Jagger–Richards
Jagger–Richards is the songwriting team of Mick Jagger and Keith Richards, the founding members of the Rolling Stones. Born in 1943, they became one of the most successful songwriting duos in rock history. They also produced many Rolling Stones albums under the nickname the Glimmer Twins.
Like John Lennon and Paul McCartney, Jagger and Richards write both the lyrics and the music for many songs. Their way of starting to write together isn’t the same in every memory. Their manager, Andrew Loog Oldham, pushed them to create original songs instead of only covering other people’s work. Richards remembers Oldham locking them in a kitchen for a night until they came up with a song, which led to “As Tears Go By.” Jagger has a different take, saying Oldham encouraged them to lock themselves in the room mentally to write, even if not literally.
The Stones were also inspired by Lennon and McCartney. In 1963, Lennon and McCartney gave the Stones the song “I Wanna Be Your Man.” Lennon later recalled how he and McCartney finished the song quickly for the band, which showed Jagger and Richards that they could write their own material.
The first original Jagger–Richards song released as the A-side of a Rolling Stones single was “Tell Me (You’re Coming Back)” in the United States. It reached number 24 there. Earlier, “Good Times, Bad Times” was the B-side to their cover “It’s All Over Now.” The Stones’ first UK single with an A-side written by Jagger and Richards was “The Last Time” in 1965, which hit number one in the UK and number nine in the US.
Most Jagger–Richards songs are collaborations, but some are credited to the pair even though one member wrote most of the material, such as “Sympathy for the Devil” and “Brown Sugar” (Jagger) or “Happy,” “Ruby Tuesday,” and “Little T&A” (Richards). Jagger has said that, in the end, the balance between joint and solo writing works out.
In 2013, Jagger and Richards signed a publishing deal with BMG. The Glimmer Twins name, which they adopted after a cruise with Marianne Faithfull and Anita Pallenberg, became their production credit for the Stones. They produced many Stones albums under that name, starting with It’s Only Rock ’n’ Roll in 1974 and continuing through Still Life in 1982. From 1983’s Undercover onward, they shared production credits with other producers, notably Don Was and Chris Kimsey. They also used the Glimmer Twins on Peter Tosh’s Bush Doctor, and, in a rare exception, credits on John Phillips’s Pay Pack & Follow under their own names.
Rolling Stone often regards Jagger and Richards as one of the greatest songwriters in rock history, noting that they defined key elements of the rock song and set a blueprint for future musicians.
This page was last edited on 2 February 2026, at 11:42 (CET).