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Brian Jones was born Lewis Brian Hopkin Jones on February
28,1942,to Lewis and Louisa Jones, in Cheltenham,
Gloucestershire, England. His father, Lewis worked at
Dowty's aircraft works, and his mother Louisa was a piano
teacher. His schooling started at Dean Close public school
,and from there went to Cheltenham Grammar school. He was
suspended for a short time, but yet maintained good grades.
Brian sang in the choir and played the saxophone in many
jazz bands. Two of the bands was Bill Nile's Delta Band and
the Ramrods, which would perform at art schools.
Brian was estranged from his family after getting several
young women pregnant, including Pat Andrews, which is
considered Brian's first real girlfriend. They had a baby
together, named Mark. Brian and Pat lived together in a
horrid apartment, while Brian worked as a coalman, and in a
record shop, to make ends meet.
But soon, Brian realized that his only love was music. He
soon abandoned Pat and baby Mark to be in a band with Alexis
Korner. One night in April,1962 while playing, Keith
Richards saw Brian playing an amazing slide guitar on 'Dust
my Broom'. Keith soon introduced Brian to Mick Jagger, and
the rest is history they say, as that is how the Rolling
Stones were started. Even though Brian had gotten many girls
pregnant in his lifetime and had 'loved' many, one girl
seemed to had catch his eye. Just as the Stones were jetting
into stardom, in 1965,Brian met Anita Pallenberg, a 23 year
old German former model, when she snuck backstage in
Munich,1965 and until 1967 they had a sometimes strange
relationship. Anita eventually left Brian for Keith
Richards, claiming that Brian was abusive. That left Brian
feeling even more depressed, and went into a spiral of drugs
and alcohol, and was arrested two times, once in May
10th,1967 and April 21st,1968. From there on, he kept on
using drugs and drinking. The musical genius had now entered
a drug/alcohol induced haze. He wasn't the spunky,
energetic, trouble-making kid his friends and band members
once knew. He refused to pick up a guitar.
On June 8th 1969,Mick Jagger, Keith Richards and Charlie
Watts arrived at Brian's brand new mansion in Hartfield,
Sussex, England,to fire him from the band. On July 3rd,1969
Brian was found by his girlfriend Anna Wolen and friend
Frank Thourogood dead at the bottom of his own swimming
pool. There has been many speculations as to what killed
Brian. Was he murdered? There was a rumor that Frank had
accidentally drowned Brian in a alcohol induced argument,
claims Brian's assistant, that Frank made a deathbed
confession, almost 25 years later. Or did Brian get an
asthma attack while swimming?? He was often called a great
swimmer. We will never know how Brian died, even though
there was Barbiturates were found in his blood, which were
prescribed to help Brian sleep. To this day, it still
remains a mystery.
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