The legendary Rock royalty marriage of Mick and Bianca Jagger
The couple married on May 12, 1971, in Saint Tropez and the ceremony became a legend of its own
The legendary Rock royalty marriage of Mick and Bianca Jagger
In 1971, having declared themselves tax exiles from the UK, relocating to France in order to escape England’s high tax rates on the wealthy, The Rolling Stones were living one of their most memorable periods. The band rented a mansion in the south of France where they focused on composing and recording their classic 1972 album “Exile On Main Street”. The same year of 1971, saw the first release of the Rolling Stones under their own label and the first not featuring Brian Jones, “Sticky Fingers”. The album was a sales success and revived the Stones flame, that for two years had been cursed with the death of Brian Jones and the Altamont tragedy. Marianne Faithfull was no longer Jagger’s girl, he was now in love with the Nicaraguan actress Bianca Pérez-Mora Macías. The couple met at a party after a Rolling Stones concert in France in September 1970. At the time, Bianca was living in Paris. Then on 12 May 1971, while she was four months pregnant of The couple’s only child, Jade, they married in a Roman Catholic ceremony in Saint-Tropez, France, and she became his first wife. The marriage day and ceremony became a legend of its own. Jagger chartered a plane to fly 75 friends who only learned of the wedding the day before, including Paul McCartney and his family, Ringo Starr, Peter Frampton and Ronnie Wood (who wouldn’t join the Stones for another four years), from the UK to Saint-Tropez. As McCartney and Starr were embroiled in a harsh legal battle, they have seated far apart. At the reception, stars like Julie Christie and Brigitte Bardot danced the Frug to the sounds of an all-star jam that included Stephen Stills, Terry Reid, and members of Santana among others. But not everyone was invited or happy with the union. Jagger’s ex, Marianne Faithfull, celebrated the marriage in her own special way — by “sleeping off the effects of a shot of Valium and three vodka martinis” she took “to deal with the fact that Mick was marrying someone else,” in a cell at the police station in the Paddington Green section of London. Years later, in her memoir, she noted the physical resemblance between Bianca and Mick, calling it narcissism and writing, “Mick married himself.” In retrospective, the events of that day are still confusing for some of the participants, including Mick and Bianca. Keith Richards, allegedly passed out while wearing a Nazi uniform, Keith Moon of The Who invaded the couple’s hotel room that night and nobody knows for sure who was the best man (Bobby Keys, Roger Vadim or Keith Richards) while speaking to a reporter afterward about the wedding day, told that “I hope my other son doesn’t become a superstar.” Too late, for that, as by then Mick Jagger was possibly the most famous Rock Star in the world. The marriage eventually collapsed and in May 1978, Bianca filed for divorce on the grounds of his adultery with model Jerry Hall. Bianca later said “My marriage ended on my wedding day.
Watch some footage from the 1971 marriage of Mick and Bianca Jagger
Also watch: guests arriving at the 1971 marriage of Mick and Bianca Jagger
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