Part 7 in a series on “The 27’s” – notable musicians who have passed away in their 27th year.
When you think of the Rolling Stones two names first come to mind, Mick Jagger and Keith Richards. Most people will remember Brian Jones as a member of the band who died, but not a lot will remember his contributions. It was Brian Jones who first assembled the band. It was Brian Jones who introduced Keith Richards to the blues and the music of Robert Johnson. It was Brian Jones who, despite protests by Jagger and Richards, gave the band their name. Despite this, at the time of his death, Jones was out of the band, in fact, the benefit concert that The Stones performed two days after his death had been originally intended as a platform to announce a replacement for Brian Jones.
When asked if he felt guilty about Jones's death, Mick Jagger told Rolling Stone in 1995: "No, I don't really. I do feel that I behaved in a very childish way, but we were very young, and in some ways we picked on him. But, unfortunately, he made himself a target for it; he was very, very jealous, very difficult, very manipulative, and if you do that in this kind of a group of people, you get back as good as you give, to be honest. I wasn't understanding enough about his drug addiction. No one seemed to know much about drug addiction. Things like LSD were all new. No one knew the harm. People thought cocaine was good for you."
It is true that Jones had a serious drug problem and it was very easy for police investigators to not even question that his drowning had to do with his drug use. Jones’ girlfriend, Swedish student Anna Wohlin, was certain that Jones was alive when they took him out, but by the time the doctors arrived it was too late and he was pronounced dead. The coroner's report stated "death by misadventure” and noted his liver and heart were heavily enlarged by drug and alcohol abuse.
At the time of his death Jones had been forced out of The Stones. Brian had for many years tried to guide the band, but his drug use and roller coaster behavior made it necessary for the band to assign him “minders” to babysit him. At the same time the band limited his role, taking more control away from him and putting it in the hands of others, hiring Tom Keylock as manager. Personally as well Brian’s life was up and down. During a trip to Morocco Keith Richards had an affair with Jones’ then girlfriend Anita Pallenberg, putting further distance between him and his bandmates.
Brian needed a break. He retreated to Cotchford Farm, the former residence of Winnie-the-Pooh author A. A. Milne and setting for the books. Jones purchased the estate in November 1968 and had set about working to restore it. He hired builder Frank Thorogood who had previously done work for Mick Jagger and Keith Richards but been fired when it was discovered that he had stolen a guitar from Richards. Despite the theft from Richards, Thorogood convinced Brian that he needed to be located on the estate for work to commence. The married Thorogood moved into the guesthouse with a girlfriend, but soon the quarters were not adequate for the pair and they conveniently moved themselves into the main house. About this time items started to disappear from Jones’ home.
Despite the distraction Brian set about focusing on his music. He was soon working on a new “super group” with Steve Winwood, Steve Marriott, Jimi Hendrix, Bob Dylan and John Lennon. The Stones were also back in the studio and Brian was planning on contributing to the new album. Things seemed to have turned around.
On the night of July 2nd 1969 Jones was swimming in the pool with Thorogood. Thorogood’s girlfriend was also present that night as was Anna Wohlin. The women were inside when Thorogood says that he left to get a cigarette and on his return found Brian floating in the pool. Wohlin has said that Thorogood behaved suspiciously and showed little sympathy when Jones was discovered in the pool, but that she was not present at Jones's death.
The Rolling Stones performed at a free concert in Hyde Park on July 5, 1969, two days after Jones's death. The concert had been scheduled weeks earlier and the band decided to dedicate the concert to Jones. Before the Rolling Stones' set Jagger read excerpts from "Adonais", a poem by Percy Shelley about the death of his friend John Keats, and stagehands released hundreds of white butterflies as part of the tribute. The band opened with a Johnny Winter song that was one of Jones's favorites, "I'm Yours and I'm Hers.” Pete Townshend wrote a poem titled "A Normal Day for Brian, A Man Who Died Every Day,” Jimi Hendrix dedicated a song to him on television and Jim Morrison published a poem entitled "Ode to L.A. While Thinking of Brian Jones, Deceased."
Jones was buried in Cheltenham Cemetery in a casket sent by Bob Dylan. Charlie Watts and Bill Wyman were the only Rolling Stones who attended the funeral. Mick Jagger and Marianne Faithfull were travelling to Australia to begin filming the movie Ned Kelly; they stated that their contracts did not allow them to delay the trip to attend the funeral. Keith Richards reportedly remained in the recording studio.
Seemingly this might be the end of the story. However, in November of 1993, on his deathbed, Frank Thorogood confessed to Tom Keylock that he had drowned Jones that night in the pool. Said Thorogood, “It was me that did Brian. I just finally snapped – it just happened.”
As the story goes, the pool party that night had been intended as a farewell for Thorogood. The work that was being done on the estate had virtually come to a halt as Thorogood and his pals had turned the project into a nonstop party at Brian’s expense. Thorogood had been joined at the pool by a few of his crew and they set about bullying Brian by dunking him under the water until he relented and would give them their jobs back. Allegedly during the razing Thorogood held Jones under the water too long and he drowned.
In August 2009 Sussex Police announced that they had decided to review Brian Jones' death.
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