• June 12, 2000
• Vol. 53
• No. 23

As Tears Go by

Rolling Stone Mick Jagger Pours Out His Heart in Song at the Funeral of His Beloved Mum, Whose Spunk Inspired Him

A gospel song like "Will the Circle Be Unbroken" is not Mick Jagger's usual cup of tea. But the 56-year-old Rolling Stone crooned it with heartrending grace at the London funeral of his mother, Eva, 87, on May 26, eight days after her death from heart failure. "He felt it would be a fitting way to say goodbye to a wonderful mother," says a friend.

And so it was, as Jagger, his father, Joe, 88, brother Chris, 50, ex-wives Jerry Hall and Bianca Jagger, five of his seven children, and fellow Stones Keith Richards, Ron Wood and Charlie Watts gathered to mourn the feisty Australian-born Eva. "She instilled in him a work ethic and a self-discipline," says Jagger biographer Christopher Sandford. Tough as she was, "the family was very close," adds Tony Smith, headmaster of Jagger's former grammar school. "He displayed a real tenderness toward Eva." Indeed, rock's bad boy remained the good son, phoning home every week on the road and bringing his mother chocolates. In 1995 he built a $400,000 "granny flat" for his parents that connected directly to Mick's London mansion. Three days after the funeral, Jagger was back at work producing Enigma, a WWII thriller with Kate Winslet. "Eva would not have wanted Mick to put his life on hold for her," says a friend. "It was enough to know that he would always cherish her."