Sir Mick Jagger ‘almost died after overdosing on heroin’ at a friend’s New York City apartment, according to a new book about The Rolling Stones and their riotous decades-spanning career.
The extraordinary claim is made by record producer Marshall Chess in author Bob Spitz’s new book, The Rolling Stones: The Biography – a lurid account of their explosive rise in the early 1960s to become one of the biggest and most influential bands on the planet.
According to Chess, who served as the founding president of Rolling Stones Records from the early 1970s, Jagger was close to death after using the highly addictive opioid drug in 1976, when he was 33.
‘Mick was out cold,’ Spitz writes of the American producer’s recellection. ‘Chess tried dragging him upright, even slapped him a couple of times, but – nothing.’
Chess claims Jagger was keen to procure drugs after attending a party in New York, resulting in the pair buying a gram of heroin from a “Buddhist heroin dealer, he knew who was at the beck and call of New York junkies twenty-four hours a day.”
But the singer, whose own use of heroin is less publicised than that of bandmate Keith Richards, ‘collapsed’ after taking the drug at Chess’s New York apartment.
Sir Mick Jagger’ almost died after overdosing on heroin’ at a friend’s New York City apartment, according to a new book about The Rolling Stones and their riotous decades-spanning career
Worryingly, the singer’s “lips were turning blue” – one of the first notable signs of overdose – leading Chess to call for an ambulance and attempt mouth-to-mouth resuscitation.
‘I didn’t know what else to do,’ he recalled. ‘I was freaked. Mick Jagger’s gonna die in my f***ing apartment.’
The producer also called Ahmet Ertegun, who Chess claims arrived with Hollywood actress Faye Dunaway – then married to J. Geils Band singer Peter Wolf.
According to the producer, Dunaway called the President of New York based Lenox Hill Hospital, who could “arrange a room where they could stash Mick so there would be no publicity.”
Fortunately for Jagger, the singer “started breathing again” after emergency services provided him with oxygen.
The Rolling Stones have been performing together for more than 60 years and sources are now claiming they’ve put the finishing touches to their new record, two and a half years since their last album.
In a nod to their early days, the band have been teasing the music under their previous name The Cockroaches, with posters spotted featuring the name, with the band historically used for surprise, intimate gigs.
The album is reportedly set to be called Foreign Tongues, and will be preceded with a new song, titled Mr Charm, which is expected to be released on Saturday.
While surviving band members Jagger, now 82, Ronnie Wood, 78, and Richards, 82, will reportedly line up performances to promote the album, there are no plans for a tour.
The Daily Mail previously shared that plans for a new Rolling Stones tour had been scrapped, with a source telling Alison Boshoff that instead the band were considering three mini–residencies.
According to producer Marshall Chess, Jagger was close to death after using the highly addictive opioid drug in 1976, when he was 33 (pictured onstage in 1976)
Chess (pictured in 2003) makes the claim in author Bob Spitz’s new book, The Rolling Stones: The Biography
A source told The Sun: ‘The Rolling Stones album has been in the can for some time now.
‘A lot of it was written and recorded a while back but there has been a lot of fine-tuning to make it perfect.
‘The guys are aware they aren’t getting any younger so some people are seeing this as a final album — but who knows with the Stones?
‘They will be making some appearances together to promote it but there’s not going to be a tour yet.’
