Mick Jagger has never released a memoir, but that doesn’t mean he’s never written one. According to London publisher John Blake, Jagger wrote a 75,000-word book on his early life but never plans to release it. Blake claims he knows this because he owns a copy.
In an article for The Spectator, Blake discusses the creation of the manuscript, why it will never be published and also how he came to own it.
According to Blake, Jagger wrote the memoir immediately after the era that produced all their greatest hits but before age and hard living could make his memory fuzzy. The publisher and former rock journalist called it “a perfectly preserved time capsule” from a time when Jagger still possessed “the passion and fire of youth and idealism.”
Blake goes on to say that the autobiography was rejected when it was written because it was “light on sex and drugs” but claims the manuscript as it exists is “heady” and “delicious.” He’s tried on several occasions to convince Jagger to publish the memoir.
Blake said that at one point he came very close to getting the memoir published. He approached Jagger — who did not remember writing the memoir — and then the frontman told the publisher to write a foreword for the book that explained the book was written well in the past. However, Jagger abruptly decided to halt the project and asked that the book never be published.
The Rolling Stones’ manager Joyce Smith released a statement via her law firm further explaining the situation.
“John Blake writes to me from time to time seeking permission to publish this manuscript,” she wrote. “The answer is always the same: He cannot, because it isn’t his and he accepts this. Readers will be able to form a view as regards the matters to which John Blake refers when Sir Mick’s autobiography appears, should he choose to write it.”
