Mick Jagger and Keith Richards in July of 1967, newly freed from prison after their much-publicized drug-possession trial.

Stones on the Rocks

Over the course of 65 years, a few near divorces, and several drug busts, Mick Jagger and Keith Richards’s creative partnership remains—however improbably—one of rock ‘n’ roll’s most enduring

By Bob Spitz

Current thinking says that 40-some percent of marriages in the United States end in divorce. For couples who make rock ’n’ roll, the percentage is much higher—and so are the stakes. Creative differences, drug abuse, financial tangles, and exhaustion on the road contribute to rocky relationships that make George and Martha in Who’s Afraid of Virginia Woolf? seem like Couple of the Year. It’s no wonder some of the greatest musical partnerships flame out: Lennon and McCartney, Nicks and Buckingham, Sonny and Cher, even brothers Don and Phil Everly.

So what’s different about Mick Jagger and Keith Richards, a rock ’n’ roll couple that proved an exception to the rule? Sixty-five years on, the odd couple has renewed their proverbial vows more times than they’ve been busted for drugs. The Rolling Stones continue to fill arenas for concerts (sponsored by A.A.R.P., no less) today because, at its heart, the saga of the Glimmer Twins turns out to be a simple love story.