Start Up the Eighties

Despite all of their success, the Stones were not as close as they once had been. After twenty years together, even the best friendships can wear thin, and people need to take a break. Mick Jagger and Keith Richards were no exception. The early eighties saw the boys in the band taking on different solo projects, getting married, and having children.

Keith married model Patti Hansen in 1983. Mick and Bianca divorced in 1980, and Mick became romantically involved with Jerry Hall, a Texas-born model-actress. Both Mick and Keith were welcoming new children into their lives. While they did release a new album, Undercover, in 1983, there was no sign of any new touring happening, and the band that had been releasing an album a year since the early sixties seemed to be slowing down.

In addition to spending time with their new families, both Mick and Keith were working on solo albums. Mick's first, She's the Boss, was released in 1985, and Keith's first, Talk Is Cheap, in 1987. Ron Wood had his own band, the New Barbarians, and Charlie Watts was playing big band music with his own orchestra. There were rumors floating around that the band was breaking up, and the truth is that Mick and Keith had been arguing quite a bit, but the band continued to find reasons to keep it together.