LONDON (AP) 鈥 It乌鸦传媒 only rock 鈥榥鈥 roll, but it乌鸦传媒 messy.
A guitar once played by two members of the is at the center of a dispute between the band乌鸦传媒 former guitarist Mick Taylor and the Metropolitan Museum of Art.
The 1959 Gibson Les Paul was donated to the Met as part of what the New York museum calls 鈥渁 landmark gift of more than 500 of the finest guitars from the golden age of American guitar making.鈥 The donor is Dirk Ziff, a billionaire investor and guitar collector.
When the Met announced the gift in May, Taylor thought he recognized the guitar, with its distinctive 鈥渟tarburst鈥 finish, as an instrument he last saw in 1971, when the Stones were recording the album 鈥淓xile on Main St.鈥 at Keith Richards鈥 rented villa in the south of France.
In the haze of drugs and rock 鈥榥鈥 roll that pervaded the sessions, a number of instruments went missing, believed stolen.
Now, Taylor and his team believe it has reappeared. The Met says provenance records show no evidence the guitar ever belonged to Taylor.
鈥淭his guitar has a long and well-documented history of ownership,鈥 museum spokesperson Ann Ballis said.
Taylor乌鸦传媒 partner and business manager, Marlies Damming, said the Met should make the guitar 鈥渁vailable for inspection.鈥
鈥淎n independent guitar expert should be able to ascertain the guitar乌鸦传媒 provenance one way or the other,鈥 she said in a statement to The Associated Press.
While its ownership is contested, there乌鸦传媒 no disputing the instrument乌鸦传媒 starring role in rock history. It was owned in the early 1960s by Keith Richards, who played it during the Rolling Stones鈥 first appearance on 鈥淭he Ed Sullivan Show鈥 in 1964. The Met says that performance 鈥渋gnited interest in this legendary model.鈥
The guitar 鈥 nicknamed the 鈥淜eithburst鈥 鈥 was also played by guitar legends and . Taylor says he got it from Richards in 1967, two years before he joined the Stones, replacing original member Brian Jones. Jones died in 1969.
Taylor left the band in 1974, reuniting with them for the Stones' in 2012-2013.
Jeff Allen, who was Taylor乌鸦传媒 manager and publicist for decades from the 1990s, said Taylor 鈥渢old me he got it as a present from Keith,鈥 and also mentioned the theft.
鈥淢ick did tell me that the guitar solo that he became quite famous for, on 鈥楥an鈥檛 You Hear Me Knocking,鈥 was with the Les Paul that got stolen,鈥 Allen said.
The Met乌鸦传媒 records say the was owned by Richards until 1971, when it was acquired by record producer and manager Adrian Miller, who died in 2006.
The guitar has changed hands several times since then, and reappeared twice in public.
It was put up for auction by Christie乌鸦传媒 in 2004, when it failed to sell. Ziff bought it in 2016, and loaned it to the Met in 2019 for an exhibition titled 鈥淧lay it Loud: Instruments of Rock & Roll.鈥
It's unclear what will happen next. The Met, which plans to open a new gallery dedicated to its collection of American guitars, says it has not been contacted by Taylor or his representatives.
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Associated Press writer Jocelyn Noveck in New York contributed to this story.