Brian Jones wrote to Charlie Watts in 1962 asking him to leave his R&B group and join his ‘far better’ band instead

A handwritten letter from Brian Jones to Charlie Watts in which he attempts to recruit the drummer to join the band that would soon become the Rolling Stones is being auctioned later this year.

The 1962 letter, which comes directly from Watts’s sister and has remained in the family for more than six decades, will be revealed to the public for the first time.

Hier steigen Staatsgäste und Stars ab: Das Hotel Adlon ist die wohl berühmteste Herberge Deutschlands. Nun soll die Immobilie auf den Markt kommen. Aber wer soll sie kaufen?

In a career spanning six decades, photographer Gered Mankowitz has nurtured trusting relationships with many of the twentieth century’s defining artists. As he celebrates his 80th birthday, Mankowitz opens up about the stories behind iconic images of Elton John, Jimi Hendrix, Annie Lennox and others that have have become indelible parts of pop culture history. These images are taken from Gered Mankowitz: Photographs, out now via ACC Art Books; much of his work is also displayed at Iconic Images Gallery, London

Barbara Becker schwärmt von ihrem guten Verhältnis zu Ex-Mann Boris. Mick Jagger hält sich bereit für die nächste Tour. Und Vanessa Mai hat heute Abend schon was vor.

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Continuing the rejuvenated sound of 2023’s Hackney Diamonds, there’s touching vulnerability from Keith Richards while Jagger confronts war and autocracy

Mick Jagger recently launched the Rolling Stones’s 25th album declaring, “The thing about this record is, the Stones are a rock band that also has the capacity to do ballads, country music or dance music. So we don’t get stuck in one kind of style.” The same could be said of numerous bands, but what the singer was probably driving at was that the Stones have always been able to do all this while sounding utterly like themselves. Nobody else has been able to assemble their quintessentially just-shaky Jenga tower of sound, which often sounds like it could fall to pieces at any moment but somehow never does.

They have certainly also made their share of albums that sounded like they’d been phoned in from the cricket, but Foreign Tongues continues the creative renaissance that began with 2023’s Hackney Diamonds, which at the time was their first album of original songs in 18 years. Once again, producer and occasional musician Andrew Watt captures the rejuvenated band’s joy of playing in a room together – and, as guitarist Keith Richards put it recently, kicks their asses when needed. Perhaps drummer Charlie Watts’ death five years ago has sharpened the founding pair’s awareness that their band may not last much longer, so they may as well go down blazing and have fun while they do so.

He did every substance imaginable – and got punched by Chuck Berry – but Keef’s still going strong. As the Stones knock out another new album, he explains why he’s rejecting AI in favour of ‘the old ways’

Keith Richards has just become a great-grandfather. “This is true! This is true!” he enthuses, video-calling from somewhere in the depths of the Hit Factory, the New York studio first patronised by the Rolling Stones 46 years ago when they were making Emotional Rescue. “It’s been a couple of weeks. It’s a new thing for me. But I’m a fantastic grandad,” he confides. “Great-grandadding is … I try to let them hang with me for as long as humanly possible, then I hand ’em back. I’ve been doing a lot of grandfathering in the last year or so. I’ve got three or four new ones, you know. When I say new, I mean … two or three years old. Or four. Or one, or maybe five.”

Hang on, that seems a little vague. He shrugs and explodes in a wheezy chuckle. “I lose track, you know.”

Mick Jagger, Keith Richards and Ronnie Wood join Conan O’Brien to discuss forthcoming album Foreign Tongues

On Tuesday afternoon in New York, the Rolling Stones gathered friends, journalists and fellow artists for a preview of their forthcoming 25th album, Foreign Tongues.

Before the trio stepped on stage, host Conan O’Brien deadpanned that perhaps, finally, this is the album where the band will “finally make it after decades of obscurity”. The audience, which included Leonardo DiCaprio, director Baz Luhrmann and actor Odessa A’zion, laughed appreciatively.

Spokesperson for Rolling Stones tells Guardian band did not liaise with Marc Beckman and his team on use of Gimme Shelter in first lady documentary

A source close to Mick Jagger has cast doubt on a claim by Melania producer Marc Beckman that his team was closely involved with the singer over the use of a Rolling Stones song in the film.

The film, which follows the first lady in the 20 days leading up to Donald Trump’s second inauguration in January 2025, opens with a sequence in Mar-a-Lago soundtracked to the Rolling Stones’ Gimme Shelter. Despite being owned by music company ABKCO, Beckman told Variety that Jagger “was actually involved” and “gave us his blessing”.

From a gold-covered Dennis Rodman to Jack Nicholson sitting in the snow, Albert Watson has spent a career shooting the stars – as well as the occasional giant coffee spoon