn by Wood that sold for $8,960, and a lithograph of Eric Clapton drawn by Wood that features his signature as well as Clapton's that fetched $5,120.

Despite being made of cardboard, a guitar cutout gifted to Wood by Keith Richards sold for $6,875. The real thing commanded almost nine times that price, with a 1955 Fender Stratocaster guitar often played on stage by Wood bringing in $60,800.

Bidding took place live online as well as in person and by phone at Julien's Beverly Hills gallery on Friday and Saturday.

The auction comes ahead of the release next February of the memoirs of Wood's ex-wife Jo, which promise to reveal her tales of life as the wife of a Rolling Stone.

Ronnie and Jo Wood were married for 23 years before separating in 2008 when Ronnie left her for a young cocktail waitress named Ekaterina Ivanova. The couple's divorce was finalized in 2011.

After the auction was announced in September, the former couple issued opposing statements feuding about the ownership of the auction items, but seemed to have worked out their disagreements. Julien described the items for sale as jointly owned and said that they were part of the couple's divorce settlement.

Part of the proceeds from the auction will go to MusiCares, the Grammy Awards charity that offers help to people in the music industry with finance and addiction.

Wood has recently been focused on his visual art career, but is best known as a musician with the Rolling Stones and The Faces. He has been inducted into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame twice.

In addition to her upcoming memoirs, Jo Wood - a former model - has also founded a skincare line.

(Reporting by Andrea Burzynski, editing by Gary Crosse)

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Rolling Stone Ronnie Wood engaged to marry

Ronnie Wood of the The Rolling Stones walks away after posing at the opening of the exhibition ''Rolling Stones: 50'' at Somerset House in London July 12, 2012.

Credit: Reuters/Ki Price

LONDON | Tue Oct 30, 2012 11:41am EDT

LONDON (Reuters) - Rolling Stones guitarist Ronnie Wood is engaged to be married to a 34-year-old theatre producer named Sally Humphreys, his spokesperson said on Tuesday.

The twice-married, 65-year-old musician and artist separated from his second wife Jo Wood in 2008 and had a public disagreement with her over the auction of some memorabilia in Los Angeles which went ahead earlier this month.

News of the impending wedding comes just after the Stones played a warm-up gig in Paris for 350 people and announced four dates in London and New York to celebrate their 50th anniversary.

It also comes ahead of the release next February of Jo Wood's memoirs, which promise to reveal her tales of life as the wife of a Rolling Stone.

Wood has recently been focusing on his visual art career and in April opened a New York City art show entitled, "Faces, Time and Places", featuring portraits of Mick Jagger, Keith Richards, Charlie Watts and other celebrities.

But he is still best known for his music and in April was inducted for a second time into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame, with other members of his former group The Faces, including Rod Stewart and Kenney Jones.

The Rolling Stones, which Wood joined in 1975 after Mick Taylor left the band, were inducted into the Hall of Fame in 1989.

(Reporting by Paul Casciato; editing by Steve Addison)

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Rolling Stones celebrate 50th, hint about tour

The Rolling Stones' Mick Jagger, Keith Richards, Ronnie Wood and Charlie Watts (L-R) pose in front of The Marquee Club in London in this handout photograph received by Reuters on July 11, 2012. The picture was taken by photographer Rankin to mark the fiftieth anniversary of the Rolling Stones' first ever live performance on July 12, 1962 at the iconic venue on London's Oxford Street. An exhibition of photos from Rolling Stones 50 will be held at London's Somerset House from July 13 to August 27.

Credit: Reuters/Rankin/Handout

By Josie Cox

LONDON | Thu Jul 12, 2012 11:27pm EDT

LONDON (Reuters) - Half a century after their first live gig on London's Oxford Street, Mick Jagger, Keith Richards and the rest of the Rolling Stones marked the band's 50th anniversary by launching a new book, a photographic exhibition and hinting about a tour.

As part of the festivities guitarist Ronnie Wood told Reuters in an exclusive interview that the Stones are set to reveal their plans for future live gigs this week.

"What we do is live in hope and hopefully this week we'll unfold some plans," Wood said, adding that the band had recently spent a number of days rehearsing in a studio in New York and that getting together was like "being back at school".

Richards said this week that the Stones have met up for "a couple of rehearsals", but would not go so far as to say when the quartet comprising himself, Jagger, Charlie Watts and Wood would be performing in public again.

"We're playing around with the idea and had a couple of rehearsals - we've got together and it feels so good," Richards told Britain's publicly funded broadcaster the BBC.

The 65-year-old Wood, who joined the Stones in 1975 to replace Mick Taylor, also refused to rule out the possibility of a return appearance by Bill Wyman -- bass guitarist for the band from 1962 until 1993.

"I saw him last week and he was in top form, rocking," Wood said. "We also did a rehearsal with him a few weeks ago. It's like he'd never been away."

The exhibition of photos at London's Somerset House and the accompanying book track the rise of a group of fresh-faced British boys who played their first gig at Oxford Street's Marquee Club in 1962, became the scourge of the establishment in the 1960s, the titans of 70s music and finally the elder statesmen of rock and roll in the 21st century.

"There was no sort of master plan," Richards says on the band's official website rollingstones.com. "We were flying by the seat of our pants. That is what amazes me, that the whole thing was improvised."

The relationship at the heart of the Stones' success remains the working friendship of singer Jagger and Richards, whose long musical partnership goes back to the days when they roomed with the late guitarist and former Stones founding member Brian Jones, hustling gigs wherever they could find them.

"You have to put yourself back into that time," Jagger says on rollingstones.com. "Popular music wasn't talked about on any kind of intellectual level. There was no such term as ‘popular culture.' None of those things existed."

RIFT AND RECONCILIATION

But the Jagger/Richards partnership has also had its chillier moments.

Earlier this year, Richards apologized to Jagger for derogatory comments he made about the lead singer in his 2010 memoir "Life", which caused a rift within the band.

In comments reported by Rolling Stone magazine, the two agreed it was time to settle their differences, leaving fans keen for another world tour breathing a sigh of relief.

"I got very involved with the business side of the Stones, mainly because I felt no one else was interested, but it's plain now from the book that Keith felt excluded, which is a pity," Jagger was quoted as saying. "Time I reckon to move on."

Richards added: "Mick's right. He and I have had conversations over the last year of a kind we have not had for an extremely long time and that has been incredibly important to me."

Some industry sources had put a tour delay down to the argument, but Rolling Stone said it may be more closely linked to concerns over Richards' health.

"The quality of the guitarist's performances declined after he suffered a head injury on vacation in Fiji in April 2006, midway through the Bigger Bang tour," the magazine said.

A Bigger Bang, the Stones' last tour, played to 4.5 million people in 32 countries over two years before it finished in London in 2007.

"The Rolling Stones: 50" picture book also hit the shelves on Thursday to correspond with the golden anniversary and were showcased at a Champagne-fuelled London party on Thursday attended by the Stones and other celebrities.

The new book features 700 illustrations, 300 of them in color and many taken from the archive of the Daily Mirror tabloid, which contains the largest newspaper collection of Rolling Stones photography.

"This is our story of 50 fantastic years," Jagger, Richards, guitarist/bass player Wood and drummer Watts said in a joint statement.

"We started out as a blues band playing the clubs and more recently we've filled the largest stadiums in the world with the kind of show that none of us could have imagined all those years ago."

The photographic autobiography, which also features words from the band, includes images taken by Philip Townsend, the photographer for the band's first ever shoot.

The 352-page hardback edition published by Thames & Hudson in Britain, will retail at 29.95 pounds ($48).

The Stones have said they also plan to release a documentary film in November chronicling their history.

The last studio album by the group was in 2005. They have released two live albums, 'Hampton Coliseum (Live 1981)' and 'L.A. Friday (Live 1975),' so far this year.

Richards said on rollingstones.com that he is grateful for the hallowed place that he and the band have carved into the hearts of their fans and in rock history, but was still striving to improve, half a century into his career.

"If you say I'm great, thank you very much, but I know what I am. I could be better, man, you know?"

(Reporting By Josie Cox, writing by Paul Casciato, editing by Steve Addison)

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Ronnie Wood says stay tuned for Rolling Stones gigs

Ronnie Wood plays as the band The Small Faces are inducted into the Rock n' Roll Hall of Fame in Cleveland, Ohio April 14, 2012.

Credit: Reuters/Matt Sullivan

By Josie Cox

LONDON | Thu Jul 12, 2012 1:54pm EDT

LONDON (Reuters) - The Rolling Stones are set this week to reveal plans regarding upcoming live gigs, guitarist Ronnie Wood told Reuters in an exclusive interview on Thursday as part of celebrations marking the band's 50th anniversary.

"What we do is live in hope and hopefully this week we'll unfold some plans," Wood said, adding that the band had recently spent a number of days rehearsing in a studio in New York and that being back with the band was like "being back at school".

The 65-year-old Wood, who joined the Stones in 1975 to replace Mick Taylor, also refused to rule out the possibility of a Stones collaboration with Bill Wyman -- bass guitarist for the band from 1962 until 1993.

"I saw him last week and he was in top form, rocking," Wood said. "We also did a rehearsal with him a few weeks ago." "It's like he'd never been away."

Speaking at Somerset house, near an exhibition of photographs celebrating the band's 50th anniversary, Wood reminisced about the good old days and remembers admiring his future bandmates as an outsider.

"When I was at college I used to listen to the early Stones," he said, adding that he always told himself that one day he would be one of them.

Recounting his personal standout moments from the last half a century, Wood - clad in his trademark black suit, bright red socks and silver-spiked shoes -- reeled off a long list, at the top of which was his first encounters with singer Mick Jagger and guitarist Keith Richards, who collaborated with him on his 1974 solo album, "I've Got My Own Album to Do."

"It was just a fantastic experience of getting to know each other and then being asked to join them and making (his first Stones album) 'Black and Blue'".

Another highlight, he said, was his time spent working with artist Andy Warhol.

Asked about the Rolling Stones' reputation as the bad boys of music, Wood remained unruffled.

"It's just one of those things," he said nonchalantly. "Just don't give me a knife when I'm going through customs."

He joked that appearances in court were almost as frequent as those at concerts during the heydays of the 1970s and 80s, but maintains that that was just part of the rock and roll life.

"Everyone was doing it at the time."

Wood has also had stints playing with the Birds, the Jeff Beck Group as well as with Rod Stewart and the Faces.

He has also made stabs at several solo projects, most notably I've Got My Own Album to Do.

Born in Middlesex, southern England as Ronald David Wood, he has four children and has also worked with artists including Prince, Bob Dylan, David Bowie, Eric Clapton, Bo Diddley, Ringo Starr and Aretha Franklin throughout a rollercoaster career. He was inducted into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame in 1989.

During 2001 and 2002, Wood toured England with his band The Ronnie Wood Band -- which featured artists like Slash and Andrea Corr -- before touring with the Rolling Stones again.

In 2005 the Stones released their "A Bigger Bang" album and Wood launched his own record company, Wooden Record, which has released recordings of his daughter, Leah.

Beyond music, Wood is an acclaimed artist, and co-owns London's Scream art gallery.

The exhibition of photos at London's Somerset House and an accompanying picture book about the Rolling Stones track the rise of a group of fresh-faced British boys who played their first gig at Oxford Street's Marquee Club in 1962, became the scourge of the establishment in the 1960s, the titans of 70s music and finally the elder statesmen of rock and roll in the 21st century.

(Editing by Paul Casciato)

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Rolling Stone overhauls album ranking, Kanye stars

Recording artist Kanye West sits courtside as he attends the NBA basketball game between the Los Angeles Lakers and Chicago Bulls in Los Angeles December 25, 2011.

Credit: Reuters/Danny Moloshok

By Mike Collett-White

LONDON | Fri Apr 27, 2012 12:03pm EDT

LONDON (Reuters) - Three Kanye West albums have made it on to the latest edition of Rolling Stone magazine's authoritative "500 Greatest Albums of All Time" list, placing him among the greats of popular music.

The new ranking, which combines a 2003 list (updated in 2005) with a later survey of the 2000s, saw two Radiohead records join the elite club, while long-established names including Bruce Springsteen and Bob Dylan also had albums added.

Rolling Stone has published the list, along with details of the albums and several new recording histories based on first-hand accounts, in "bookazine" format available for $11.99 on newsstands between Friday and July 25 in the United States.

As with any survey that tries to put arguably the greatest rock and roll recordings into a particular order, there was plenty of heated debate among the journalists and editors who came up with the final list.

Much of the hard work had been done, however, with hundreds of reporters, executives and musicians involved in the earlier surveys.

"We had arguments in the office, and I hope those arguments are replicated elsewhere," said Christian Hoard, a senior editor at Rolling Stone, of the selection process.

"These special issues are great sellers," he told Reuters. "But they also turn people on to music they haven't heard, and hopefully start fun arguments too.

"People like to get angry about these 'best' lists. It was really a great deal of fun to make."

WEST THE BIG WINNER

The big beneficiary was U.S. hip-hop star West, who saw 2005 album Late Registration, The College Dropout (2004) and My Beautiful Dark Twisted Fantasy (2010) make it to the top 500.

In total, 30 albums were added and 30 taken away, with the casualties including several artists well-represented on the list already and whose "lesser" albums have now been dropped.

The highest entry among recent albums was West's Late Registration at No. 118.

Asked whether the relatively low position of recently released albums reflected a barren period for great rock and pop, Hoard replied:

"My personal opinion is no. Music is as inspirational as it's ever been.

"Things get clearer as the years pass. If you held this poll in 10 years, say, Arcade Fire could be a lot higher and the same could be said of Kanye West. Reputation and time definitely help an album, especially with pollers like ours."

Canadian band Arcade Fire's Funeral is among the 30 additions, as is British act Arctic Monkeys for their 2005 hit Whatever People Say I Am, That's What I'm Not.

Radiohead features twice -- for Amnesiac (2001) and In Rainbows (2007), Jay-Z is added for The Black Album (2003), Lil Wayne makes it with Tha Carter III (2008) and the late Amy Winehouse for Back to Black.

Among those dropping out to make way for the additions were The Beach Boys (Sunflower), David Bowie (Changesone), Elton John (Elton John) and Madonna (Music).

The first change to the previous list comes at number 59, leaving the Beatles to dominate the top 10.

The Fab Four feature no less than four times in the first 10; at number one (Sgt. Pepper's Lonely Hearts Club Band), three (Revolver), five (Rubber Soul) and 10 (The White Album).

Three acts have 10 albums each on the list -- the Beatles, Rolling Stones and Bob Dylan -- and the oldest album on the list is from 1952 (The Anthology of American Folk Music).

Only 40 albums released since 2000 feature, compared with 187 from the 1970s.

(Reporting by Mike Collett-White, editing by Paul Casciato)

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Richards apologizes to fellow Rolling Stone Jagger

Rolling Stones band members Mick Jagger (L) and Keith Richards smile during a news conference regarding the documentary film ''Shine A Light'' directed by Martin Scorsese about the Rolling Stones in New York in this March 30, 2008 file photo.

Credit: Reuters/Lucas Jackson/Files

LONDON | Fri Mar 16, 2012 8:29am EDT

LONDON (Reuters) - Rolling Stones guitarist Keith Richards has apologized to Mick Jagger for derogatory comments he made about the lead singer in his 2010 memoir "Life", which caused a rift within the band.

In comments reported by Rolling Stone magazine, the two rock'n'roll veterans agreed it was time to move on.

Fans will be relieved to see them burying the hatchet, as the row had threatened to undermine plans to celebrate the Rolling Stones' 50th anniversary this year and to go on another world tour.

"Looking back at any career you are bound to recall both the highs and the lows," Jagger was quoted as saying. "In the 1980s for instance Keith and I were not communicating very well.

"I got very involved with the business side of the Stones, mainly because I felt no one else was interested, but it's plain now from the book that Keith felt excluded, which is a pity. Time I reckon to move on."

Richards added: "Mick's right. He and I have had conversations over the last year of a kind we have not had for an extremely long time and that has been incredibly important to me.

"As far as the book goes, it was my story and it was very raw, as I meant it to be, but I know that some parts of it and some of the publicity really offended Mick and I regret that."

An eagerly anticipated world tour by one of the world's biggest music acts is now not expected to happen until 2013 at the earliest, according to the same magazine.

Some industry sources had put the delay down to the argument between Richards and Jagger, but Rolling Stone said it may be more closely linked to concerns over Richards' health.

"The quality of the guitarist's performances declined after he suffered a head injury on vacation in Fiji in April 2006, midway through the Bigger Bang tour," the magazine said.

As well as the tour, the Rolling Stones have announced the July 12 release of a picture book tracing their rise to global fame. The band debuted at the Marquee Club in London's Oxford Street on the same date in 1962.

There will also be a "groundbreaking" documentary film released in September.

(Reporting by Mike Collett-White; Editing by Steve Addison)

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