*”Edith Grove-London SW10″ – scene of the Rolling Stones first photo shoot !!!

My ‘London Shoes’ have been off the road for over a month, due to a bit of a health issue – but although still not 100% chipper, it was good to step out this week and get back on the old blog treadmill – even if it was for just a couple of ‘quickie’ blog topics, where I was in & out like a fiddler’s elbow – not hanging around too long in the cold.

Both blog topics were located almost next door to each other – both are related to music – and I’ve presented both of them from a sort of ‘then & now’ perspective.

So – the 1^st of this duo of articles is all about the very first promo photo session done by the legendary Rolling Stones – which took place on 4^th May 1963 – some 60yrs ago!!!!!

The Stones, as we know them today, had formed in May 1962 – when guitarist, the late ‘Brian Jones’ – already a ‘face’ on the emerging London jazz/blues scene – put an advertisement in Jazz Weekly, for new members to form a band – and, from the outcome of that ad – the Rolling Stones were formed.

One year later, with an official settled line-up of Brian Jones / Mick Jagger / Keith Richards / Charlie Watts / Bill Wyman – and with new manager Andrew Loog Oldham, calling the shots and making things happen – their very first official photo shoot was arranged.

Celebrity photographer of the day ‘Phillip Townsend’-was commissioned by the Stones manager, to do the shoot – and for the backdrop he chose some streets that were familiar to him in the Chelsea district of London.

At that time, Brian Jones – Mick Jagger & Keith Richards were living in a dingy dirty flat within an early 1800’s built terraced house at no.102 Edith Grove–London SW10.

Both Charlie Watt’s and Bill Wyman, the Stones drummer and bass guitarist, were often in attendance at the 102 Edith Grove flat, for band meetings and rehearsals etc – but Watts and Wyman were sensible enough never to stay over – deliberately distancing themselves from the chaos and squalor, that Jones/Jagger/Richards were living in.

It was probably only fitting therefore that the very first Stones promo photo should be taken outside 102 Edith Grove.

For the photo – 5 very young, clean-cut and smartly dressed Stones sat down next to each other in a line, in the middle of the Edith Grove road tarmac – with 102 in the background.

Now – clearly there couldn’t have been much traffic around on the day of the photo shoot 60yrs ago – because when I was there, there was a constant stream of traffic both ways – and it took me 5mins to cross from one side of Edith Grove to the other – but I guess those were different times.

Edith Grove looks a bit grim in the original 1963 promo photo – and its fair to say that it looks as grim today as it did then (in my opinion). However, it would still cost you an arm & a leg to buy one of its houses or flats/apartments – we are talking £millions.

So – having done the first photo of the 1963 shoot, the photographer drove the Stones around the Chelsea streets surrounding Edith Grove – stopping off at a number of locations deemed suitable as a backdrop for the band to ‘strike a pose’ – one being the popular ‘Australian Pub’ in Milner Street.

The Australian Pub closed in the 1980’s, but the old pub building is still in situ, and is a high-end retail shop these days.

So – having travelled over to Fulham Broadway tube station, in my quest to track down Edith Grove – retracing the footsteps of the Stones some 60yrs earlier, and taking a few ‘Then & Now’ photos – it was time for a little liquid refreshment, before heading off back home – and I found myself in some Egyptian café just around the corner from Fulham Broadway tube station – where I enjoyed a nice cup of some sort of tea (medication dictates I have to be alcohol free at the mo) plus a slice of cake.

With Shoes having been off the road for a month, this was a nice little blog to get stuck into and knock out – hopefully more in-depth material will follow over the coming weeks.

Hope you enjoyed this little story.

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See below the full gallery of photos taken to support this blog topic

Fulham Broadway tube station – the nearest tube stop to ‘Edith Grove’ – London SW10

‘Edith Grove’ – London SW10 – where Rolling Stones band members Brian Jones / Mick Jagger / Keith Richards – rented a flat in the early 1960’s – and it was also the backdrop to the bands very first promo photo shoot

‘Edith Grove’ – as it is today

The very first promo photo of the Rolling Stones. taken in May 1963 – outside Jones/Jagger & Richards rented flat at 102 Edith Grove-London SW10

102 Edith Grove-London SW10 – backdrop to the Stones very first promo photo shoot.

The entrance to 102 Edith Grove-London SW10 – now made up of multi occupancy flats

A side view of 102 Edith Grove – where, back in 1963 3 of the founder members of the Rolling Stones – rented a flat.

Me – outside the entrance to 102 Edith Grove – as it is today.

The very 1st promo shot of the now globally legendary “Rolling Stones” – with its Edith Grove backdrop. From left to right:- Bill Wyman – Brian Jones – Keith Richards – Mick Jagger – Charlie Watts

Me – outside 102 Edith Grove-London SW10 – backdrop to the very firstRolling Stones promo photo – taken in May 1963

From the very same photo shoot – the Rolling Stones outside what was once the ‘Australian Pub’ in Milner Street-Chelsea

The old ‘Australian Pub’ building in Milner Street-Chelsea, as it is today- scene of one of the other promo photos from the Rolling Stones very first photo shoot.

Me – knocking back a much needed hot cuppa (of something) in an Egyptian cafe – just round the corner from Fulham Broadway tube station.