The 87-year-old bassist abruptly announced his departure from the group in 1991 but he has told how the rest of the band didn't believe he was serious, and it was only when they were preparing to go out on tour again that they realised he had no intention of joining them.
He told the Daily Mirror newspaper: “I left in 1991 but they would not 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’. They finally accepted it, so they say I left in 1993.”
Although it is decades since he left the band, Bill - who made a guest appearance on 'Live By The Sword' on the group's latest album 'Hackney Diamonds' - still dreams of being on tour with them.
The musician played with the rock veterans for more than 30 years until he departed in 1991, featuring on some of their biggest hits including Paint It Black, Brown Sugar and (I Can’t Get No) Satisfaction, according to the Independent.
During his time, he performed alongside an evolving line-up which included Sir Mick Jagger, Keith Richards, Ronnie Wood and the late Charlie Watts and Brian Jones.
Within two years of leaving the Stones I was married to Suzanne (Accosta). We’ve been married for 30 years, we have three beautiful daughters, it couldn’t be better.”
He said that the band’s long-time drummer Watts, who died aged 80 in 2021, was his “closest friend” in the group, but that he still keeps in touch with other members.
“I see Mick occasionally because my wife is best friends with Jerry Hall (Mick’s ex-wife)”, he added.
“Mick and Keith and I send each other Christmas cards. I don’t have much to do with Ronnie.
“Honestly, though, my life is open now in a way that it never was before.”
Wyman revealed that when the group started up in the 1960s, he believes none of the members thought it would last for more than two or three years.
“The Beatles were the same. We all thought it would be a brief adventure before we got on with our normal lives”, he said.
“Then it went on, and on, and on, and there was never time to do anything else.
“I had to do a solo album in bits between four month tours, and as Charlie Watts said, being in the Rolling Stones meant five years of work and 20 years of hanging around.
“Eventually I left and wrote 11 books, formed my own band, did archaeology, photography…”
In 1989, he was inducted into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame as a member of The Rolling Stones.
