Statues of Rolling Stones' Mick Jagger and Keith Richard unveiled in their hometown of Dartford

10 August 2023, 13:19

The Rolling Stones are heading back to where it all began.

Though not in the typical sense, as two bronze statues of the band's co-founders Mick Jagger and Keith Richards have been unveiled in Dartford.

As two teenagers, Mick and Keith met at a Dartford train station in 1961 and went on to start The Rolling Stones the following year.

Now the legendary rock 'n' rollers have been enshrined in bronze, mid-performance where locals and tourists can join them in concert.

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Both statues were commissioned by the town's local council, with the intention to capture the same energy and fervour that they bring to each of their live performances, and still do today.

They were designed and created by artist Amy Goodman - a self-professed fan of the iconic band - who has previously depicted historic figures like Florence Nightingale and Sir Stirling Moss.

She's designed them to show Jagger mid-dance whilst pursuing his iconic lips, next to Richards who is playing his 'Micawber' Telecaster which was gifted to him by Eric Clapton.

"In terms of culture and music, you do not get much more influential than the Rolling Stones," said the borough council leader Jeremy Kite when the statues, titled 'The Glimmer Twins', were unveiled.

"Their music has changed the face of popular music and these lads from Dartford are now two of the most recognisable and loved people in the world.'

Kite added how the local community had harboured a "long-held desire" to acknowledge the world-famous and culturally significant band's origins in the small town.

Jagger and Richards adopted the pseudonym "the Glimmer Twins" in the mid-1970s when teamed up to produce the band's records, for which they wrote the majority of the songs.

After forming in 1962, The Rolling Stones went on to become one of the most successful groups in the history of popular music, and are still going strong today after sixty years together.

Talking about how her inspiration for the statues, artist Amy Goodman said it was a privilege to sculpt "two incredible music icons".

She aimed to capture the essence and peak chemistry between the two rock stars, so depicted the two as they were during the 1980s.

"I could have gone for any time between their late teenage years to their late 70s,” she gushed. Whilst creating the statues of the course of ten months, she listened to The Rolling Stones constantly.

"I was a nervous wreck. There was a lot of pressure because they are such icons."