Brian Jones ( b12 )

According to author Gary Herman, Jones was "literally incapable of making music; when he tried to play harmonica his mouth started bleeding".

This behaviour was problematic during the Their Satanic Majesties Request and Beggar's Banquet sessions and had worsened by the time the band commenced recording Let It Bleed. In March 1969, Jones borrowed the group's Jaguar and went shopping in Pimlico Road. After the parked car was towed away by police, Jones hired a chauffeur-driven car to get home. In May 1969, Jones crashed his motorcycle into a shop window and was secretly taken to hospital under an assumed name. From this point, Jones was still attending recording sessions but was no longer a major contributor to the band's music. By May, he had made two contributions to the work in progress: autoharp on "You Got the Silver" and percussion on "Midnight Rambler". Jagger informed Jones that he would be fired from the band if he did not turn up to a photo session. Looking frail, he nonetheless showed up and his last photo session as a Rolling Stone took place on 21 May 1969, first at St. Katherine Docks, Tower Bridge, London and then at Ethan Russell's photographic studio in South Kensington. The photos would appear on the album Through The Past Darkly (Big Hits Vol.2) in September 1969.

The Stones decided that following the release of the Let it Bleed album (scheduled for a July 1969 release in the US) they would start a tour of North America in November 1969. However, the Stones' management was informed that Jones would not receive a work permit, owing to his drug convictions. At the suggestion of pianist and road manager Ian "Stu" Stewart, the Stones decided to add a new guitarist; on 8 June 1969, Jones was visited by Jagger, Richards and Watts, and was told that the group he had formed would continue without him.

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