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Former Rolling Stones<\/a> bassist Bill Wyman<\/a> has revealed the financial troubles he faced during his tenure in the band.<\/p>\n In an interview with Classic Rock<\/em><\/a>, Wyman pointed to the rock group\u2019s precarious situation in the early \u201870s. The Stones had reached international fame with a run of hugely popular albums — including Beggars Banquet<\/a><\/em>, Let It Bleed<\/a><\/em> and Sticky Fingers<\/a><\/em>. Despite the success, they found themselves cash-strapped.<\/p>\n \u201cWe had no fucking money,” the bassist insisted. \u201c[Former Stones manager, Allen] Klein had all the money, and when you wanted anything you begged him to send you some money. You\u2019re in the red with your bank, so you weren\u2019t partying all the time, you were worrying about how to pay your bills. It was a nightmare.\u201d<\/p>\n READ MORE:<\/strong> Top 10 Rolling Stones Bill Wyman Songs<\/a><\/p>\n “And then [Prime Minister Harold] Wilson comes in, and puts tax up to ninety-three per cent, it was absurd,\u201d Wyman continued, noting a period in which the Stones left the U.K<\/a>. and became tax exiles. \u201cWe had to leave because we owed the Inland Revenue so much money that, with ninety-three per cent tax, we could never make enough to pay it back. So we had to leave, and then we were accused of being multimillionaires, leaving because we didn\u2019t want to pay our way, but we weren\u2019t.\u201d<\/p>\n The Rolling Stones\u2019 financial troubles weren\u2019t isolated to the \u201870s. In a separate part of the interview, Wyman \u2013 who left the band in 1993 \u2013 admitted he should have quit the group sooner.<\/p>\n \u201cI should\u2019ve done it a lot earlier\u2026 in the eighties,” he explained. “I hung on for a three-tour ending across \u201989 and \u201990 [three legs of the Steel Wheels\/Urban Jungle tour], after seven years of nothing, and I\u2019d ended up with a bank overdraft of \u00a3200,000, because we weren\u2019t earning anything.\u201d<\/p>\n READ MORE:<\/strong> Rolling Stones Lineup Changes: A Complete Guide<\/a><\/p>\n Wyman went on to note that some members of the band were doing a lot better than others. According to the bassist, the Rolling Stones were split into the haves and have-nots.<\/p>\n “When Brian {Jones]<\/a> died<\/a> he was over thirty thousand pounds in debt,” Wyman noted. “When I bought that manor in Suffolk I had a thousand pounds in the bank, had to scrape together a mortgage and hope I could continue to make enough money to keep it.”<\/p>\n “Mick [Jagger]<\/a> and Keith [Richards]<\/a> were totally wealthy, so they weren\u2019t bothered,\u201d Wyman continued. \u201cBut me, Charlie [Watts]<\/a> and Ronnie [Wood]<\/a> were scraping by. Ronnie started to do art to feed his family. Anyway, I only started playing with them again in the hope it\u2019d only be a couple of years, because I had all these other things I wanted to do.”<\/p>\n Wyman recently released Drive My Car<\/em><\/a>, his first new solo album in nine years.<\/p>\n They didn’t necessarily become huge commercial or critical hits, but some produced career-changing moments anyway.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n Gallery Credit: Nick DeRiso<\/a><\/p>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\nBill Wyman Says He Should Have Left the Rolling Stones \u2018A Lot Earlier\u2019<\/h3>\n
Rolling Stones Solo Albums Ranked <\/h2>\n