Mick Jagger cheated death not once but twice, according to a new Rolling Stones biography.
In 1976, the rock bandâs frontman allegedly almost overdosed after doing heroin at record producer Marshall Chessâ New York City apartment on East 69th Street, Bob Spitz writes in his newly released book, âThe Rolling Stones: The Biography.â
Chess claims in the book that Jagger paid a late-night visit to him after another party looking to score some drugs.
Even though Chess was allegedly trying to kick drugs at the time, he says he hopped into Jaggerâs limo and visited a âBuddhist heroin dealer, he knew who was at the beck and call of New York junkies twenty-four hours a day.â
Chess claims in the book that he and Jagger, now 82, âshared a little gram of heroin,â and ten minutes later, Jagger âcollapsed on the floor.â
âMick was out cold,â Spitz writes. âChess tried dragging him upright, even slapped him a couple of times, but â nothing,â and soon, Jaggerâs âlips were turning blue.â
âI didnât know what else to do,â Chess recalled. âI was freaked. Mick Jaggerâs gonna die in my fâking apartment.â
Chess called for an ambulance, and he also called the former president of Atlantic Records Ahmet Ertegun, who arrived moments later with Faye Dunaway in tow. At the time, the actress was married to Peter Wolf, the frontman for the J. Geils Band, who were signed to Atlantic Records.
Dunaway reportedly called a pal, the president of nearby Lenox Hill Hospital, âwho arranged a room where they could stash Mick so there would be no publicity,â while Chess performed mouth-to-mouth resuscitation until EMS arrived.
The âSatisfactionâ singer was allegedly put on oxygen by EMS âat which point he started breathing again.â
The second time the âMiss Youâ singer escaped death was a little more lighthearted.
In 1984, the band gathered in Amsterdam to discuss their future and patch over some hurt feelings.
One night, Jagger and Keith Richards went out drinking together and returned to their hotel at around five in the morning.
The singer picked up the phone, dialed drummer Charlie Wattsâ room, and bellowed, âWhereâs my drummer?â
Twenty minutes later, Watts, impeccably dressed in a Savile Row suit, wordlessly grabbed Jagger by the collar and shouted, âDonât ever call me your drummer!â and âthen he hauled off and belted Mick square in the jaw.â
Richards recalled watching Jagger fall âbackward onto a plate of smoked salmonâ and slide âperilously across a table toward an open window and the canal below.â
âI just grabbed his leg and saved him from going out,â Richards said.
The book also delves into Richardsâ heroin addiction and guitarist Bill Wymanâs sex life.
A spokesperson for Jagger did not respond to Page Sixâs request for comment.
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