Jagger worked through pain of girlfriend's death

Mick Jagger found solace in the aftermath of girlfriend L'Wren Scott's suicide in his work, he's said.

The Rolling Stones postponed a string of tour dates to give their frontman time to recover after she took her own live in March. He said at the time: “I am still struggling to understand how my lover and best friend could end her life in this tragic way.”

But he threw himself into his responsibilities as producer of James Brown biopic Get On Up – and when his band return to the road in October, he has no plans to come off again soon.

Jagger tells the Telegraph: “I’ve been touring in the summer, I’ll be touring in the autumn. I’m still touring and I don’t know when I’m going to stop – but I’m still going now.

“It’s a very energising thing. It’s very irresponsible because you don’t have to worry: you get to one place and you know you’re not going to stay there more than a couple of days. Good, bad or indifferent, you’re on to the next place.”

He says he gets “very emotionally involved” in the challenge of engaging a crowd. “Every time you go onstage you never know what’s going to happen,” says the 71-year-old. “It’s a very intense relationship with the audience. As soon as you get out there you have to take their temperature.

“Sometimes they’re loud and enthusiastic and you know it’s going to be a good show – but sometimes they can be a little slow on the uptake because maybe they haven’t had enough to drink, and you have to work a little bit harder at the beginning.”

Jagger’s bandmate Keith Richards recently hinted there was more to come from the Stones, who regrouped to mark their 50th anniversary in 2012.

Not only is one-time online news editor Martin an established rock journalist and drummer, but he’s also penned several books on music history, including SAHB Story: The Tale of the Sensational Alex Harvey Band, a band he once managed, and the best-selling Apollo Memories about the history of the legendary and infamous Glasgow Apollo. Martin has written for Classic Rock and Prog and at one time had written more articles for Louder than anyone else (we think he's second now). He’s appeared on TV and when not delving intro all things music, can be found travelling along the UK’s vast canal network.