Happy Birthday to Rolling Stones guitarist Mick Taylor, who turns 71 today (January 17th)!!! In June of 1969, Taylor replaced the band's co-founder Brian Jones shortly before his death, and less than a month later, on July 3rd, 1969, he made his live debut with the Stones at a free live concert at London's Hyde Park. Taylor, who had previously played with John Mayall's Bluesbreakers, toured extensively with the band until late 1973, and played on the Stones albums Let It Bleed, Get Yer Ya-Ya's Out, Sticky Fingers, Exile On Main Street, Goat's Head Soup, and It's Only Rock And Roll.
The Stones delighted fans in 2012 by inviting Mick Taylor to join them at all of their official 50th anniversary shows in London and the U.S. to play a show-stealing rendition of 1969's “Midnight Rambler.” Taylor remained the featured attraction on the band's subsequent dates through 2014 and often appeared on as many as three numbers each night — including the show-closing version of “(I Can't Get No) Satisfaction.”
Taylor, who's currently working on his autobiography, recalled that back in the day, like any working band, the Stones were extremely tight — both on and off the road: “That whole period was incredibly intense and creative for all of us because it was a new beginning for the band — and they had signed a new contract with Atlantic Records and we had to, in theory, at least, we had to come up with at least six albums in six years. If we weren't hanging out together or recording, we were touring. I just remember most of the time we were either in the studio, or we were socializing together, or we were on the road.”