In this image made available by Rankin, and dated July 11, 2012, showing the rock band the Rolling Stones, with left to right, Mick Jagger, Keith Richards, Ronnie Wood and Charlie Watts, issued Thursday July 12, 2012, as issued to mark the 50th anniversary of their first ever live performance on 12 July 1962 at the Marquee club in London. The group played their first show at the club on July 12, 1962, under the name The Rollin' Stones, hastily chosen as the band's name from a song by their blues hero Muddy Waters. (AP Photo / Rankin) NO SALES
July 12, 2012 - 5:39 AM
LONDON - It was 50 years ago today — as another band almost wrote — that a group of London musicians first performed as The Rolling Stones.
The band members are celebrating Thursday by attending a photo exhibition chronicling their career at London's Somerset House — and rehearsing for new gigs.
Mick Jagger, Keith Richards, Ron Wood and Charlie Watts are getting together 50 years to the day after the young R&B band played London's Marquee Club.
The Stones say they're amazed the group is still going strong.
Richards says his biggest regret is the death in 1969 of guitarist Brian Jones, but that on the whole the band's career has been "an incredible adventure."
He tells the BBC that the Stones have rehearsed for new shows, but dates haven't been fixed.
News from © The Associated Press, 2012