Ian Stewart | Biography & History | AllMusic google+ Artist Biography by Steve Kurutz Lovingly referred to as the sixth stone, pianist Ian Stewart was actually a founding member of the original group, pre-dating both Charlie Watts and Bill Wyman as members. Stewart , or Stu as he was called, was one of a core group of rhythm and blues enthusiasts that frequented Alexis Korner's blues club. Among the others were Charlie Watts , Mick Jagger , Eric Clapton , Dick Taylor and Keith Richards , figures who would all go on to have a profound effect on rock n' roll music. Adept at boogie woogie style piano, Stewart began rehearsing with fellow enthusiasts Brian Jones , Mick Jagger and Keith Richards . When bassist Bill Wyman and drummer Charlie Watts joined, the group named themselves the Rolling Stones and began attracting a small but loyal following in London. After manager Andrew Loog Oldham took over the reigns of the Stones ' career he deemed Stewart unfit for the group because the straight-laced Stewart didn't "have the right look." Thankfully for the rest of the band Stu agreed to stay on as their road manager and sometime piano player.

Throughout the groups career Stu contributed his Chicago style piano playing to several of the Stones releases including December's Children, Aftermath and Let it Bleed among others. The gifted keyboardist also lent his hand to projects outside The Stones such as the London Howlin' Wolf sessions, Led Zeppelin 's Physical Graffiti and Pete Townshend 's Rough Mix album. Adored by all who knew him, Stewart 's uncompromisingly purist stance towards the blues (he refused to play piano on "Wild Horses" because minor chords offended him aesthetically) helped keep the Stones on a stayed course during the times when they were in real danger of losing their core sound. Ian Stewart died in 1985 before he could have a chance to be inducted into the rock n' roll hall of fame beside his beloved Rolling Stones . Remembering Ian 'Stu' Stewart: The Forgotten Rolling Stone REDDIT Michael Putland, Getty Images He was one of the most important figures in their early days, and yet he’s often overlooked in most discussions about the Rolling Stones .

Known as the “Sixth Stone,” Ian Stewart served double duty for the World’s Greatest Rock ‘n’ Roll Band as both their piano player and their road manager. Born on July 18, 1938, “Stu,” like so many other British kids, fell in love with American jazz and blues and took up both piano and banjo. In May 1962, he answered an ad placed by Brian Jones looking for musicians, and was soon joined by the other future members of the Stones. But when Andrew Loog Oldham began managing the band, he fired Stu because his looks didn’t fit the rebellious image he was chasing for the Stones. Instead, he asked Stewart, who was a few years older and more disciplined than the others, to be the road manager. “I’m still working for him,” Keith Richards wrote In his autobiography, Life. “To me the Rolling Stones is his band.

Without his knowledge and organization, without the leap he made from where he was coming from, to take a chance on playing with a bunch of kids, we’d be nowhere.” Even though he was no longer a performing member of the band he affectionately referred to as his “little three-chord wonders,” Stu still wound up on every Stones album made in his lifetime, with the exception of Beggars Banquet and Their Satanic Majesties Request . His playing can be heard on such tracks as “Time Is on My Side,” “Honky Tonk Women,” “Brown Sugar” and “It’s Only Rock ‘N Roll,” and he frequently joined the group onstage from 1969 to 1982. He also played on Led Zeppelin ‘s “Rock and Roll” and “Boogie With Stu,” which was named in his honor. Despite eschewing many aspects of the rock ‘n’ roll lifestyle, Stewart died young, suffering a fatal heart attack on Dec. 12, 1985, at the age of 47.

So important was Stu’s contribution to the band that, in 1989, they insisted that he be inducted into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame with them. Rolling Stone Albums, Ranked Worst to Best Image of The Rolling Stones - Beggars Banquet Online - Ian Stewart THIRTY YEARS HAVE PASSED SINCE THE STONES LOST THEIR FOUNDING MEMBER, IAN STEWART Boogie With Stu by Bill German During my seventeen years publishing Beggars Banquet (1978-1996), I conducted about a dozen interviews with the various members of the Stones. But before I had the chance to grill Mick, Keith, Ronnie, or Bill Wyman, I launched my "Stones interviewing career" by sitting down with Ian Stewart. Ian, or "Stu" as he was known, was the perennial pianist for the Stones until his death in December 1985. Commonly referred to as the "Sixth Stone," he was, chronologically speaking, actually the "Second Stone." It was he and Brian Jones who formed the band. In fact, when Keith Richards showed up to audition for the band, it was Stu who greeted him at the door.

Because Stu didn't fit the Stones' bad boy image, and because the Stones were not so much a piano-driven band, he was placed in the background by the group's eventual manager, Andrew Oldham. But knowledgeable Stones fans, as well as the Stones themselves, continued to appreciate his presence. Stu played piano on almost every Stones album and tour until his death and held various administrative positions with the band. He also took on several pet projects. He helped organize 1983's ARMS tour (to benefit research into multiple sclerosis) and did session work with groups like Led Zeppelin, the Stray Cats, and George Thorogood. He especially enjoyed playing boogie woogie music in small British pubs with a bunch of his local mates. I was 18 years old in 1981 when Stu came to New York to promote the "Rocket 88" album. It was an album of boogie woogie standards that featured Charlie Watts on drums, Jack Bruce on bass, Alexis Korner on guitar, and Stu on piano.

When I interviewed him at the Stones' office in Rockefeller Center, I could tell he was as proud of this humble project as he was of his association with the world-famous Rolling Stones. Stu was in it purely for the music. He didn't care about all the extras that came with rock 'n' roll. He maintained a quiet lifestyle and never fell into the drugs & sex & booze scene like so many others. He was content to go home after a Stones tour and spend his time playing golf. Which is why his death at 47 came as such a shock. He was the only person who could whip the Stones into shape, offering them all sorts of harsh criticism. He'd refer to them as "Showers of Shit" and "Three-Chord Wonders" and they'd take it from him. At Stu's funeral, Charlie Watts lamented, "Now there won't be anyone to sneer at us and disapprove anymore." It's fair to say the Stones looked up to him like an older brother and that he was the glue that held them together. Without him, they truly felt lost for a while.

Here is an excerpt of my interview with Stu, which originally appeared in a 1981 issue of Beggars Banquet. Bill German: You've been called road manager, company secretary, and Sixth Stone. Which term suits you best? Ian Stewart: They're all vaguely correct, except that I was the second Stone, not the sixth Stone. I am actually company secretary, which is an administration thing. Road manager still applies. You can call me anything you like. Bill German: Apart from recording sessions and tours, do you see much of the other Stones? Ian Stewart: No, because they wander about so much. I see Charlie quite a lot, but Mick and Keith just wander. Well, Keith spends a lot of time in New York, but Mick just wanders. I'll tell you, my friends -- the people I see and hang around with -- are all guys I've been friendly with for years, because I still live exactly where I used to before the Stones came around. Most of them have nothing to do with music whatsoever. That's just the way it happened, basically. I don't like rock 'n' roll as a way of life. I think it's awful.

Most of the people who are living on rock 'n' roll are living in a dream world. Bill German: So you enjoy the fact that, unlike the other Stones, you can be a "star" one day and anonymous the next? Ian Stewart: I can't really say I'm a star, but it is nice to get up there and play a little bit and then have some peace and quiet. But just because you're up there doesn't mean you have to become a star. I play golf with Roger Waters [of Pink Floyd], one of the most successful and richest bloody rock stars. And I can take him to the golf club and nobody would recognize him. If he walked in this room right now, you probably wouldn't know it. Floyd's made an absolute fortune, yet they've kept their faces out of the papers. I don't think that's really fair to your fans, to have no contact with them whatsoever, but that's the way Roger likes it. Floyd have kept themselves in a little capsule. Their own fans don't know what they bloody all look like. Bill German: I'm sure if Bill Wyman walked down the street many people wouldn't recognize him. Ian Stewart: They wouldn't now.

But with Floyd they never did. There was a time when Bill would've gotten torn apart walking into the street. In '66, I used to see Bill Wyman come back to the hotel with half his bloody clothes off! Bill German: So there's no regrets about not being up front with Mick, Keith, and Brian? Ian Stewart: Nope, no. Bill German: So Andrew Oldham almost did you a favor... Ian Stewart: Almost, almost. He didn't do it [phasing Stu out of the main line-up] very nicely. I honestly don't like Andrew Oldham as a person. Bill German: Does it stem from that incident? Ian Stewart: No, I just don't like his attitude. He's a brilliant guy, actually. And if it were not for him, I don't think the Stones would've gotten to where they are now. They would have made it no matter what. I mean, there would've been a group exactly like the Rolling Stones and they would've been as good as the Rolling Stones, whether Brian and I existed on the face of this earth or not.

But they would've probably, if not for the careful handling of the group by Andrew, burned themselves out in two years by playing too much. Andrew was very careful about the exposure and image of the group. He only slipped up when he tried to become a record producer. He knows nothing about music whatsoever. I mean, you can still be a record producer and not know anything about music. But when Andrew started this producing bit, he was more interested in the image of Phil Spector, running around in big cars, with bodyguards, collecting money, and buying clothes. That's how he thought producers should act. Bill German: Is it true you helped put food in the Stones' mouths [when the band was first forming]? Ian Stewart: I was the only one with any money. They were living in that apartment. Well, Mick had a university grant -- he had a little money -- but Keith and Brian had nothing. Andrew? No, Andrew had money. But I wouldn't feed Andrew anyway. I wouldn't piss on him if he were on fire. Bill German: Why do you think you've stayed with the Stones for so long? And would you do it all again? Ian Stewart: I like the music.

And yeah, oh sure, I'd do it all again. Stu died on December 12, 1985, succumbing to a massive heart attack while in the waiting room of his doctor's office. It all seemed so ironic. The one guy around the Stones who eschewed all the drugging and boozing. Reflecting on that irony a few weeks later, Bill Wyman wryly told me, "I'll never play golf. I won't play golf or eat cheeseburgers. I mean, those were Stu's only vices." Just days after Stu's death, I found myself in Ronnie Wood's kitchen, at his house on New York's Upper West Side. It was me, Ronnie, and Keith. I told them I was planning a special tribute issue for Stu (the cover of which is shown above). As I showed Keith some of the pictures I was going to include, he made this comment: "Why'd you have to leave us like that, you sod? At least he went out on an upswing. He was excited about the new album ["Dirty Work"] and was delighted about the Charlie Watts Big Band.

But I thought he'd be the one holding the shovel, the one to bury all of us. What a hole he's left, such an obvious gap. He would always be the one to comment on everything, and sometimes you'd think he was crazy. But then you'd go and realize that he was right all along. I mean, no one has a bad word to say about him. You know, I've had other friends pass on, and you'd go, 'Gee, it's a shame.' But with Stu, it was different. I could think of a hundred other fuckers who should have gone instead of him. He wasn't even on my list." That's exactly how Keith put it. I memorized it as it came out of his mouth. And when he finished saying it, I ran to the bathroom so I could write it on an index card before I forgot it. When I came out of the bathroom, I told Keith I'd just jotted down everything he'd said and I asked him if he'd let me print it in the tribute issue. He said, "Of course." A couple hours later, after Keith went home, Ronnie said that he wanted to write something for the issue.

He grabbed a pen and notepad and sat in his basement studio, as a Vivaldi CD blasted from the speakers. He told me to leave him alone for a few minutes so he could come up with something heartfelt about Stu. I retreated to the guest room where I watched a rerun of "Mary Tyler Moore." About fifteen minutes later, I peeked in on him. He was leaning back in his chair, lost in thought. His eyes were closed and the pen and pad were resting on his lap. Nothing written so far. I came back after another fifteen minutes and found him in the same position. He was still bathing in a sea of memories, eyes closed. I gave him another fifteen minutes. And another. Nothing had changed. Two episodes of "Mary Tyler Moore." It was now 4 o'clock in the morning and he hadn't moved in an hour. Not a single word in the pad. I called out his name. No response. I nudged him a bit. No response. Either this guy is a deep sleeper, I thought, or Ron Wood of the Rolling Stones is dead right here in front of me. I got up close to his face, but it was hard to tell if he was breathing.

I figured, if he's asleep, let him sleep, if he'd dead, there's nothing I can do about it. He seemed so peaceful. I took the notepad and wrote something like, "I must've bored you to sleep," and put it back on his lap. I tiptoed out of his house and hailed a cab back to my apartment. I gave it a 50% chance that the headline of the next day's New York Post would read: "Rock Star Found Dead in Upper West Side Home." Of course, we know how that one turned out. Left: The issue from 1981 that first featured the interview with Stu. Right: Stu and 18-year-old Bill German at the Rolling Stones Records office, 1981. Who wants yesterday's papers?

Sixth Stone gets his place in history - Telegraph Rock and Pop Features Sixth Stone gets his place in history Ian Stewart’s face didn’t fit the band’s image but his contribution to their success is at last being celebrated, says Maureen Paton This one's for Stu: Ian Stewart (front row, left) was deemed too old and too square for the Stones By Maureen Paton 6:49PM BST 06 Apr 2011 He was a member of the coolest band in the world, yet he was never scared to be square. It’s one of life’s great ironies that those card-carrying rock and roll outlaws, the Rolling Stones, would have got nowhere without the “vision”, as Keith Richards puts it, of the unlikely looking Sixth Stone. The Fife-born Ian Stewart was not your usual skinny, pouting rock star but a stocky, Neanderthal-jawed, one-time ICI shipping clerk in cardigans, polo shirts and Hush Puppies who nailed down brilliant boogie-woogie piano and became the group’s musical conscience and reality check.

Always known as Stu, he was one for golf rather than groupies, a real-ale enthusiast and a rhythm and blues purist with a jazz background and a no-nonsense, headmasterly air who joshingly put the other Stones in their place as “three-chord wonders”. The epitome of the musician’s musician, he played on every Stones album, with the exception of Beggars Banquet, from 1964 to the 1986 Dirty Work, released the year after his death. Ian Stewart died at the age of 47 in December 1985 from a heart attack while waiting to be examined for breathing difficulties by a Harley Street doctor. It’s another irony that the unstoned Stewart, despite being drug-free through all the band’s well-documented years of debauchery, should die young.

According to Brian Jones’s replacement, Mick Taylor: “Stu looked on it [drug-taking] as a load of silliness.” Stewart’s lifestyle mistake was a much more mundane one, according to Ben Waters, the man who is now effectively his musical heir on the rhythm and blues circuit: “By all accounts, Stu had a terrible diet — that’s what let him down.” Stewart was closest to his fellow hardcore jazz nut Charlie Watts and Keith Richards, who admired his ability to be his own man as much as his musicianship. And Richards’s recent memoir Life describes the “shattering” news of Stewart’s death as “the hardest hit I had ever had, apart from my son [Tara] dying [of cot death].” Two months later, in February 1986, the Stones played a tribute gig with Stewart’s other band, Rocket 88, at London’s 100 Club, and in 1989 they asked for his name to be included when they were inducted into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame.

But Stewart’s chequered story proves the marketing power of the manager to demote someone whose face didn’t fit the image: such enthusiastic blueshounds as the young Rolling Stones were no different in this respect from the manufactured pretty-boy bands of today. In 1963, a year after Stewart had booked the band’s first rehearsal in a Soho pub, the Stones’ manager, Andrew Loog Oldham, decided to drop the Scotsman from the line-up. With a large undershot jaw, the result of a childhood illness, Stewart was judged too ugly and, with four years’ advantage on Mick Jagger, too old for a band that was being marketed as the leather-clad, bad-boy alternative to the besuited Beatles. But instead of flouncing out, the rock-steady Sixth Stone decided to stay on to become a session musician and road manager in his own band. The new role enabled the image-averse Stewart to avoid all the hassle of the spotlight while hanging on to his cherished role as musical guru, a shrewd strategy from the man who never wanted the baggage of stardom.

It has taken just over 25 years since Stewart’s death for an album tribute to emerge to this backroom powerhouse, put together by another boogie-woogie man from a younger generation. The 37-year-old Ben Waters was just eight when he saw Stewart play live at a West Country gig arranged by his aunt and uncle, Eva and Ray Harvey, the parents of the singer PJ Harvey and old friends of Stewart’s. Waters, a fan of Fats Domino and Jerry Lee Lewis from childhood, became obsessed with imitating Stewart’s style, so much so that he was asked to play piano in Rocket 88 after his death. “A lot of pianists are quite staccato,” says Waters, “but Stu had a very rolling, full sound. That’s why he was so good in bands, because he brought it all together, and the Stones were always at their best when he played with them.” As Mick Jagger put it: “When Stu was playing, the band swung a lot harder than when he wasn’t.” Towards the end of last year, Waters decided to try to fulfil his long-held dream of making an album in memory of Stewart.

In what he calls “a combination of luck and coincidence” within the tight-knit world of rhythm and blues enthusiasts, he persuaded the Stones to guest-star on Boogie 4 Stu (a title borrowed from a track Stewart played on for the Led Zeppelin album Physical Graffiti) alongside Waters’s cousin P J Harvey, jazz saxophonists Willy and Alex Garnett and Don Weller and 76-year-old blues shouter Hamish Maxwell. Although Waters, who has worked with Jagger’s brother Chris for years, had played piano for parties at Mick and Jerry Hall’s Richmond house, he had a much closer connection with Charlie Watts, who plays drums in his band, the ABC&D of Boogie Woogie. “Charlie came on board and then told me, 'You’ve got to ask Keith too’,”says Waters, recalling how he went on to recruit Ronnie Wood, Bill Wyman and Mick Jagger in what became a kind of domino effect.

Jools Holland, Waters’s long-term mentor who also guests on the album, offered his Deptford recording studio free of charge, although Waters had to fly to New York with the hard drive to record Richards’s guitar and vocals while Jagger emailed back his contribution – characteristically snarling vocals and harmonica on Bob Dylan’s Watching the River Flow – from the South of France. With proceeds going to the British Heart Foundation, the album can boast the first Wyman recording with his former fellow Stones since 1992 — something that perhaps only the ghost of Ian Stewart could have pulled off. As Wyman acknowledged in a London concert last month to launch the album: “We wouldn’t go on stage until Stu said, 'OK, you shower of shits, you’re on’.” There was, Waters says, a potentially sticky moment when Richards wanted to do the vocals on the same song, Worried Life Blues, that Wood had just recorded. “So I asked Keith how he would feel if he and Ronnie alternated verses. And Keith said, 'Fine’.” The album has clearly been a labour of love for Waters, who looks a little like his role model and is equally happy to chase the music rather than the fame.

“Stu was so grounded that he probably propelled the band to a higher level, because they could always rely on him.” Which is not a bad epitaph for anyone. 'Boogie 4 Stu’ is released on April 11 by Eagle Records Ian Stewart: 1938-1985 - Rolling Stone Ian Stewart: 1938-1985 'The Sixth Stone' has died in London Ian Stewart playing piano in the recording studio. Credit: Estate Of Keith Morris/Redferns All Stories Ian Stewart, a founding member of the Rolling Stones and their road manager and frequent pianist for twenty-three years, died of a heart attack in London on December 12th. The forty-seven-year-old Stewart was sitting in the waiting room of his doctor's office, where he was about to undergo a checkup for an old lung complaint, when he suffered the heart attack. He died almost instantly. More News All Stories A funeral service was held December 20th, attended only by family members and close friends, including the five members of the Rolling Stones. Stewart, who was divorced, is survived by a son, Giles, 15.

Keith Altham, a London music publicist and longtime friend of Stewart's, said a memorial service was planned for February. It will probably include a performance by Rocket 88, the big band formed in the late Seventies by Stewart, which featured prominent British jazz and blues musicians. The Rolling Stones Live, 1964-2007 "I'm going to miss him a lot," Mick Jagger said of Stewart, who was frequently called the Sixth Stone. "He really helped this band swing, on numbers like 'Honky Tonk Women' and loads of others. Stu was the one guy we tried to please. We wanted his approval when we were writing or rehearsing a song. We'd want him to like it." Born in the Scottish town of Pittenweem, in Fife, Ian Stewart was working as a shipping clerk at a London chemical company in 1962 when he responded to a newspaper ad for R&B musicians. It had been placed by Brian Jones.

Together Stewart and Jones formed the nucleus of the Rolling Stones, but by June 1963, the band's flamboyant manager, Andrew Loog Oldham, decide Stewart's burly, square-jawed features did not fit the Stones' racy outlaw image. Stu, as he was commonly known, then became the group's road manager, continuing to play piano on tour and in the studio. In recent years, Stewart's duties had included management of the Rolling Stones Mobile Studio and advance work for the group's tours. With Stones bassist Bill Wyman, he was hunting up old movie and television footage of the Stones for a projected follow-up to the group's Rewind home-video release. "He had his own way of doing things, and it worked perfectly," marveled Wyman. "He had twenty-four-track master tapes in his basement, guitars in his back room and demo tapes in the garage. He was totally disorganized, but he knew exactly where to find anything at a given moment. It's going to take three or four people to do what he did." "He was unique, to actually have come through that craziness associated with the Stones and maintained his equilibrium," said Altham.

Stewart steered clear of drugs, and he was only a moderate drinker. His passions were golf, scuba diving, British history and old steam trains. He was also an avid jazz and blues enthusiast, heavily influenced by pianists like Professor Longhair, Fats Domino and Count Basie . Although he never enjoyed the international celebrity accorded the Rolling Stones, Stewart was not unhappy with his role outside the band. "I never heard him complain once," Wyman said. "He was able to stand back and laugh at us being idiots." Wyman remembered sitting backstage at New York's Madison Square Garden during the Stones' 1975 tour while the upper crust of New York society – Dick Cavett, Lee Radziwill, Truman Capote and others – fawned over the band. Suddenly, Stewart walked into the dressing room, turned to the Stones and said, "All right, my little shower of shit, you're on." "He always used to call us things like 'My little three-chord wonders,'" said Wyman. But, he added, "we'd never go onstage until Ian Stewart said it was time to go on." This story is from the January 30, 1986 issue of Rolling Stone.

Don’t Miss a Story Sign up for our newsletter to receive breaking news directly in your inbox. We may use your e-mail address to send you the newsletter and offers that may interest you, on behalf of Rolling Stone and its partners. For more information please read our Privacy Policy How we use your email address Trending Ranked on a scale from 1 to 10, the trending score reflects the number of users reading a story in real time. What is this? Ian Stewart, horoscope for birth date 18 July 1938, born in Pittenweem, with Astrodatabank biography - Astro-Databank add Ian Stewart to 'my astro' Biography Scottish-British musician and rock star, a behind-the-scenes founding member of The Rolling Stones. He suffered a fatal heart attack on December 12, 1985 in London and was inducted posthumously into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame in 1989 as "the sixth Stone.".

Remembering Ian ‘Stu’ Stewart: The Forgotten Rolling Stone - Out of Our Heads Out of Our Heads Remembering Ian ‘Stu’ Stewart: The Forgotten Rolling Stone by Dave Lifton He was one of the most important figures in their early days, and yet he’s often overlooked in most discussions about the Rolling Stones. Known as the “Sixth Stone,” Ian Stewart served double duty for the World’s Greatest Rock ‘n’ Roll Band as both their piano player and their road manager. Born on July 18, 1938, “Stu,” like so many other British kids, fell in love with American jazz and blues and took up both piano and banjo. In May 1962, he answered an ad placed by Brian Jones looking for musicians, and was soon joined by the other future members of the Stones. But when Andrew Loog Oldham began managing the band, he fired Stu because his looks didn’t fit the rebellious image he was chasing for the Stones. Instead, he asked Stewart, who was a few years older and more disciplined than the others, to be the road manager.

“I’m still working for him,” Keith Richards wrote In his autobiography, ‘Life.’ “To me the Rolling Stones is his band. Without his knowledge and organization, without the leap he made from where he was coming from, to take a chance on playing with a bunch of kids, we’d be nowhere.” Even though he was no longer a performing member of the band he affectionately referred to as his “little three-chord wonders,” Stu still wound up on every Stones album made in his lifetime, with the exception of ‘Beggars Banquet’ and ‘Their Satanic Majesties Request.’ His playing can be heard on such tracks as ‘Time Is on My Side,’ ‘Honky Tonk Women,’ ‘Brown Sugar’ and ‘It’s Only Rock ‘N Roll,’ and he frequently joined the group onstage from 1969 to 1982. He also played on Led Zeppelin‘s ‘Rock and Roll’ and ‘Boogie With Stu,’ which was named in his honor. Despite eschewing many aspects of the rock ‘n’ roll lifestyle, Stewart died young, suffering a fatal heart attack on Dec. 12, 1985, at the age of 47.

So important was Stu’s contribution to the band that, in 1989, they insisted that he be inducted into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame with them. Rolling Stone's Scots founder in spotlight at last as exhibition charts life and wild times of legendary rockers - Daily Record Entertainment Rolling Stone's Scots founder in spotlight at last as exhibition charts life and wild times of legendary rockers MEMORABILIA belonging to pianist Ian Stewart, known as the Sixth Stone, will be among more than 500 unseen artefacts from the band's archives going on show at London gallery. Share Ian Stewart, at the top of the stairs, with the Rolling Stones Share Get daily updates directly to your inbox + Subscribe Thank you for subscribing! Could not subscribe, try again laterInvalid Email HE hated the spotlight and remained resolutely in the background as his band conquered the world. His piano playing was as integral to their sound as Keith Richards’ guitar riffs but he often enjoyed a sandwich as he played in the stage’s shadows.

Ian Stewart, the Sixth Stone, may not be the best-known Rolling Stone but the musician hailed by his bandmates as the heart of the band is front and centre in a landmark exhibition charting the career of the world’s best and most enduring rockers. Memorabilia belonging to the Scots pianist will be among more than 500 unseen artefacts from the band’s personal archives going on show at London’s Saatchi Gallery. Exhibitionism, which opens next month, will also include a special tribute to Ian, who Richards described as “the glue that held them together”. The interactive exhibition, spread over nine galleries, will take fans through the Stones ’ fascinating 50-year history – a story which Ian, known to the band as Stu, helped to write.

From left, Charlie Watts, Keith Richards, Mick Jagger and Ron Wood are to be the focus of a massive exhibition that will chart their 50 years in the music business The musician, who died in 1985 aged 47, co-founded the “world’s greatest rock ‘n’ roll band” in 1962 but was forced to take a backseat in 1963 by their first manager, Andrew Loog Oldham, who felt his face and style didn’t fit with the group’s bad-boy image. Ian, who was born in Pittenweem, Fife, stayed on as the group’s level-headed pianist and tour manager for the next 20 years, playing keyboard on their albums. He never became as famous as the rest but many, including the other band members, credit Ian with being vital to their formation and enduring success. His fans are delighted he is being celebrated in the exhibition, which starts at the prestigious gallery on April 6 and runs until September before going on a four-year world tour.

Award-winning crime writer Ian Rankin admits the straight-talking bluesman helped inspire his fictional detective John Rebus and believes it is only right Ian is given his place in the Stones’ history. The author, who wrote the lyrics to Aidan Moffat & the Best-Of’s song about Ian called The Sixth Stone, said: “ Mick Jagger once said that Ian Stewart was the one person the band tried to please. “He was a founder member of the Stones – pre-dating both Jagger and Richards – and after his death they insisted his name be added when they were inducted into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame. “That’s a sign of how important Stu was to the band. He also played with Led Zeppelin – their song Boogie With Stu is named after him – Howlin’ Wolf and others. “He made it from Pittenweem to the rock ‘n’ roll dream – and survived with grace through the Stones’ most tempestuous years. What a life. What a man.” A Les Paul custom guitar bought by Keith Richards in 1966 is among the exhibits Ian started playing the piano aged six.

His natural talent and determination to master his instrument meant by the time he was a teenager he was already an accomplished musician with a dry wit and a fierce passion for blues, jazz and boogie-woogie. He was the first to respond to Brian Jones’ 1962 advert in Jazz News seeking musicians to form a rhythm & blues group. Jagger and Richards joined in June and the group, with Dick Taylor on bass and Mick Avory on drums, played their first gig under the name The Rollin’ Stones at the Marquee Club in July 1962. By January 1963, Bill Wyman and Charlie Watts had joined, replacing a series of bassists and drummers. When Oldham decided Ian was one too many on stage, the former Pittenweem Primary School pupil accepted the demotion, acting as their roadie and driving them all over the country. Richards said: “Stu might have realised that in the way it was going to have to be marketed, he would be out of sync but he could still be a vital part.

I’d probably have said, ‘Well, f*** you,’ but he said, ‘Okay, I’ll just drive you around.’ That takes a big heart but Stu had one of the largest hearts around.” Ian, who had one son, Giles, 45, played piano, keyboard or percussion on Stones albums right up until he died of a heart attack in December 1985. His death was mourned by the whole music community. The details of how Ian features in the exhibition are being kept a closely guarded secret but a spokesman for Exhibitionism, which is the first of its kind in the world, said: “There is a very nice tribute to Ian as he was an integral part of the Rolling Stones in their formative years.” The innovative display, which takes up two floors of the prestigious gallery, includes original stage designs, dressing room and backstage paraphernalia, rare guitars and instruments, iconic costumes, audio tracks and unseen video clips, personal diaries and original poster and album cover artwork.

Collaborations and work by an array of artists, designers, musicians and writers will also be on show – from Andy Warhol, Shepard Fairey, Alexander McQueen and Ossie Clark to Tom Stoppard and Martin Scorsese. Rolling Stones tour poster from 1978 will also be on display at the London exhibition (Photo: Stones Archive/Getty Images) Jagger said: “We’ve been thinking about this for a long time but we wanted it to be just right and on a large scale. The process has been like planning our touring concert productions and I think that right now it’s an interesting time to do it.” Richards said: “While this is about The Rolling Stones, it’s not necessarily only just about the members of the band. It’s also about the paraphernalia and technology associated with a group like us, as well as instruments passed through our hands over the years. That should make the exhibition really interesting.” Watts added: “It’s hard to believe that it’s more than 50 years since we began and it is wonderful to look back to the start of our careers and bring everything up to date at this exhibition.’’ See for more details.

Like us on Facebook THE ROLLING STONES TEAM UP ON TRIBUTE ALBUM FOR FOUNDING MEMBER - 102.9 WMGK March 22, 2011 THE ROLLING STONES TEAM UP ON TRIBUTE ALBUM FOR FOUNDING MEMBER In commemoration of the 25th anniversary of his death, the Rolling Stones have teamed up to pay tribute to their pianist and co-founder, Ian "Stu" Stewart, on Boogie 4 Stu. Stewart, who was known as the "Sixth Stone," was demoted to the band's chief roadie and side keyboardist after early manager Andrew Loog Oldham thought his looks were wrong for the band. He stayed with group until his death of a heart attack on December 12th, 1985 at the age of 47. Stewart holds the distinction of playing on every Rolling Stones album between 1964 and 1986 -- with the exception of 1968's Beggars Banquet.

The highlight of the tribute album is shaping up to be the Stones' new version of Bob Dylan's 1971 classic "Watching The River Flow," which features Mick Jagger on vocals and harmonica, Keith Richards on guitar, Charlie Watts on drums, Ron Wood on guitar, and Bill Wyman on bass. Although all musicians recorded their respective tracks at different times and locations, this song marks the first time Wyman has recorded with his former bandmates since 1990. Richards and Wyman also appear on the track "Rooming House Boogie"; with "Worried Life Blues" featuring Richards, Wood, and Watts; and Charlie Watts appearing on four additional cuts on the album -- "Boogie For Stu," "Make Me A Pallet On Your Floor," "Midnight Blues" and "Roll 'Em Pete." As expected, Charlie Watts is the Stone who's taken the most interest in the Ian Stewart tribute album. Like Stewart, Watts' musical motto could be considered "less is more." Bill Wyman told us about the magic of Charlie Watts' drumming technique: ["Drummers of today usually have about 50 or 60 items in their drums.

I think he's got about seven -- and he plays them great (laughs). He's an economist."] SOUNDCUE The album finishes with the Sam Cooke track "Bring It On Home To Me," performed by Ian Stewart with his band Rocket 88 at the Montreux Jazz Festival. Boogie 4 Stu was produced by fellow pianist Ben Waters and mixed by legendary Stones and Who engineer Glyn Johns. Category

Question: Ian Stewart was known as the sixth member of which British rock group?
Answer: Rolling Stones