Bill Wyman says it took two years for The Rolling Stones to accept his departure

Former Rolling Stones bassist Bill Wyman reveals that almost two years passed before his bandmates accepted that he had actually quit the band.

In a new interview with The Mirror, Wyman says that while he left the group in 1991, “they wouldn’t believe me.”  

“They refused to accept I had left. It was not until 1993, when they were starting to get together to tour in 1994, when they said, ‘You have actually now left, haven’t you?’ And I said, ‘I left two years ago,’” he explains. “They finally accepted it, so they say I left in 1993.”

As for why he quit, Wyman shares, “I just had enough. It was half my life and I thought, ‘I have got other things I want to do.’” He added, “I just had this whole other life I wanted to live.” 

The Rolling Stones just launched their ’24 Hackney Diamonds tour, and while Wyman is no longer with them, he hasn’t forgotten what life on the road is like and even dreams about it.

“The weird thing is ever since I’ve left, up until the present day, I still dream I’m on tour, like we are in a dressing room or we are in a hotel,” he says. “I still dream those dreams and I dream of other friends like David Bowie. They are all very nice but very confusing.”