Rowe was and Artist and Repertoire (A&R) man at Decca Records. He is famous in British music history for passing on The Beatles -- he didn't think they would go any where. By 1963 the Fab Four had already proved to him how wrong he was. Rowe knew he had to find someone to make up for his terrible blunder. When Andrew Oldham and Eric Easton walked into Decca records with a new band called The Rolling Stones, Rowe jumped at the chance to redeem himself.
By the early 1960s, the British music scene was already being divided between Pop and Blues. Crooners like Cliff Richard still had a home on the charts but in the clubs there was a darker, dirtier sound being imported from America. Blues had found a home at the Marquee club and it was there that the founding members of The Rolling Stones came together.
The Stone's first official gig was at the Marquee on July 12, 1962. The lineup consisted of Mick Jagger (vocals), Keith Richards, Elmo Lewis (guitars), Dick Taylor (bass), 'Stu' (piano) and Mike Avery (drums). Jagger, Richards, and Lewis -- otherwise known as Brian Jones -- became the core of the group. Ian Stewart (Stu) remained with the band until his death in the early 1980s but was not considered an official member of the group. In January 1963 Bill Wyman and Charlie Watts were added making the band complete.
On May 10, 1963, The Stones entered Olympic Studios for their first Recording session. "Come On" by Chuck Berry backed with "I Want To Be Loved" by Willie Dixon becomes their first hit single. Keith Richards was nineteen years old. When the groups first album "The Rolling Stones" was released in April of 1964 it shot to the top of the charts in just eight days and stayed there for eleven weeks. A gig on the 16th of April had to be canceled because Jagger was injured when the audience went crazy. The madness had begun and there was no going back.
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