Dick Taylor

DICK TAYLOR
 
 
Dick Taylor  (born 28 January 1943) is an English musician, best known as the guitarist and founding member of The Pretty Things.  Taylor was an early bassist for the Rolling Stones, but left the band to become an art student at Sidcup Art College.  Whilst there he formed The Pretty Things in September 1963.  He now lives on the Isle of Wight, England.  (More from Wikipedia)
 
 

In 1962Dick Taylor was in a band called Little Boy Blue and the Blue Boys with Mick Jagger and Keith Richards.  Brian Jones was recruiting members for his own band, and these three joined up along with Ian Stewart.  Jones came up with the name Rollin’ Stones for the band; they went through several drummers before Charlie Watts joined the line-up. 

 

Dick Taylor played bass guitar with the nascent Stones but quit after several months when he was accepted at the London Central School of Art; his replacement in the Rolling Stones was Bill Wyman.  While there, Taylor met Phil May; and together they founded the Pretty Things in 1963.  The band is still active and still vital, and Dick Taylor and Phil May have been there the whole time as far as I know. 

 

(March 2014/1)

 

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The first performance by what was then called the Rollin’ Stones  – named after the landmark blues song Rollin’ Stone by Muddy Waters – took place on July 12, 1962 at the Marquee Club in London.  The line-up at that time was Mick Jagger (lead vocals, harmonica), Keith Richards (guitar), Brian Jones (guitar, harmonica), Ian Stewart (piano), Dick Taylor (bass) and Mick Avory (drums – Avory himself recalls that it was actually Tony Chapman).  Mick Jagger and Keith Richards had known each other as children and were reacquainted by Dick Taylor, who was a mutual friend.  Bill Wyman replaced Dick Taylor on bass in December 1962; Taylor then became one of the founding members of the Pretty Things, a band that is as long-lived and (in some circles) as beloved as the Stones, though with a significantly lower profile.  When Charlie Watts joined the band on drums in January 1963, and with Ian Stewart removed from the official band membership (also in 1963), the classic line-up of the Rolling Stones was born. 

 

(January 2015/2)

 

Last edited: March 22, 2021