Chris Jagger Biography

Chris Jagger (born 19 December 1947 in Dartford, Kent) is an English musician. He is the younger brother of Mick Jagger.

Life and career

Jagger was born into a middle-class family in Dartford, Kent. His father, Basil Fanshawe "Joe" Jagger (13 April 1913 - 11 November 2006), and grandfather, David Ernest Jagger, were both teachers. His mother, Eva Ensley Mary (ne Scutts; 6 April 1913 - 18 May 2000), born in New South Wales, Australia, of English descent, was a hairdresser and an active member of the Conservative Party.

After studying dramatic art, Jagger has worked in many fields, including theater, cinema, clothes design and decoration.

In the 1970s, his project for recording an album with the Flying Burrito Brothers was aborted. In the 1980s, he contributed to two of The Rolling Stones' albums, Dirty Work (1986) and Steel Wheels (1989), while he also worked in France with Vanessa Paradis's producer, Franck Langolff.

Jagger has also worked as a journalist (contributing articles for The Daily Telegraph, The Guardian, The Mail on Sunday, The Independent on Sunday and Rolling Stone), and wrote and presented for BBC Radio 2 a program about Alexis Korner, a blues pioneer, and co-produced a film for Sky Arts channel called I Got the Blues in Austin.

Jagger and his business partner Pat Townshend developed the guitar company Staccato in the mid-1980s. Townshend designed the magnesium alloy guitar called, "The Staccato." The guitar featured a neck and bridge system that could be swapped out. The user could interchange a bass neck for a six string neck. Some models featured no volume or tone pots. The user could activate the volume controls on a touch sensitive LED pad.

A prototype bass was built in Norfolk England in 1983 and a business partnership was formed to produce Staccato guitars, at the old school house in Woodbastwick, Norfolk. The partners on equal shares were Pat Townshend, Bill Wyman, Chris and Mick Jagger. The company went under in 1987. Gene Simmons can be seen playing a Staccato bass during Kiss' Crazy Night's tour.

In England, he also contributed to the organisation of three charity concerts: one for Bosnia (Bop for Bosnia) and the two others for Tibet.

After twenty years of silence, Jagger's third album was released in 1994. Since this date, his musical style has changed to incorporate elements of cajun, zydeco, folk, country, blues and rock.

Jagger is married and has five children.

Jagger's song "Still Waters" appears on the 2013 Carla Olson album "Have Harmony, Will Travel."

Mick Jagger has teamed up with his brother Chris for two new duets to mark the 40th anniversary of the Chris' debut album.

Discography

Albums

• 1973 : You Know the Name But Not the Face
• 1974 : The Adventures of Valentine Vox the Ventriloquist
• 1994 : Atcha
• 1995 : Rock the Zydeco (U.S. edition of Atcha)
• 1996 : From Lhasa to Lewisham
• 2001 : Channel Fever
• 2006 : Act of Faith
• 2009 : The Ridge
• 2013 : Concertina Jack
• 2014 : Chris Jagger's Acoustic Roots

Contributions

• 1976 : Eric Clapton : No Reason to Cry (vocals)
• 1997 : Knights of the Blues Table - one track: Racketeer Blues (with Mick Jagger on harmonica)
• 2003 : Rick Payne : Sessions - one track: Blue Eyes Crying
• 2005 : Edith Lefel : Mci - one track: L'isine Fmin
• 2007 : Whatever Colors You Have in Your Mind (tribute to Bob Dylan) - one track: To be alone with you
• 2008 : Flipron : Gravity Calling (vocals)
• 2009 : Thank You, Georges! (tribute to Georges Brassens) - one track: First Love (La Premire Fille)
• 2010 : Mustique Blues Festival - one track: Evil

Filmography

Cinema

• 1972 : Lucifer Rising
• 1978 : The Stud
• 1979 : Home Before Midnight
• 1979 : The Bitch
• 1985 : Lifeforce (L'toile du mal)
• 2000 : Attraction
• 2009 : I Got the Blues in Austin - Co-producer (Jagger Peyton Films)

Television

• 1979 : BBC2 Playhouse - 1 episode : Standing in for Henry
• 1980 : Shoestring - 1 episode : Find the Lady

Bands and musicians

Atcha Acoustic (1996)

• Chris Jagger : guitar, harmonica
• Charlie Hart : fiddle, accordion
• Ben Waters : piano

Chris Jagger's Atcha!

• Chris Jagger : guitar, harmonica, washboard
• Charlie Hart : fiddle, accordion, piano, bass, double bass
• Malcolm Mortimore : drums
• Jim Mortimore : bass, guitar, double bass

The first version of the band also included Paul Emile on bass,
Jim Mortimore being on guitar.

Chris Jagger's Acoustic Trio

• Chris Jagger : guitar, harmonica
• Elliet Mackrell : fiddle, didgeridoo
• David Hatfield : double bass

Apart from the band members, contributions also came from several artists such as
Ed Deane, Dave Stewart, David Gilmour (guitar), Mick Jagger or Sam Brown (vocals).