Guitarist Wayne Perkins, who almost joined The Rolling Stones, dead at 74
Guitarist Wayne Perkins, who nearly joined The Rolling Stones in the 1970s, has died aged 74.
His brother, Dale Perkins, announced his death on Facebook, writing, “For those who haven’t heard, Wayne passed away yesterday peacefully.”
Dale’s statement, which was published on March 13th, continued, “Our sisters and family members were there with him. We appreciate all the kind thoughts and memories. He was one of a kind and we loved him very much, and thank you all.”
Per CBS42, Perkins suffered a stroke earlier this month ahead of his death.
Perkins was born in Birmingham, Alabama, in 1951, and cut his teeth as a session musician at the world-famous Alabama studio Muscle Shoals, assisting with a variety of names across the musical spectrum, ranging from Joe Cocker to Jimmy Cliff.
As a result of the reputation that he had amassed in Alabama, the opportunity arose for Perkins to join Lynyrd Skynyrd. However, he rejected their advances despite being close friends with singer Ronnie Van Zant.
In 1972, while in London with his band Perkins Smith, the guitarist was recruited by Bob Marley to play on three tracks on The Wailers’ album, Catch a Fire.
He once told VH1 (per CBS42) of his experience in the studio with the reggae legends, “I had never heard the likes of. Compared to anything else I had ever heard in my life, the R&B, the church music, anything I had ever heard, this was backward.”
From this moment, he continued to catch the attention of major players, including The Rolling Stones, who had him audition during the recording of Black and Blue following the departure of Mick Taylor.
Around this time, Rory Gallagher was also considered, but ultimately, the role went to Ronnie Wood, who is still a member of The Stones today. Perkins’ playing can be heard on three album tracks.
In his 2010 memoir, Life, Keith Richards said of Perkins’ short-lived spell with the band, “We liked Perkins a lot. He was a lovely player, same style, which wouldn’t have ricocheted against what Mick Taylor was doing, very melodic, very well-played stuff.”
Ultimately, it wasn’t his musical ability that cost him the gig, but cultural reasons, with Richards admitting, “It wasn’t so much the playing, when it came down to it. It came down to the fact that Ronnie was English. Well, it is an English band, although you might not think that now. And we all felt we should retain the nationality of the band at the time.”
During an interview with AL in 2017, Perkins said of his time in The Stones’ inner circle, “It was a bit of discovery period for me as well as being discovered. I was thinking more like a session player, but it was becoming clear to me that these guys were serious and wanted me as their new guitar player. It was a great situation to be thrust into.”
Perkins also played guitar on Joni Mitchell’s classic album Court and Spark, contributing to the song ‘Car on a Hill’ and the two were involved in a brief relationship during the making of the record.
According to the 2017 interview with AL, Perkins spent the latter years of his life in Argo with his brother Dale after struggling with his health due to suffering from multiple brain tumours.
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