Life of Brian

The tale of this Rolling Stones founder and original guitarist is certainly bittersweet.
Brian Jones, the Stone with the blonde moppy-headed hairdo and the wonderfully flashy fashion sense, was by all accounts an extremely talented musician with a fierce individualistic streak who made a powerful (if often understated) impact on one of the most quintessential rock and roll bands of all time - but he was also terribly volatile to the point of becoming almost unbearable to those close to him. Tragically, it was the coupling of mental/emotional instability with out-of-control alcohol and drug use that would ultimately cause his downfall.
As Stones bassist Bill Wyman observed in Stone Alone: "There were two Brians... one was introverted, shy, sensitive, deep-thinking... the other was a preening peacock, gregarious, artistic, desperately needing assurance from his peers... he pushed every friendship to the limit and way beyond".

The escalation of his substance abuse further fueled his manic behavior, and drove an already unraveling relationship with his bandmates to the point of no return; at the culmination of his increasing estrangement with the band, he was told by the group in June of 1969 that they would be continuing on without him.

The split with the Stones was reported to the public as mutual, with Brian releasing a press statement saying that "I no longer see eye-to-eye with the others over the discs we are cutting," and he retired to his estate at Cotchford Farm, formerly owned by Winnie the Pooh creator A.A. Milne. Less than a month later, Brian was found dead in his swimming pool - with a coroner report of his demise as "Death Due to Misadventure."
He was 27.