Bill is apparently well on the way to completing his autobiography, the UK's Daily Telegraph reports today.

Here's the story.


Sir Mick Jagger took a dim view of Prince Rupert Loewenstein, the Rolling Stones’s former business manager, seeing fit to write about the group’s “financial dealings” and other “personal” matters in his memoirs.

“It just goes to show that well brought-up people don’t always display good manners,” the singer harrumphed.

Now, 69-year-old Sir Mick must brace himself for still further revelations as Bill Wyman, the group’s former bassist, admits to me that he is to publish a warts-and-all account of his years with the Stones.

“I’m going through my old diaries and boxes full of stuff I collected over the years, but it’s finding it all that’s the problem,” says Wyman, 76, who was a founder member of the band. “I’m only up to 1972 at the moment.”

Wyman left the band after their 1989-90 world tour amid rumours that he had fallen out with Sir Mick and Keith Richards. There was further evidence of a chill in relations when Wyman criticised the decision to airbrush his image from archive photographs on the sleeve of the Stones’ 2005 album, Rarities.

He also expressed his anger that he wasn’t given sufficient credit as a songwriter and described Sir Mick as an “egomaniac”. Wyman later withdrew from supporting an exhibition celebrating the Stones as “cultural icons” that was going to be staged at the Victoria & Albert Museum.

Of Jagger’s knighthood, Wyman had, in 2003, told me tartly: “I know they would never give me a knighthood, even though, unlike Mick, I do live in this country, and, like [the drummer] Charlie Watts, do a lot more charity work than him. I also think to give it to Mick and not to Keith Richards, the

co-founder of the band, is a bit unfair. Maybe John Lennon did the right thing when he sent his MBE back.”

Still, last November, Wyman was willing to join the Stones on stage at a London concert.




[www.telegraph.co.uk]

on the one hand..Bill is the most able to document the band, and his autobiography will be verified by all sorts of photos, corroborations, etc. he is a blend of artist, historian, and accountant..as we know from Stone Alone.

on the other hand he's the whiniest of the band.
and maybe rightly so.

Bill is not half as whiny as numerous memmbers of IORR. And at least he knows what he's talking about.

"Bill is apparently well on the way to completing his autobiography"; BW has probably the biggest archive concerning RS photo's mags etc...so I'm looking forward to this autobiography.

Hasn't he already written 2 books about his time with the Stones? What else can he add. He hasn't been in the band in years.

"It's just some friends of mine and they're busting down the door"

Hopefully it will be a sequel to Stone Alone and not spend the first half of the book rehashing how much money they made in Cleveland in 1965 and how many girls he shagged in Melbourne the following year.

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stonesrule
Bill is not half as whiny as numerous memmbers of IORR. And at least he knows what he's talking about.

yeah. he does know what he's writing about and is doing his best (2 books and counting) to tell it...

A fun fact would be "How much money in total have people spent (from their wallets, credit cards, checks, bank accounts etc) in exchange for something about the Rolling Stones besides recorded music and live concerts (apparel, memorabilia, books, posters etc etc).

...and every time a new book like this comes out the number
goes up, like Sweets says.... everybody wants a piece of the action

Brett Morgen about Bill:

The director conducted 80 hours of interviews with the band members, past and present, in New York and London. The most emotionally intense subject turned out to be Bill Wyman, with whom Morgen conducted four six-hour interviews. The ex-bass guitarist has published two books about the Stones but left out a lot.

“He goes, ‘I left all this stuff out but I’ve got to get this off my chest’ and he proceeded to pour his heart out to me,” says Morgen. “It was incredibly emotional. It was probably the most intense interview I’ve ever been a part of. It was therapy. There’s no other word around it. I think it was quite therapeutic for both of us to be honest.

Read more: [realscreen.com]

To me that suggests that Bill's relationship with especially with Jagger, and to some extent Richards is less than friendly. I gather that Jagger has never really liked nor respected Wyman, and vicer versa.

I think the 50th celebrations last year re-connected Wyman with the band, but there isn't really much of a bridge to repair or build anymore. So I'd agree that Wyman rightly has a lot to complain about. Just my thoughts.

Er...so how does that fit in with "Stone Alone", "Rolling with the Stones" and that coffee table thing he's currently peddling? Oddly enough the dude who wrote that "article" seems to know nothing about them and Bill certainly hadn't "fallen out" with Mick & Co in 89/90 since he was still a band member in 1991 and says (in RWTS) that Mick and Charlie swung by his place one last time in 1992 (or 1993?) to see if would change his mind. If anything Mick just considered him to be part of the furniture and couldn't be bothered either way, except for the "best to have as many original members as possible" marketing spiel.

Anyway it seems like Bill is strapped for cash so he'll just keep on writing books!

What's with all the octogenarians writing tell-all Stones books lately?

Yes, Bill, we know - they never appreciated you, never gave you proper writing credit, never paid you a fair amount.

And we also know that you did the band no favours by having an affair with a 13 year old.

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gotdablouse
and says (in RWTS) that Mick and Charlie swung by his place one last time in 1992 (or 1993?) to see if would change his mind. If anything Mick just considered him to be part of the furniture and couldn't be bothered either way, except for the "best to have as many original members as possible" marketing spiel.

Anyway it seems like Bill is strapped for cash so he'll just keep on writing books!

Mick couldn't be bothered? Mick and charlie went over to get him to change his mind. And you say MICK couldn't be bothered.

Well, um... where the @#$%& was Keith for that???

[thepowergoats.com]

Well, wellcome in the Club to write books spitting at eachother.
Seems like that's what it is all about, the trend of todays world - first Keith, then Rupert and then Bill.
Then everybody can read about it, swallow it like the best of the best....
Bill should stick to his hobby - searching for coins and similar - but seems like it doesn't give money enough, then better sell the rights for a book with some really naughty things.
WHO talkes about selling their soul to Money - Bill?
By the way - no Wonder Mick is sick and tired of the music and the touring things, when his surroundings are spitting at him - I would do the same thing, staying away from the mess and enjoy my retirement years.



Edited 1 time(s). Last edit at 2013-02-18 19:43 by mtaylor.

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stonesrule
Bill is not half as whiny as numerous memmbers of IORR. And at least he knows what he's talking about.

Well put. I'm just about finished with my memoirs about the Stones...it's gonna drop some serious whines!!!

Maybe I should write a tell-all Stones book too. I saw them in 1975, 2003 and 2006. I have all their records. That should be enough for a good sized rant.

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Munichhilton

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stonesrule
Bill is not half as whiny as numerous memmbers of IORR. And at least he knows what he's talking about.

Well put. I'm just about finished with my memoirs about the Stones...it's gonna drop some serious whines!!!

I'd rather have beer then whine.

"It's just some friends of mine and they're busting down the door"

Great - but he should pick up from where Stone Alone left off.

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sweetcharmedlife

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Munichhilton

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stonesrule
Bill is not half as whiny as numerous memmbers of IORR. And at least he knows what he's talking about.

Well put. I'm just about finished with my memoirs about the Stones...it's gonna drop some serious whines!!!

I'd rather have beer then whine.

Agreed, but I don't drop beers...too valuable

We can carp and bitch about Bill, but really, I find his books enjoyable and another view on the group. And if he's held back, then by all means, let's hear what's on his mind. Personally I thought his relationship with Keith would be over after he wrote about having to cop heroin for a sick junkie in Toronto. It wasn't that he had to do it, it was the revelation that seemed a little personal.

And still, Brett Morgen and 80 hours of interviews with the Stones. 40 hours of footage from @#$%& Blues. And Crossfire Hurricane is what we got. Yes, we were had. I really want to hear what Bill had to say, or others, who Morgen said told him dark things that didn't seem appropriate for the film. Mick used Crossfire as a promo film for the band's concerts, with just enough titillation, and just the smallest amount of unseen footage, to make it seem worthwhile. Well, now maybe Bill used his appearances with the Stones in London to promote his new book on the Stones. Tit for tat.

Well.. what I want to know is... what he had for dinner on 23rd August 1976 and how much it cost.

And his bank balance on that date.

It's bound to be in the book.

(I love Bill's books by the way).



Edited 1 time(s). Last edit at 2013-02-18 20:37 by GravityBoy.

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BlackHat
Great - but he should pick up from where Stone Alone left off.

I'm not sure I even finished Stone Alone, they should have listened to me, I wrote this, look at these contracts etc. To be fair it's probably not like that but hundreds of pages just covering the 60s, it dragged.

By rights Bill should probably have written the most interesting book, maybe this time, with the help of a good editor, he will

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GravityBoy
Well.. what I want to know is... what he had for dinner on 23rd August 1976 and how much it cost.

And his bank balance on that date.

It's bound to be in the book.

(I love Bill's books by the way).

What he had, or Who?

This is a book I will buy.

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Bliss
What's with all the octogenarians writing tell-all Stones books lately?

Yes, Bill, we know - they never appreciated you, never gave you proper writing credit, never paid you a fair amount.

And we also know that you did the band no favours by having an affair with a 13 year old.

Billiant!

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jamesfdouglas

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gotdablouse
and says (in RWTS) that Mick and Charlie swung by his place one last time in 1992 (or 1993?) to see if would change his mind. If anything Mick just considered him to be part of the furniture and couldn't be bothered either way, except for the "best to have as many original members as possible" marketing spiel.

Anyway it seems like Bill is strapped for cash so he'll just keep on writing books!

Mick couldn't be bothered? Mick and charlie went over to get him to change his mind. And you say MICK couldn't be bothered.

Well, um... where the @#$%& was Keith for that???

Mick and Charlie played 'good cop'...Keith was sharpening the blade, getting ready for 'bad cop'.

To be fair, Bill is a septuagenarian [not an octagenarian], and with that many years behind him is likely at the point in his life where he has a certain deeper perspective on things and is less inclined to want to keep things hidden. As the CH director said, revealing what he had to say was a form of therapy.

There's nothing wrong with a tell-all Stones book, so long as it comes from a Stone. Perhaps we'll find out that the real reason Bill left The Stones was not in fact due to a sudden fear of flying.

I'm sure many of those condemning Bill's book just for being published would be first in line at the bookstore to pick up a copy of a tell-all Mick Jagger autobiography.

A Mick Jagger autobiography is a different animal. It would read like a cookbook lacking measurement amounts

Without Mick Jagger, the story telling of Rolling Stones would have ended by the mid 70'ies - without him, no Stones after the mid 70'ies.

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Silver Dagger
... He also expressed his anger that he wasn’t given sufficient credit as a songwriter and described Sir Mick as an “egomaniac”...

which I always find quite humorous ... In Stone Alone, Bill writes that in the early days, when Mick & Keith started writing, they spent all their time, after shows, holed up & writing tunes, while Bill & Brian went to clubs to get laid (he doesn't really mention what Charlie was doing). So it seems that Bill set himself up to not partake in the writing process, and later, when he saw how profitable it became, suddenly was bitter over it.

And to be fair, the songs Bill has written on his solo albums, are just "okay" at best.

Bill also complains that he wrote Jumping Jack Flash, but most of the evidence points against that (in particular that the riff is really just a adjustment of Satisfaction).

I really look forward to a book about Rolling Stones written by Bill Wyman. He's the Stone with the most real, non-selfish yet witty stories about the band and himself. Yes, his first book was went too much into uneccessary details, but who can blame him...it was his first book, and he was merely a youngster at the time
I always find Bill Wyman interviews a lot more interesting than interviews with any other stone.....it has always been like that