[!@#$%!]

Originally Posted by gmku

Yes. The Stones never gave their piano guys enough credit.

it was no piano guys. it was stu. he was a founding member & got kicked out because of his looks.

lemmi search you sumpin'...

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ian_Stewart_(musician)


Born in Pittenweem, Fife, Scotland, and raised in Sutton, Surrey, Stewart (who was often called Stu) started playing piano when he was about six years old. He also took up banjo, and played with various Sutton-area amateur groups on both instruments.[1] Stewart, who loved rhythm & blues, boogie-woogie and blues as well as big-band jazz, was the first person to respond to Brian Jones's advertisement in Jazz News of 2 May 1962 seeking musicians interested in forming a rhythm & blues group.[2] Mick Jagger and Keith Richards joined them in June, and the group (with Dick Taylor on bass and either Mick Avory or Tony Chapman on drums) played their first gig under the name The Rollin' Stones at the Marquee Club on 12 July 1962.[3][4] By January 1963 Bill Wyman and Charlie Watts had also joined, replacing a series of off-and-on bassists and drummers.[4]

Stewart had a regular job at Imperial Chemical Industries in addition to his work with the fledgling Rolling Stones. None of the other band members had a telephone; Stewart said, "[My] desk at ICI was the headquarters of the Stones organisation. My number was advertised in Jazz News and I handled the Stones' bookings at work." He also bought a van to transport the group and their equipment to their gigs.[5]

In early May 1963, the band's new manager, Andrew Loog Oldham, informed the Rolling Stones that Stewart should no longer be part of the onstage line-up, saying that six members would be too many for a popular group and that Stewart's appearance didn't fit the band's image.[6] He proposed that Stewart could stay with the band as road manager, and could continue to play piano on recordings.

Stewart accepted this demotion. Keith Richards has said: "[Stu] might have realised that in the way it was going to have to be marketed, he would be out of sync, but that he could still be a vital part. I'd probably have said, 'Well, fuck you', but he said 'OK, I'll just drive you around.' That takes a big heart, but Stu had one of the largest hearts around."[7]



etc etc-- amusing anecdotes follow.

later:

When the Stones were inducted into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame in 1989, they requested that Stewart's name be included as a member of the band.