Rolling Stone Mick Jagger, who created the template for the captivating rock frontman and who seemed to be perfecting the art of growing old disgracefully, turns 70 this month.

The lithe singer, who has had a reputation as a serial womaniser and the occasional brush with the law over the years, has also had careers as an actor and occasional film producer on his way to amassing an estimated £200 million fortune.

But as he counts down to his birthday on July 26, he is spending his time doing what he does best – performing with the band he founded more than 50 years ago as they continue to tour.

Despite lengthy gaps between their mammoth world jaunts, the group is currently playing global shows showcasing half a century of songs. They took part for the very first time at the Glastonbury Festival late last month.

Having been awarded a knighthood in 2002, the star seems to have put his wildest years behind him for at least the past decade. But he showed last year that he is not entirely happy to be seen as part of the establishment when he pulled out of an event at the Davos summit in Switzerland, claiming he was being used as a “political football” when he appeared to be siding with David Cameron.

Born in Dartford, Kent, Jagger was a primary school chum of Stones guitarist Keith Richards, but they drifted apart through their teens.

However, as a student at London School of Economics in 1961, Sir Mick and Richards – at the time studying art – bumped into each other at Dartford station and discussed their love of R’n’B and pioneering rocker Chuck Berry.

Jagger asked his old friend to join his fledgling blues band and they became regular faces at Ealing Jazz Club, which was also frequented by guitarist Brian Jones and drummer Charlie Watts.

Jagger and the band released just four albums in the past 24 years, with much of their focus on their mammoth tours

An early version of the Stones line-up featuring the two guitarists and the frontman made its debut at the Marquee club in central London on July 12, 1962.

By January of the following year, Watts and bassist Bill Wyman were on board and within months they had a deal with Decca, issuing a cover of Chuck Berry’s Come On as their first single, which peaked at 21 in the charts.

In June, the group revived the song live for only the eighth time in their career to mark the 50th anniversary of its release.

Lennon and McCartney’s I Wanna Be Your Man – completed in the studio when the Beatle boys popped in to watch a rehearsal – was their next shot.

Manager Andrew Loog Oldham convinced them that self-penned material rather than covers was the future, and would be far more lucrative, setting off the group’s songwriting partnership.

By May 1964 their eponymous debut album had knocked The Beatles off the top of the charts and the hits poured out of them.

The Rolling Stones topped the singles chart for the first time with It’s All Over Now in July, the start of a consecutive run of five number ones, including what has become their signature tune (I Can’t Get No) Satisfaction.

But while The Beatles – rightly or wrongly – were seen as clean-cut pop heroes, the Stones had an altogether grubbier image as the bad boys of rock and roll.

Fans occasionally caused uproar at gigs and Jagger, Wyman and Jones were caught urinating against a garage wall in 1965, which landed them a fine for insulting behaviour.

Ever more provocative lyrics, a photo session in drag and another brush with the law followed, with Jagger arrested at Richards’ sSussex home in an infamous police raid.

He and Richards were given three-month prison spells for drug offences, but the sentences were later quashed, with Sir Mick given a conditional discharge.

Times editor William Rees-Mogg had rallied to their side to plead that the initial sentences were out of proportion to their crimes with his Who Breaks a Butterfly On a Wheel? editorial.

A poorly received response to The Beatles’ Sgt Pepper, the Stones’ Their Satanic Majesties Request followed but the band were soon back to commanding form with Beggars Banquet in 1968.

By the close of the decade there were upheavals in the ranks as Jones quit saying he no longer saw eye to eye with the others. He died in his pool shortly afterwards.

Just two days after Jones’s death, the band was performing before what was said to be the biggest crowd assembled in the UK since VE Day as they performed at Hyde Park in front of a 300,000-strong gathering.

A few days after that, Sir Mick launched his acting career by heading to Australia to film Ned Kelly. His girlfriend Marianne Faithfull flew out with him, but took an overdose and lay in a coma for days.

A further brush with tragedy occurred later in the year when a teenager was stabbed to death in front of the stage as the band played at the Altamont Speedway track in California.

In the early 1970s, Jagger expanded his career beyond the band with the release of not only Ned Kelly but a further movie, Performance, as well as a solo single.

He also married his Nicaraguan girlfriend Bianca Moreno de Macias in 1971 as he and the band began to move in high society.

It was a time of decadent, hedonistic living which spawned one of the band’s career highs, the blues-soaked Exile on Main Street.

Jagger – whose full lips were cartoonishly adopted as the band’s logo – took increasing control as excesses, in particular heroin, consumed Richards.

The mid-1970s saw the band go off the boil with long gaps between recording and Jagger’s marriage hitting the rocks, although the costly divorce was not until 1980.

But the band made a spirited return – heralded by the funky single Miss You – with the album Some Girls in 1978, and the singer by now dating Texan model Jerry Hall.

Despite having four children with Hall, to whom he remains close despite being estranged, the singer has had flings with a succession of beautiful women.

A brief affair with Brazilian model Luciana Morad led to him becoming a father for the seventh time, and also led to the breakdown of his relationship with Hall.

During the 1980s and 1990s, Jagger’s career revolved around occasional albums with the Stones and lengthy but financially rewarding tours.

As well as appearing on screen, he has branched out into film production, with his company Jagged behind the successful movie Enigma.

He has spent some of his years of stardom abroad, helping to reduce his tax bill, but he and the group have still been one of the UK’s finest musical exports, hence his elevation to Sir Mick Jagger in 2002.

Just a few months earlier he had returned to solo recordings, but the resulting album Goddess in the Doorway saw disappointing sales and it failed to make the top 40.

In fact the group as a whole has not set the singles chart alight for years – their last top 10 hit was in 1981 with Start Me Up – but the increasingly infrequent albums have sold in respectable numbers and have worked as a lever for live shows.

He and the band released just four albums in the past 24 years, with much of their focus on their mammoth tours, interspersed with fevered speculation over whether they will ever want to do it all again.

However, in and around the celebrations for their 50th birthday last year, the group found time to work on new tracks to supplement their latest greatest hits collection, which went down well.

Although his collaborator Richards has given his take on the band’s career, there is little immediate prospect of Jagger doing the same.

In a recent interview, he said he had no plans to publish a memoir. Indeed he admitted he found a previous effort to do so “borrrrring” and ended up giving his hefty advance back to the publisher.

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