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Happy birthday Mick Taylor!
Born Michael Kevin Taylor (son of Marilyn and Lionel Taylor) on Jan. 17 1949 in Welwyn Garden City but raised in Hatfield, Hertfordshire, England.
Bands: The Juniors, The Strangers, John Mayall’s Bluesbreakers (1965-1969), The Rolling Stones (1969-1974), and The Jack Bruce Band. plus an extensive solo career and hundreds of works as session musician. A teenage blues fanatic and guitarist who worked as an artist’s engraver, belonged to a band called the Gods when he was asked to sub for one night for an ailing Eric Clapton in John Mayall’s Blues Breakers. Clapton eventually left Mayall, as did his replacement, Peter Green (to form Fleetwood Mac), at which point Mayall decided that Taylor was finally old enough to be a Blues Breaker. A couple of years later, Taylor decided he wanted to play more than just the blues and left Mayall.

After the Stones decided that Brian could no longer remain a band member, Ian Stewart suggested that they contact Taylor. Mick spoke to John Mayall, who had no negative words for the guitarist, so Mick gave him a call. A few weeks later—having given Taylor a week “to think about it”—it was announced on June 13, 1969, that Mick Taylor would indeed become an official Stone, replacing Brian Jones. He made his debut as a Stone at the free Hyde Park Concert on July 5, 1969, which, ironically, served as a memorial to Brian.

Due to touring pressures and other hazards of the rock ‘n’ roll life, Mick Taylor quit the Stones five years later, in December 1974, the day the band was to enter the studio for the recording of the Black and Blue album. Marshall Chess urged him to stay since the Stones were scheduled to tour the U.S. in 1975, but Taylor declined. He joined the Jack Bruce Band briefly, while every other known guitarist on the planet competed for his former Stones’ slot.
(Ref. happy birthday mick taylor)