So Stu worked as their tour manager and played piano with them on stage until his death. Andrew said: ‘In terms of the world I’d be able to take The Rolling Stones to, Stu definitely did not fit.‘ He looked different from the rest of the band and the audience. ‘Today my reasoning would seem far fetched, shallow and extreme but in 1963 I was spot on. In any event, back then I didn’t think the British public could count beyond five. ‘For duos such as The Everly Brothers, trios such as Peter, Paul and Mary and quartets such as The Shadows, the names-to-faces ratio was manageable.
‘But how many of you remember The Tornados, Johnny and the Hurricanes or Emile Ford and the Checkmates? ‘They all had too many faces to count, identify with let alone remember.’ Eric Clapton recalls the first time he met Stu. He said: ‘I remember Stu around the time of the Ealing club where the Stones were formed.
‘To me, he was one of the members of the band. We clicked because I was into rural blues as much as Chicago blues. I think we recognised kindred spirits in each other. He was very much a music historian.’ Keith Richards has poignant memories of Stu’s death after a period of ill health 19 years ago. He said: ‘I was waiting at a London hotel for Stu to visit me. He had said, ‘I’ve got to pop into town to see the quack first’. It was unlike Stu not to make his appointments. At around three or four in the morning I got a phone call from Charlie saying, ‘Stu’s not coming’. ‘That’s how I got the news kind of ironic, in a way, that I was his next destination but he got diverted.’ Today, each member of the Stones reveals their favourite memories of Stu.
STU a limited edition of 950 copies handbound in leather is priced £570 (plus £10 UK courier charges). Each copy includes a signed, numbered Stu screen print by Ronnie Wood.
MICK I REMEMBER the early rehearsals with Stu. He’d turn up on a bicycle in shorts.When he played piano he changed from a kind of suburban office type Stu to boogie woogie Stu. He’d pump his legs and get lost in the music. He’s been there since the beginning. Stu wasn’t the sort of person to say: ‘I’m so proud of this band’. But he was proud of us. It was a funny feeling going from The Bricklayers’ Arms to playing Madison Square Garden. KEITH STU loved golf and I used to curse him. We’d be playing in some town and there would be all these chicks who’d want to get laid. And we’d want to lay them and have a party. But Stu would have booked us into a hotel 10 miles out of town. You’d wake up in the morning and see Stu on the golf course and realise why we were staying there. We’re bored to death looking for some action and Stu is out playing Gleneagles. CHARLIE STU was like our older member. He used to eat with two elbows on the table and it was always minestrone and spaghetti bolognese. The minestrone was like a classic he had a way of sitting when eating it. His clothes were always exactly the same, too. I’ve never known anyone that stuck with a look and stayed with it. The shape of jeans went in and out twice during his lifetime. But he still had a way of wearing them that was totally his own. RONNIE STU was the man who made it all function. We’d trust him with the equipment if we were leaving a city. He made things happen and you didn’t see how he did it. Stu was very helpful with me. If I had any awkward situations things I hadn’t been included in like band meetings he’d straighten me out. He was always sticking up for me if they were giving me s***. Stu used to love my songs. He’d say: ‘Let’s do one of Ronnie’s’. BILL I USED to stay at Stu’s house sometimes. The first time, he went out so I went to the kitchen to cook my dinner. He’d said: ‘There’s some good Scottish beef, have some of that’. I opened the fridge and this beef was green it had a layer of mould over it. I told him the meat had gone off. He said: ‘I like it like that, that’s when it’s ready to eat’. It was disgusting, covered in bluebottles and he’s going: ‘That’ll be ready in a day or two’. Scottish Sunday Mail
Apr 18 2004
Billy Sloan |
