Sir Mick Jagger’s dad was against him being a rocker.
Sir Mick Jagger’s dad was against him being a rocker
The 80-year-old Rolling Stones frontman says his father Basil Fanshawe ‘Joe’ Jagger was an academic who hated the idea of him going into the “arts” – but said he gave him his love of fitness.
Mick told The Times about his late dad: “He was inspiring in terms of physical exercise.
“He wasn’t that tough a father, not a severe disciplinarian or anything like that, but he taught me how physicality was important.
“What he didn’t do, what he was so against, actually, was me being involved in any way in the arts.”
When asked if his dad approved of him joining a rock band, ‘(I Can’t Get No) Satisfaction’ singer Mick added: “No, he did not. He was an academic person and a teacher and a fitness enthusiast.
“That meant he taught me how to be academic, how to learn things and how to be fit.
“Clearly I had a whole other part of me that wanted to be creative, but it was my own fault.
“The school I went to (Dartford Grammar School) did have theatre, it did have performance, it did have music – none of which I participated in at all.”
Mick’s dad was a gymnast and physical education teacher who helped popularise basketball in Britain and wrote two books about the callisthenics movement.
The singer’s paternal grandfather David Ernest Jagger was also a teacher.
Mick admitted he didn’t always want to be a singer, and said he was also interested in films and acting.
He added when asked by The Times if singing had been his ambition: “Yeah, kind of. I was also interested in films. I was interested in acting.
“So why wasn’t I in any of the school productions? Obviously I wasn’t particularly interested after all.
“But you can’t do everything, can you? There was so much academic work to do, and so much sport, and my father certainly didn’t lead me down that direction.”
Dad-of-eight Mick added: “With my children, if they want to do acting classes I’ll say, ‘Do acting classes.’ That’s the modern parent for you.”
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