The Rolling Stones are an English rock band formed in April 1962 by guitarist and harmonica player Brian Jones, pianist Ian Stewart, vocalist Mick Jagger and guitarist Keith Richards. Bassist Bill Wyman and drummer Charlie Watts completed the early lineup.

Jones initially led the band, but after Jagger and Richards together wrote hit songs for the band, they assumed control. Jones, whose contributions to recording had progressively dwindled and who was unable to tour, left the band by mutual agreement. Shortly before Jones' untimely death in 1969, Mick Taylor joined the Rolling Stones on guitar. Taylor left in 1974 and was replaced byRonnie Wood. Stewart was taken from the official lineup in 1963 to continue as the band's road manager and occasional keyboardist until his death in 1985. Wyman left in 1990, and his replacement Darryl Jones became the primary bassist, but he has not been made a full member.

After gaining popularity in Europe, The Rolling Stones became successful in North America during the so-called British Invasion of the mid 1960s. They have released 22 studio albums in the United Kingdom (24 in the United States), eight concert albums (nine in the US) and numerous compilations; they have been estimated to have sold worldwide more than 200 million albums.^[1] Sticky Fingers (1971) began a string of eight consecutive studio albums reaching number one in the United States. Their most recent album of entirely new material, A Bigger Bang, was released in 2005. In 1989 the Rolling Stones were inducted into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame, and in 2004 they ranked number 4 in Rolling Stone magazine's 100 Greatest Artists of All Time. In 2008, Billboard magazine ranked the Rolling Stones at number ten on "The Billboard Hot 100 Top All-Time Artists", and as the second most successful group in theBillboard Hot 100 chart.^[2]

After signing to Decca Records in 1963, the band changed their name from "The Rollin' Stones" to "The Rolling Stones".^[3] Band members and others often refer to the band as "The Sto