Sir Michael Philip Jagger (born 26 July 1943) is an English singer, songwriter and musician. He is the frontman and one of the founder members of the rock band the Rolling Stones. Jagger and guitarist Keith Richards have written most of the band’s songs together; their songwriting partnership is one of the most successful in history, and they continue to collaborate musically. His career has spanned over six decades, and he has been widely described as one of the most popular and influential frontmen in the history of rock music. His distinctive voice and energetic live performances, along with Richards’ guitar style, have been the Rolling Stones’ trademark throughout the band’s career. Jagger gained notoriety for his romantic involvements and illicit drug use, and has often been portrayed as a countercultural figure.

Jagger was born and grew up in Dartford. He studied at the London School of Economics before abandoning his studies to join the Rolling Stones. In the late 1960s, Jagger starred in the films Performance (1970) and Ned Kelly (1970), to mixed receptions. Beginning in the 1980s, he released a number of solo works, including four albums and the single “Dancing in the Street”, a 1985 duet with David Bowie that reached No. 1 in the UK and Australia and was a top-ten hit in other countries.

In the 2000s, Jagger co-founded a film production company, Jagged Films, and produced feature films through the company beginning with the 2001 historical drama Enigma. He was also a member of the supergroup SuperHeavy from 2009 to 2011. Although relationships with his bandmates, particularly Richards, deteriorated during the 1980s, Jagger has always found more success with the Rolling Stones than with his solo and side projects. He was married to Bianca Pérez-Mora Macias from 1971 to 1978, and has had several other relationships; he has eight children with five women.

In 1989, Jagger was inducted into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame and, in 2004, into the UK Music Hall of Fame with the Rolling Stones. As a member of the Rolling Stones and as a solo artist, he reached No. 1 on the UK and US singles charts with 13 singles, the top 10 with 32 singles and the top 40 with 70 singles. In 2003, he was knighted for his services to popular music. The genus Jaggermeryx naida and the type species Aegrotocatellus jaggeri are named for him. Jagger is credited with being a trailblazer in pop music and with bringing a style and sexiness to rock and roll that have been imitated and proven influential with subsequent generations of musicians.

Jagger was born into a middle-class family in Dartford, Kent, on 26 July 1943. His father, Basil Fanshawe “Joe” Jagger, was a gymnast and physical education teacher who helped popularise basketball in Britain. His paternal grandfather, David Ernest Jagger, was also a teacher. His mother, Eva Ensley Mary (née Scutts), born in Sydney but of English descent, was a hairdresser who was politically active in the Conservative Party in the United Kingdom. His parents were married in 1940 at Holy Trinity Church in Dartford. Jagger’s younger brother, Chris (born 19 December 1947), is also a musician, and the two have performed together.

Although he was encouraged to follow his father’s career path growing up, Jagger has said, “I always sang as a child. I was one of those kids who just liked to sing. Some kids sing in choirs; others like to show off in front of the mirror. I was in the church choir and I also loved listening to singers on the radio—the BBC or Radio Luxembourg—or watching them on TV and in the movies.”

In September 1950, Keith Richards and Jagger first met as classmates at Wentworth Primary School in Dartford, prior to the Jagger family’s 1954 move to Wilmington, Kent. The same year he passed the eleven-plus examination and attended Dartford Grammar School, which now has the Mick Jagger Centre performing arts venue. Jagger and Richards lost contact with each other when they went to different schools.

In the mid-1950s, Jagger began his music career, forming a garage band with his friend Dick Taylor. They played songs by Muddy Waters, Chuck Berry, Little Richard, Howlin’ Wolf, and Bo Diddley. Jagger met Richards again on 17 October 1961 on Platform Two of Dartford railway station. The Chuck Berry and Muddy Waters records Jagger was carrying revealed a shared interest in rhythm and blues. A musical partnership began shortly afterwards. Richards and Taylor often met Jagger at his house. In late 1961, the meetings moved to Taylor’s house, where Alan Etherington and Bob Beckwith joined the trio. The quintet called themselves the Blues Boys.

Jagger left school in 1961 after passing seven O-levels and two A-levels. He and Richards moved into a flat at Edith Grove in Chelsea, London, with guitarist Brian Jones. While Richards and Jones planned to start their own rhythm and blues group, Jagger continued to study finance and accounting on a government grant as an undergraduate student at the London School of Economics. He had seriously considered becoming either a journalist or a politician, comparing the latter to a pop star.