The Rolling Stones: New books focuses on Sheffield shows and band's rise to fame

But before sell-out gigs in huge arenas, the band gigged up and down the country and Sheffield was one of their stop-off points.

Over the years the Stones have performed in the city 14 times in total and a new book about all the shows, both before they were global superstars and after they made it big, is due to be published.

Author Richard Crooks is set to release a new book about the shows, featuring reviews and memories from fans, with each chapter focusing on a different one of the Steel City gigs.

Crooks is venturing into a new field with the book entitled ‘The Rolling Stones in Sheffield’, having previously written books about football.

On the change in direction, the author said: “I’ve written five books about football and I’ll go back to writing about football but I wanted a change.

“Sheffield is my home city and The Rolling Stones are my favourite band - what better combination.”

Whilst researching for the book, Crooks said he has taken much of his information from the pages of The Star.

“I’ve been looking at the front pages of The Star from all of the dates that The Rolling Stones played in Sheffield and there’s some fascinating stuff,” he said.

Crooks said he discovered that when the band performed a show in the 1960s at Sheffield City Hall, concert pianist Sergio Varella-Cid was playing in the same building, next door in the Memorial Hall, to a 150-strong audience.

However, his recital was interrupted by screams from Stones' fans which resulted in his programme being changed.

A chapter in the book features an interview with Sheffield's Dave Berry, who toured with The Rolling Stones in the 1960s and appeared on the same bill as them at the City Hall in 1965.

During his research for the book Crooks also found that in March 1965 a band called the Konrads performed on the same bill as The Rolling Stones. In the Konrads was a man called David Jones, who we came to know as David Bowie.

Although the book centres around The Rolling Stones, Crooks also notes societal changes over the decades as a point of interest.

For example, some of the newspapers from the 60s that he looked at contained job advertisements that specified the age and sex of the people they were looking to employ, something that would be seen as discriminatory in today’s world.

As the book nears completion, set for publication on November 13, the anniversary of The Rolling Stones’ first headline show, Crooks is appealing for memories people have of seeing the band in Sheffield.

If you'd like to share those memories please contact him by email at [email protected]