Rockapaedia Obituaries
Ian Stewart
Band: The Rolling Stones
Ian Stewart died on 12th December 1985 from a heart attack.
He had been having respiratory problems and went to a clinic to have the problem examined, but he suffered a heart attack and died in the waiting room.
He was born Ian Andrew Robert Stewart on 18th July 1938 and was a keyboard player and co-founder of the Rolling Stones.
He was removed from the line-up in May 1963 at the request of their manager who felt he did not fit the band's image.
He remained as road manager and pianist and was posthumously inducted into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame along with the rest of the Rolling Stones in 1989.
Ian Stewart contributed piano, organ, electric piano and/or percussion to all Rolling Stones albums released between 1964 and 1986, except for Their Satanic Majesties Request, Beggars Banquet, and Some Girls.
Ian was not the only keyboard player who worked extensively with the band: Jack Nitzsche, Nicky Hopkins, Billy Preston, and Ian McLagan all did keyboard work.
Ian Stewart played piano on numbers of his choosing throughout tours in 1969, 1972, 1975–76, 1978 and 1981–82.
Ian favoured blues and country rockers, and remained dedicated to boogie-woogie and early rhythm & blues.
He refused to play in minor keys.
Ian Stewart was born in Pittenweem, East Neuk, Fife, Scotland, and raised in Sutton, Surrey, U.K.
He started playing piano when he was six and also took up the banjo and played with amateur groups on both instruments.
Ian Stewart, who loved rhythm & blues, boogie-woogie, blues and big-band jazz, was first to respond to Brian Jones's advertisement in Jazz News in May 1962 seeking musicians to form a rhythm & blues group.
Mick Jagger and Keith Richards joined in June, and the group, with Dick Taylor on bass and Mick Avory on drums, played their first gig under the name the Rollin' Stones at the Marquee Club on 12th July 1962.
By December 1962 and January 1963, Bill Wyman and Charlie Watts had joined, replacing a series of bassists and drummers.
Ian Stewart remained as road manager and pianist and was posthumously inducted into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame along with the rest of the Rolling Stones in 1989.
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