For 50 years Rolling Stones frontman Mick Jagger has rocked hard on and off the world’s greatest concert stages. Now the icon’s rambunctious life and numerous dalliances with women and men are the subjects of a controversial new biography from author Christopher Andersen.
From bedding David Bowie to losing his virginity to a “nymphomaniac Italian nurse” while working as an orderly in a mental hospital, Jagger’s past is on full display in Andersen’s book, “Mick: The Wild Life and Mad Genius of Jagger.”
“Many of Mick’s peers have self-destructed. But he’s still here and more relevant than ever,” Andersen said Wednesday from New York as he spoke to CTV’s Canada AM.
Andersen’s book takes readers on an illuminating journey into the 69-year-old singer’s sex life.
“Jagger has said that he was like many English schoolboys. His first experiences were with boys,” said Andersen.
Jagger wooed a long list of beautiful women since those school days, including singer Marianne Faithfull, Margaret Trudeau and model Carla Bruni.
“Mick stole Carla Bruni from Eric Clapton, who begged him not to do this. But Mick likes to steal other rock stars’ girlfriends,” said Andersen.
During his marriage to model Jerry Hall, Jagger cheated shamelessly on his wife and with no apologies.
“Hall said she thought Mick was a sex addict,” said Andersen
“She was delighted to hear that Jagger had chosen to see a sex therapist at one point. Mick was seeing the sex therapist – and sleeping with her,” he said.
The book’s biggest revelation, however, comes as Andersen reveals details about Jagger’s affair with singer David Bowie.
The British rock stars first met in 1973, and have remained friends ever since. However, the true nature of their friendship has spawned considerable speculation over the years.
As Andersen writes, Jagger and Bowie became fascinated with each other as soon as they met and frequently attended one another’s concerts. The stars also, reportedly, sent gifts back and forth as their relationship grew stronger and quickly turned physical.
Bowie and Jagger were soon spotted everywhere together without their wives, and were caught cuddling on hotel sofas.
Andersen also recounts the day that Bowie’s former wife, Angela Barnett, found her husband and Jagger naked and asleep in her bed in the couple’s apartment.
“Angie went upstairs to her bedroom, slowly pushed the door open, and there they were…Both men woke up with a start,” he writes.
Remarkably, Bowie’s wife never lost her cool. As Andersen write. Barnett later returned with coffee and orange juice for the two men.
Shocking though that may seem to some readers, Andersen viewed Jagger’s androgyny and hunger for sexual experimentation as a sign of the times back in the 1960s and 1970s.
“In the early 70s androgyny was big. Even Mick said that androgyny was natural,” said Andersen.
Yet according to Andersen, none of Jagger’s dalliances ever trumped his deep feelings of friendship for bandmate Keith Richards.
“They’ve known each other since they were seven. It’s been a tempestuous relationship,” said Andersen.
“The others all had to take a back seat to Mick’s love of Keith,” he said.
