Mick Jagger and Keith Richards have been the core of the Rolling Stones for more than half a century, but there's a lesser known figure who actually created the band back in 1962.
Brian Jones was the Rolling Stones' undisputed leader in the group's earliest days. He played several instruments for the band prior to his untimely death in 1969.
The first meeting happened at the Ealing Jazz Club in London, where Jones was playing slide guitar with a group called Blues Incorporated.
Jagger and Richards first crossed paths with Jones at London's Ealing Jazz Club on this date in 1962, CNN reported. The pair traveled there from the far-flung suburb of Dartford where they were part of a garage band called the Blues Boys.
Jones was there that night playing slide guitar with a band called Blues Incorporated. At the time, he was going by the stage name Elmo Lewis, which was an homage to his idol Elmore James.
That night Blues Incorporated covered James' track "Dust My Broom," which impressed Jagger – especially since Jones was one of the only slide guitarists in the U.K. at the time.
The following month, Jones posted an ad about starting a new band in Jazz News, which is how he got connected with the Stones' first keyboard player Ian Stewart.
Jagger briefly joined Blues Incorporated following his visit to the Ealing Jazz Club, but quickly departed the project and joined the Stones in June 1962. He brought Richards and Dick Taylor along for the ride.
Jones was at the top of his game for a while. That was clear on the Stones' debut self-titled record, which made it to No. 1 on the U.K. albums chart. He also appeared on hit records like Aftermath and Between the Buttons.
But it only took a few years for the musician to become one of the most tragic figures in the history of rock.
Jagger and Richards were an exceptionally potent songwriting duo. As the 1960s wore on, they moved away from the blues and began writing poppier British Invasion-style rock tracks.
Jones was not a fan of the new direction and bristled at the idea of Jagger and Richards controlling the band's creative path.
Jagger briefly joined Blues Incorporated before becoming a member of the Stones in June 1962.
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"He was having a really hard time with all his insecurities," Nick Broomfield, the director of the film The Stones and Brian Jones, told Q.
"I think it was his lack of security that undermined his ability to actually write his own songs…
"His brilliance excelled in the studio, when he would pick up some crazy instrument which he had taught himself to play in five minutes, and add some miraculous feel to a tune that otherwise would have been quite dead."
Jones was booted from the band in 1969 and died less than a month later.
As the 1960s wore on, heavy drug and alcohol use became more commonplace in the U.K. rock scene. Jones got caught up in that, which made him much less reliable in the studio and on stage.
By June 1969, the situation got so bad that the multi-instrumentalist was dismissed from the Stones and replaced by Mick Taylor.
Less than a month later, Jones was found dead in the swimming pool at his home in East Sussex. A coroner dubbed the situation a "death by misadventure" since the musician had drugs and alcohol in his system.
Jones was just 27 years old at the time. He was one of the first members of the "27 Club," which also eventually included figures like Jim Morrison, Janis Joplin and Kurt Cobain.
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