Laura Jackson marks the 40th Anniversary of the death rock legend Brian Jones

2 July 2009. 40 years since the rolling stones' Brian Jones drowned, at the age of 27, in his swimming pool. In her definitive biography of Brian Jones, Laura Jackson - the first to insist that Jones was murdered and the first to identify his killer - rejects the stereotype of a narcissistic rock star who was doomed to self-destruct.

Instead, she spoke to the people who knew him best: his family and friends, girlfriends and confidantes, the musicians and friends who lived and worked with him right up until his death in 1969. Jones emerges as a man of immense talent, energy and humour, but crippled by insecurities and shyness - a portrayal greatly at odds with the sordid rumours that plagued him throughout his life, which continue to this day.

An extract from the book:

Over the years, sporadic attempts have been made to get the police to revisit the case - one as recently as 2005 - but the weight of evidence required to reopen an old investigation and bring it successfully to court is phenomenal. With the passage of time this becomes ever more unlikely. Two of the three key witnesses, Frank Thorogood and Janet Lawson are dead.

But why, in July 1969, in the teeth of everything they had to go on, did the police not aggressively pursue the truth of Brian's death? Why was the investigation permitted to fizzle out? If a rock star of Brian Jones' standing died today in such circumstances, the intense media interest would ensure such an outcome could not happen. Back in 1969, Brian's death slid conveniently into the quagmire that had tagged him as a casualty waiting to happen. Brian Jones should be sitting pretty as a living legend, a respected musician, personally at peace, with all the angst and pangs of loves lost forgotten. Instead, unlike Jim Morrison, Jimi Hendrix and many others, the late Brian Jones has never been elevated to iconic status.

Sadly, Brian's murderer was never brought to justice. But what is undoubtedly most intriguing - the underlying reason for someone wanting Brian Jones dead - has never been revealed. A climate of fear surrounds his drowning. It took hold the night of his death, and it remains to this day. Anna Wohlin was scared for her own life in the hours and days following the tragedy, Janet Lawson changed her name and Wohlin, Lawson and Thorogood all dropped off the map for decades.

Since the turning point in 1992, with the publication of Golden Stone, when the public's perception of Jones's death was irrevocably changed, a jitteriness became evident. For probing too closely into the events at Cotchford Farm on that long-ago night produces fascinating reactions: from brick walls, to attempts to make it a closed book. July 2009 marks the fortieth anniversary of Brian's death and quite possibly the final missing piece of this jigsaw will never be found. The controversy surrounding Brian's death, however, should no longer be allowed to obscure the man and his achievements. Brian was incredibly bright, exhaustively energetic, dangerously charismatic and an enormously gifted musician. He founded and played an integral role in what remains one of the biggest names in music and that, in the most creative and influential decade in music's history. Outlandish clothes and flamboyant flair in today's pop idols is taken for granted. Brian Jones was the prototype- a man who effortlessly carried off wearing lace, flowing robes and Berber jewellery. He once said that uniformity in males frightened him - and, with his famous heavy blond pageboy haircut and sartorial sense, he broke the mould in style. At the start of the sixties, men wore a collar and tie to mow the lawn on a Sunday. Brian Jones and all who agreed with him dared to challenge that. It is tragic that Brian was cut down at twenty-seven, but to many who were fortunate enough to have been the right age at the right time, he will always be remembered as someone who truly mattered.

Extract taken from Brian Jones: The untold life and mysterious death of a rock legend by Laura Jackson, published by Piatkus on 4th June 2009.

Posted 03/07/2009 10:23:22 by Darren Turpin with 1 comments.