Mick Jagger & Dave Stewart - Alfie - Music From The Motion Picture (Bonus Track Edition) (2004)

Mick Jagger:
As the lead singer for the Rolling Stones, Mick Jagger virtually invented the concept of the rock & roll frontman. Taking his cues from soul singers, bluesmen, and Elvis Presley, Jagger crafted a magnetic, carnal persona that retained its charisma even after it was mimicked and expanded by countless singers who followed in his footsteps. He may have been surrounded by disciples, but Jagger never left the spotlight, touring with the Rolling Stones until he was in his seventies. Unlike his lifelong collaborator Keith Richards, Jagger always seemed eager to explore territory outside of the Stones, releasing a solo single called "Memo from Turner" in 1970 and launching a full-fledged solo career in 1985, 21 years after the band's debut. When he released She's the Boss, it appeared that the Stones may have been approaching the end of their career, but it soon transpired that Jagger's solo career would run concurrently with that of the band's. Over the ensuing decades, he released a string of solo albums and formed a supergroup called SuperHeavy with David A. Stewart, and while none of these projects commanded the attention that the Rolling Stones achieved, they nevertheless showcased a restless talent with an interest in pop, dance, and world music.

Mick Jagger met Keith Richards when they were attending the Dartford Maypole County Primary School as children. They met again as teenagers in 1960, discovering they shared a love of American blues, rock & roll, and R&B. At the time, Jagger was a student at the London School of Economics and was playing with a London band called Little Boy Blue and the Blue Boys. Within two years, Jagger and Richards had formed the Rolling Stones. During the course of the '60s, the Stones were the only rock & roll band to rival the popularity of the Beatles. In the process, they cultivated an image as the most dangerous band in rock & roll, a status that was confirmed not only by the band's reckless, decadent behavior, but also by Jagger's lyrical obsessions with sex and violence.

In the early '70s, Jagger began to break away from the group. He had become the most famous member of the Stones, partially due to his role as the band's lead singer, but also due to his immersion in the jet-set lifestyle, where he became a familiar figure in New York art circles and Hollywood. Jagger began acting toward the end of the '60s, first in the Australian film Ned Kelly and then in Performance, which contained his most celebrated performance. After his brief foray into film, Jagger concentrated on singing with the Stones and being a celebrity, appearing in mainstream gossip columns as frequently as music publications.

During the early '80s, Jagger and Richards conflicted over the musical direction of the band. Jagger wanted to move the band in a more pop and dance-oriented direction while Richards wanted to stay true to the band's rock & roll and blues roots. By 1984, Jagger had begun recording a solo album where he pursued a more mainstream, dance-inflected pop direction. The resulting album, She's the Boss, was released in 1985. Jagger filmed a number of state-of-the-art videos for the album, which all received heavy airplay from MTV, helping propel the record's first single, "Just Another Night," to number 12 and the album to platinum status. "Lucky in Love," the second single from the album, wasn't quite as successful, just scraping the bottom of the Top 40. In the summer of 1985, Jagger and David Bowie recorded a cover of Martha & the Vandellas' "Dancing in the Street" for the Live Aid organization. The single peaked at number seven on the U.S. pop charts; all the proceeds from its sale were donated to Live Aid.

Around the same time that the Rolling Stones released their 1986 album, Dirty Work, Jagger released the theme song from the movie Ruthless People as a single (it peaked at number 51) and told Richards that the Stones would not tour to support Dirty Work. For the next few years, Jagger and Richards barely spoke to each other and sniped at one another in the press. During this time, Jagger tried to make his solo career as successful as the Rolling Stones, pouring all of his energy into his second solo album, 1987's Primitive Cool. Although the album received stronger reviews than She's the Boss, only one of the singles -- "Let's Work" -- scraped the bottom of the Top 40 and the record didn't go gold.

Following the commercial failure of Primitive Cool, Jagger returned to the fold of the Rolling Stones in 1989, recording, releasing, and touring behind the Steel Wheels album. Steel Wheels was a massively successful venture, and after the tour was completed, the Stones entered a slow period, where each of the members pursued solo projects. Jagger recorded his next solo album with Rick Rubin, who had previously worked with the Beastie Boys and Red Hot Chili Peppers. The resulting Wandering Spirit was released in 1993 and received the strongest reviews of any of Jagger's solo efforts. The album entered the U.S. charts at number 11 and went gold the year it was released. A year after the arrival of Wandering Spirit, the Stones reunited for Voodoo Lounge, supporting the album with another extensive international tour. The Stones repeated this pattern with 1997's Bridges to Babylon before entering a quiet phase.

Jagger welcomed in the 21st century with 2001's Goddess in the Doorway, his fourth solo album; despite a glowing review from Rolling Stone, it failed to generate much attention. The Rolling Stones celebrated their 40th anniversary in 2002 with the compilation Forty Licks and an accompanying tour, then Jagger turned his attention to collaborating with Dave Stewart for songs for the 2004 remake of the classic 1966 Michael Caine film Alfie. Mick duetted with Joss Stone on Alfie, thereby laying the ground work for the Jagger, Stewart, and Stone supergroup SuperHeavy, which also featured A.R. Rahman and Damian Marley. SuperHeavy would release their lone album in 2011, and during the gap between that eponymous record and Alfie, Jagger kept himself busy through his film production company and with Stones projects, including the release of a new album called A Bigger Bang in 2005 and a number of tours. Following the Stones' 2016 blues album, Blue & Lonesome, Jagger returned his attention to his solo career for the first time in 16 years. ~ Stephen Thomas Erlewine

Dave Stewart:
Best known as one-half of the groundbreaking synth pop duo Eurythmics, Dave Stewart was also a highly successful producer and, on occasion, a solo artist. David A. Stewart (as he also sometimes was credited on record) was born September 9, 1952 in Sunderland, England; the product of an upper-middle class family, he enjoyed his first taste of musical success during the early '70s while fronting the band Longdancer. The group seemed poised for big things after signing to Elton John's Rocket Records, but they quickly fizzled out; Stewart soon resurfaced in a variety of short-lived groups, and eventually began writing songs with friend Peet Coombes. In the late '70s he was also introduced to an aspiring singer named Annie Lennox; the two became lovers, and with Coombes they formed a group dubbed the Tourists, issuing a trio of new wave-influenced LPs between 1979 and 1980.

When the Tourists came to a halt in late 1980, Stewart and Lennox's romance ended as well; they agreed to continue their musical partnership, however, rechristening themselves Eurythmics. Their soulful synth pop sound was created solely via Stewart's technological mastery, capped off by Lennox's powerful vocals; after the title track of 1983's Sweet Dreams (Are Made of This) became an international smash, the Eurythmics rose to become one of the '80s most successful and innovative artists, scoring such major hits as 1984's "Here Comes the Rain Again," 1985's "Would I Lie to You?," and 1986's "Missionary Man." In 1985, Stewart also scored his first outside success as a producer, working on Aretha Franklin's comeback album Who's Zoomin' Who; that same year, he also helmed Tom Petty & the Heartbreakers' hit Southern Accents. In the years to follow, he went on to produce music for Mick Jagger, Bob Dylan, and the Neville Brothers.

By the end of the '80s, Eurythmics' popularity was on the decline, and after 1989's We Too Are One failed to recapture the magic of their earlier work, they essentially disbanded, with only a hits compilation and a live LP to follow. Stewart, who in 1987 had married Bananarama/Shakespear's Sister vocalist Siobhan Fahey, initially turned to soundtrack work, scoring the Dutch film Lily Was Here in 1989; a year later, he put together a new band, the Spiritual Cowboys, with ex-Pretenders drummer Martin Chambers. Sporting a more atmospheric, guitar-driven sound than his previous work, the Spiritual Cowboys issued two albums, a 1990 self-titled effort and 1991's Honest, neither of which caught on with audiences. Stewart then spent the next several years in relative silence, accepting a few production jobs but otherwise staying out of the limelight. In 1995, he finally issued his proper solo debut, Greetings from the Gutter.

In 1997, Stewart co-produced the album Destination Anywhere for Jon Bon Jovi. He emerged as an artist again in 1999; this time as a film composer scoring director Robert Altman's film Cookie's Fortune in 1999. In November 2002, he worked with former South African president Nelson Mandela. Stewart came up with the idea of turning Mandela's prison number into a telephone number. He wrote and recorded songs with Paul McCartney, Bono, and the Edge (among others) that could only be heard if you dialed this number; the cost of the call was in fact a donation in the fight against HIV/AIDS in the newly independent but beleaguered nation. Along with an ad agency, Stewart organized the entire campaign. In 2004, he collaborated with Jagger on the score for a remake of the film Alfie, and in 2007 scored Ted Demme's film The Ref. In March 2007, Stewart unveiled an initiative called "Greenpeace Works," which he labeled a "think tank" to dream up ways celebrities and Greenpeace could work together on green issues. For the project, he issued The Dave Stewart Songbook, a large coffee table-size book full of stories and photographs. It was accompanied by a newly recorded CD of 21 songs that been co-written or co-produced by him. Also included was the song "American Prayer," written with Bono. In 2008, Stewart shot a video for the tune as support for Barack Obama's presidential bid.

In 2011, he completed work on his musical, Ghost, which opened in England in March; he also finished work on Stevie Nicks' In Your Dreams album, which was co-produced by Glen Ballard and released in May. Simultaneously, he also completed his first album of new material in 13 years in Nashville, with help from Martina McBride, Joss Stone, Colbie Caillat, and the Secret Sisters. Entitled The Blackbird Diaries, the set was recorded at McBride's husband John's Blackbird Studios and issued in late May. Stewart also helmed the sessions and co-wrote the songs for Stone's LP1, which was released in the summer of 2011. That same year, both Stewart and Stone joined SuperHeavy, a supergroup that also featured Mick Jagger, Damian Marley, and A.R. Rahman. A self-titled SuperHeavy album arrived in the fall of 2011, and then Stewart returned to Blackbird Studios, recording and releasing his solo effort The Ringmaster General in 2012. A year later, Stewart released Lucky Numbers, another solo album laden with guest stars, this time including Martina McBride and Karen Elson. Stewart published his memoir, Sweet Dreams Are Made of This: A Life in Music, in February 2016 and then turned his attention to The Nashville Sessions. A series of collaborations with superstars and emerging artists, the first volume of the project -- entitled The Nashville Sessions: The Duets, Vol. 1 -- arrived in October 2017. ~ Jason Ankeny & Thom Jurek