Singer-songwriter Chris Jagger, the only sibling of rock superstar Mick, has toured the world and released 13 albums, writes Peter Robertson.
His most recent album, Mixing Up The Medicine, was released in 2021, as was his autobiography, Talking To Myself.
Chris, 78, also an actor and journalist, lives in Somerset with his wife of 42 years, Kari-Ann, with whom he has five sons and 14 grandchildren.
What did your parents teach you about money?
That it was hard to get and to be careful with it.
My father Joe was a teacher who became a lecturer in sports education. He was careful with money and would keep change in jam jars until they were full, and he’d take them to the bank. Mum, Eva, was a hairdresser who after marrying became a housewife.
As kids, Mick and I got pocket money – I spent mine on sweets.
On song: Singer-songwriter Chris Jagger has toured the world and released 13 albums
What was your first pay packet?
My first job after leaving school was assistant stage manager at Hampstead Theatre Club in Swiss Cottage, north-west London, for which I got £9 a week.
Among the actors there was Sarah Miles, who I swooned over.
In the late 1970s I appeared in two soft-porn films starring Joan Collins – The Stud and The Bitch – but blink and you miss me and I got no royalties.
As an actor, the most I made was from adverts, but when I did one for Lee Cooper jeans my bottom was too small for the rear shot so a stand-in bottom was brought in.
Have you ever struggled to make ends meet?
Yes, very much so. In the late 1970s, Kari-Ann and I had a flat in Paddington that got flooded so we had nowhere to live. We had to go into emergency accommodation. In between acting jobs I did building work, decorated houses and drove a minicab, and in the evenings I’d gig at the Zanzibar cocktail lounge in Covent Garden.
When you’ve got kids, you’ve got to find money whatever way you can. My father was always helpful. Mick kindly helped pay my kids’ school fees. As our dad was in education, that’s important to us.
Set in Stones: Chris Jagger with his rockstar brother Mick at a show in London in 1985
What’s been your best financial year?
2021 was good, when BMG released both my album Mixing Up The Medicine and my book Talking To Myself. The advance was about £70,000.
I sent Mick a copy of my book when it was pretty much finished and said: ‘You better read it because I don’t want you to sue me!’ There were a couple of little things he wanted me to change, including the quip ‘my brother is not very good at recycling… apart from old Rolling Stones’ riffs!’
If he is going to write an autobiography, he better hurry up!
Are you a spender or saver?
I’m a spender but have invested in guitars, and I’ve found really good or antique
guitars always go up in value. I have about 15 guitars now, the most valuable of which is maybe worth £10,000.
What’s the most expensive thing you bought for fun?
I bought a ram for £250, which I had to get rid of because it started attacking the grandchildren. I’ve now got a dozen sheep from which I’ve bred since lambs, but they’re just pets.
What has been your biggest money mistake?
In the 1970s I had some songs and was going to make an album. I got a £100,000 advance from David Geffen at Asylum Records.
I was going to buy a house and get on the property ladder, but didn’t. I ended up touring America, and when I came back I discovered the manager had used all the advance to pay for the expense of touring.
That was quite a knock back, because most musicians I know have made more money from property than playing music.
The best money decision you’ve made?
I finally got on to the property ladder in 1980, with a Victorian terraced house in Kilburn, north-west London, for £28,000. We lived there about five years then moved to Muswell Hill, north London, and that double-fronted house appreciated in value quite a lot.
Do you have a pension?
Only a state pension. I had a life insurance policy, but I cashed that in when I was broke 20 years ago. I’m not good with planning or saving money, despite doing A-level economics at school.
Do you own any property?
Our four-bedroom farmhouse in Somerset, with a barn, cottage and seven acres, which we bought for about £400,000 in 2000.
What is your top indulgence?
Going on holiday… wherever we can fly to from Bristol Airport. Travel writing is an interest of mine. If, when I give my surname on checking in anywhere, I’m asked, ‘Any relation?’, I say, ‘Yeah, I’m his brother’, and then they say ‘You’re not!’ and I say, ‘Alright, I’m not! Who do you want me to be?!’
What is your No 1 financial priority?
To try to pass money on to my children and grandchildren, so it’ll help set them up a bit better. I’m quite frugal and it’s not a bad thing. It’s nice being a good dad and grandad.
