The group was formed in 1962 by guitarist Brian Jones, when he met at the Ealing Club singer Mick Jagger and guitarists Dick Taylor and Keith Richards, members of another blues-influenced group. They soon joined Jones's new band, and pianist Ian Stewart also became a part of it after answering Jones's advertisement for musicians. Taylor left the group by the fall of that year, replaced by Bill Wyman. After running through a few other drummers, the band got Charlie Watts to come onboard in early 1963.

In their early efforts, the band recorded several cover versions of other people's songs. But Richards and Jagger soon emerged as a powerful songwriting duo, at first using the pseudonym "Nanker Phelge" for their songwriting credits.

The Rolling Stones first made the British charts in 1964 with a cover version of Bobby Womack's "It's All Over Now." That same year, the band toured the United States and had their first U.S. hit with "That Girl Belongs to Yesterday." More hits soon followed, including the chart-topping "Satisfaction" and "Paint It Black."

In 1966, after The Beatles stopped giving live performances, The Rolling Stones took over as the unofficial "biggest touring band in the world" for the next few years. During 1966-1969 they toured the world, and constantly updated their song-list with many great hits like "Lets Spend the night together" (1967), "Sympathy for the Devil" (1968) and "Honky tonk woman" (1969).

In July 1969, Brian Jones died of drowning in his swimming pool while having signs of drug overdose. The loss of one of their founding members was a painful moment for the Stones. However, at the end of the 1960s their creativity reached the new highs. Their albums "Beggars Banquet" (1968) and "Sticky Fingers" (1971) were among the most popular albums they ever made, having such hits as "Wild Horses" and "Brown Sugar."

During the 1970s The Rolling Stones remained the biggest band in the world. The Stones made thousands of live performances and multi-million record sales with hits like "Angie" (1973), "It's Only Rock and Roll" (1974), "Hot Stuff" (1976) and "Respectable" (1978).

Mick Jagger is the heart of "The Stones" and their soul is Keith Richards.

The two had carried on their early image of unkempt youth, had survived ups and downs in their careers and personal lives, and remained the core of the band since1962. Two other remaining members are drummer Charlie Watts and guitarist Ron Wood.

The Rolling Stones have released 55 albums of original work and compilations, and sold over 200 million records word-wide during their career spanning over 45 years. They gave more large-scale shows internationally than any other existing band in the world, culminating in their 2005-2007 "A Bigger Band" tour with 147 concerts, the highest grossing tour of all time with $559 million earned.

Since the 1970s they remained one of the biggest entertainment acts touring the world and their inimitable shows, no matter the best, or the worst, has been played with fire and emotion, giving their audiences the kind of music they do best - it's only rock'n roll.