The Rolling Stones Had Keith Richards As Lead Vocals on 'Happy' — Why Mick Jagger Was Absent Revealed

The Rolling Stones once performed a song with a different singer instead of its lead and founding vocalist, Mick Jagger.

Jagger founded The Rolling Stones in London in 1962 alongside Brian Jones, Keith Richards, Bill Wynman, and Charlie Watts. The band released countless of hit songs that made them one of the most popular rock bands in history.

But in one of their songs, their guitarist - Richards - sang instead of Jagger.

Why Keith Richards Sang Instead of Mick Jagger

In The Rolling Stones' "Happy," the band had Richards sang lead vocals instead. After getting bombarded with questions, he revealed why he played the role instead of their vocalist and how he sometimes sang lead even when he did not want to.

In the 2013 book 50 Licks: Myths and Stories from Half a Century of The Rolling Stones, the guitarist revealed that Jagger reportedly felt like he could not sing "Happy" better than him.

"It was mainly because we had the track, we liked it, but we hadn't worked on the lyrics or the vocal at all until we were in there doing vocal overdubs," he said.

After hearing Jagger tell him he could not do it even if he would spend three days on it, he went ahead and did it.

Meanwhile, singing "Happy" had terms. If Jagger ever wanted to do it again, he could. He also had a choice to make it stay as it is. As for the latter option, Richards reportedly had to pull a good vocal off to make his vocals permanent on the track.

Does Keith Richards Like Singing?

Richards is most famous for being The Rolling Stones' guitarist. Despite that, he said he also likes singing lead.

But compared to Jagger, he considered it very rare to do. Although he wrote songs for the band, he said he would only sing on lead vocals if Jagger asked him or if he decided not to sing the song.

Although Richards led the band's "Happy," he revealed that Jagger was very hands on in the making of its parent album, "Exile on Main St."

The track immediately became a hit in the US, reaching No. 22 on the Billboard Hot 100. "Happy" also stayed on the chart for eight weeks. MEanwhile, its album reached No. 1 on Billboard 200 for four weeks and stayed on the chart for a total of 57 weeks.