Born on July 26: Mick Jagger, the eternal teenager of the Rolling Stones

But how does he do it? The dashing octogenarian, born in 1943 in Dartford, Kent, still flutters around like a young epileptic teenager. Yet today, he celebrates his 82d birthday.

At the end of 2023, with the otherwise excellent "Hackney Diamonds," the Rolling Stones released their first real collection of new songs since "A Bigger Bang" eighteen years earlier. Indeed, while it once again highlighted Keith & Mick's immoderate love for the blues, "Blue & Lonesome" (produced by Don Was in 2016) consisted entirely of covers recorded live. From Howlin' Wolf to Willie Dixon and Jimmy Reed, it features compositions by their childhood idols, with a particular emphasis on the Chicago school of blues.

A fickle lover, Mick Jagger admitted to some 4,000 conquests during his career as the Don Juan of rock. Whether this was a joke or a mathematical tally is unclear. Although he married Bianca in 1971 and then model Jerry Hall in 1990, he is known to have had a number of more or less fleeting affairs with, for example, Anita Pallenberg, Chrissie Shrimpton, Marsha Hunt, Carly Simon (though it wasn't for him that she wrote the masterful "You're So Vain," on which Mick sings, by the way), actress Angelina Jolie, and a marked penchant for models from Sophie Dahl to... Carla Bruni!

Alongside his adventures with the Rolling Stones, Jagger indulged himself—like the other members of the group—in a handful of more personal pursuits. Since 1985, he has released four albums under his own name. The most recent was "Goddessinthedoorway" (2001). With Dave Stewart (Eurythmics), he also worked on the score for the film "Alfie" (2004) and composed the very modern "Strange Game" for the theme song of the Apple TV series "Slow Horses."

At over 80 years old, Grandpa Jagger still has no intention of retiring! As it turns out, 81 is just 18 backwards...

(MH with Stéphane Soupart / Photo : © Etienne Tordoir)

Photo: Mick Jagger in Amsterdam, Netherlands, on September 17, 1987, to promote his solo album "Primitive Cool."