Breaking Stones

"I was impressed by The Stones. They were dressed casually, had mischief in them and were different to other bands." Terry O Neill

In July 1962, a group of young men played a gig at The Marquee Club on Oxford Street, London. They called themselves 'The Rollin' Stones' and little did they know they would soon be making music history.

This evocative new book captures the youth, the times and the spirit of The Stones' formative early years. And documenting 1963-1965 were two young photographers just starting out in their careers. Terry O'Neill, aged just 25, had a few years' experience photographing musicians and knew that this group had the same magic as another British phenomenon that just recently started to chart, The Beatles. As the band was starting to record and tour, Gered Mankowitz came along. His first shoot, the now famous Mason's Yard session, was so fruitful, Gered was asked to tag along on tour to America. Gered was a mere 19 when he picked up his camera and joined the band on stage in 1965. Between these two legendary photographers, they chronicle the band's beginnings and these indelible images are forever placed in music's consciousness. The photography throughout this book is embellished with various memories and interviews, celebrating the early days and giving an insight into what it must have felt like to go from a small club in Soho with no record deal to touring the world a few years later with a number one record. Terry O'Neill and Gered Mankowitz, two of the most respected, collected and exhibited photographers in the world were sitting in the front-row.

In 2016, London's Saatchi Gallery hosted the first ever major exhibition dedicated to the band: Exhibitionism, a career-spanning, museum-style display of Stones artefacts and memorabilia. The publication of this book coincided with the opening of this ground-breaking exhibition.

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