The Rolling Stones star Mick Jagger has written a 75,000-word memoir, but is refusing to publish it.
The 73-year-old icon penned the memoir in the late 1970s, when the Rolling Stones co-founder was given 1 million pound for the project. But he decided against publishing it and handed the money back, reports femalefirst.co.uk.
The memoir is in the hands of writer and publisher John Blake as of now, who revealed in an article that he has it stored in a “secret hiding place”.
“So far as I have been able to ascertain, a publisher rejected the manuscript because it was light on sex and drugs. In the early 1980s, when it was written, shock and awe was a vital part of any successful autobiography,” Blake told The Spectator magazine.
“Read now, however, it is a little masterpiece. A perfectly preserved time capsule written when the Stones had produced all their greatest music but still burned with the passion and fire of youth and idealism,” he added.
Blake also claimed the book shows a different side of the rock legend.
“The book shows a quieter, more watchful Mick than the fast-living caricature. He describes the little room he’d retreat to backstage before a performance, where he’d hide away, sizing up the audience.
“All that famous partying had to wait till afterwards. Those extravagant feasts that rumour had it the Stones demanded backstage: caviar, vintage champagne, stuffed quails… they never ate any of it. They took their shows far too seriously for that.
“He had carbs for an early lunch. Then water, ‘maybe eight pints’, because he’d lose ten pints on stage,” Blake added.
Meanwhile, Joyce Smyth, The Rolling Stones’ manager, has confirmed the existence of the book, but said that Blake would not be allowed to publish it.
