Happy Birthday to Mick Taylor

Happy 65th birthday to Mick Taylor, born on January 17, 1949 in Welwyn Garden City, England.

Many Rolling Stones fans consider Taylor to be the best guitarist the band has ever had, and I'd be hard-pressed to disagree with them.

He's been ranked 37th in Rolling Stone magazine's 2012 list of the "100 Greatest Guitarists of All Time."

Taylor joined the band after Brian Jones died in 1969 and left the band in 1974.

In an article in Rolling Stone, Keith Richards was quoted in his memoir as being mightily impressed with Mick Taylor's talent.

I was in awe sometimes listening to Mick Taylor. Everything was there in his playing – the melodic touch, a beautiful sustain and a way of reading a song.

During the Stones' '50 & Counting' North American tour Mick Taylor performed at every single show including joining them for four songs at the Staples Center in Los Angeles and he joined them onstage for several songs during their headline set at the Glastonbury Festival.

And rollingstone.com reveals that Mick Taylor will once again join his former bandmates as a special guest on the Stones' "14 on Fire" tour, which, in addition to their first visit to Australia and New Zealand in almost a decade, will take them to Abu Dhabi, Tokyo and Macau, China.

The tour kicks off February 21st.