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Mick Jagger defies years as he hits pension age
2008-07-25
LONDON (Reuters) - Starting on Saturday, Mick Jagger will be entitled to a basic state pension of just under $180 a week. But he will have to wait another five years for free roof insulation -- that benefit is only available to Britons over the age of 70. The lead singer of British rock band the Rolling Stones turns 65 on Saturday, making him an old-age pensioner, albeit in name only. Jagger continues to turn back the clock with age-defying live performances, recently impressing movie audiences with his energetic strutting and pouting captured by director Martin Scorsese in the 2008 rock documentary "Shine a Light." Although his off-stage antics no longer match the rock 'n' roll excess of fellow Stone Ron Wood, recently admitted to rehab for a drinking problem, Jagger is clearly not about to rest on his laurels and tend to the garden. He is increasingly involved in film production, acting as executive producer on "Shine a Light" and backing two other feature films since then. Rumors of a new Rolling Stones album and world tour also regularly surface in the news. Should Jagger's estimated 225 million pound ($450 million) fortune, plus pension, prove insufficient, another tour would be a sure way of helping make ends meet. The Rolling Stones' "A Bigger Bang" tour became the most successful of all time, grossing more than $558 million from 2005 to 2007, according to Stones tour producer Michael Cohl. MIDDLE-CLASS ROOTS Michael Philip Jagger was born in Dartford, in the south of England, on July 26, 1943, the son of a school teacher and a hairdresser. In the early 1960s, he and guitarist Keith Richards formed the Rolling Stones, and as lead singer Jagger went on to become one of rock 'n' roll's most famous frontmen, churning out a string of classic hits from "(I Can't Get No) Satisfaction" and "Jumpin' Jack Flash" to "Ruby Tuesday" and "Angie." The band is estimated to have sold more than 200 million albums worldwide and regularly ranks at or near the top of lists of the most influential acts in pop music history. Jagger has had a string of high-profile romantic affairs, including relationships with Marianne Faithfull and Carla Bruni, now married to French President Nicolas Sarkozy. He was married twice, to Nicaraguan beauty Bianca Perez Macias in 1971 and Texas fashion model Jerry Hall in 1990, whom he divorced in 1999. He has seven children and is a grandfather. The rock lothario was knighted at Buckingham Palace in 2003, but he denied suggestions he had sold out to the British establishment against which he had railed for so long. "I don't really think the establishment as we know it exists any more," he said at the time. Jagger is likely to face renewed questions about his future and that of his band now that he has reached retirement age, but he should be used to it. More than 45 years ago he was asked how long he could keep going with the Rolling Stones, and in a separate interview, his questioner said: "Can you picture yourself at the age of 60 doing what you're doing now?" "Yeah, easily. Yeh," he replied. Reuters/Nielsen
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