Bill Wyman has claimed the Rolling Stones “refused to accept” he had quit for more than two years.
The 87-year-old bassist abruptly announced his departure from the group in 1991 but he has told how the rest of the band didn’t believe he was serious, and it was only when they were preparing to go out on tour again that they realised he had no intention of joining them.
He told the Daily Mirror newspaper: “I left in 1991 but they would not believe me.
“They refused to accept I had left. It was not until 1993, when they were starting to get together to tour in 1994, when they said, ‘You have actually now left, haven’t you?’ And I said, ‘I left two years ago’. They finally accepted it, so they say I left in 1993.”
Bill explained he decided to quit because he had “had enough” and wanted to do other things with his life.
He said: “I just had enough. It was half my life and I thought, ‘I have got other things I want to do’. I wanted to do archaeology, write books, have photo exhibitions and play charity cricket. I used to read about ancient cultures while I was on the road and take photos as well. I just had this whole other life I wanted to live.”
The ‘Satisfaction’ rocker is an avid collector of various things, including stamps, Rupert Bear annuals, and music hall posters, and he has also retained an impressive archive about his former band.
He said: “I’ve an archive of the Stones too. I’ve got a library that I created of everything that has happened to me. I wanted to keep an archive of the Stones to show my son I was once in a band.”
Although it is decades since he left the band, Bill – who made a guest appearance on ‘Live By The Sword’ on the group’s latest album ‘Hackney Diamonds’ – still dreams of being on tour with them.
He said: “The weird thing is ever since I’ve left, up until the present day, I still dream I’m on tour, like we are in a dressing room or we are in a hotel.
“I still dream those dreams and I dream of other friends like David Bowie. They are all very nice but very confusing.”