Rolling Stones: How Their Collaboration with Lady Gaga Happened

The Rolling Stones recently confirmed the list of guests on their new album, Hackney Diamonds. Among them is Lady Gaga, and how she got involved with the Stones is quite the story.

The band shared it in a new interview with Rolling Stone. As luck would have it, Gaga and the Stones were at the same recording studio at the same time working on new music. The pop star asked if she could stop by and say hello. During this session, the band was working on the song "Sweet Sounds of Heaven," which also features Stevie Wonder on keyboards.

Mick Jagger said, "She just walked in, in front of me, and she just curled up in a ball in front of me on the floor, and then someone gave her a mic, and she started singing 'oohs' and 'ahs.'"

Ronnie Wood added, "And Mick said, ‘Well, come on in. Stand up. Let’s make a thing of this then. Let’s do it properly.'"

And there you have it: A simple request to say hello turned into a guest spot on a new Rolling Stones album!

As previously reported, other guests on Hackney Diamonds include Paul McCartney, original Stones bassist Bill Wyman and Elton John. McCartney plays on "Bite My Head Off," while Wyman and John play bass and piano, respectively, on "Live by the Sword"

Hackney Diamonds comes out on October 20. A full track list for the album is below, and it's available for pre-order in a variety of formats at RollingStones.com.

Angry
Get Close
Depending On You
Bite My Head Off
Whole Wide World
Dreamy Skies
Mess It Up
Live By the Sword
Driving Me Too Hard
Tell Me Straight
Sweet Sound of Heaven
Rolling Stone Blues

Today, the Rolling Stones release another live album: Licked Live In NYC, recorded at New York's Madison Square Garden in January of 2003, while on their 40th-anniversary tour. It comes less than a month after Live At El Mocambo, a live recording of a surprise set that the band did at the 300-capacity club El Mocambo in Montreal in March of 1977; calling themselves "The Cockroaches," they were actually opening for April Wine!

There's been something of a deluge of Rolling Stones live recordings available in the past few decades: some released by ABKCO Records (who owns most of their catalog from the '60s), Universal Music (who distributes everything on Rolling Stones Records, the lalel the band set up for themselves and has put out their music since 1971's Sticky Fingers. And finally, Mercury Studios, formerly known as Eagle Rock Entertainment, licenses live recordings and other special products from the band.

So we listened to a lot of live Stones music to share with you our favorite commercially available concert recordings. Of course, there's nothing like the real thing, so yeah, we're hoping that the Stones return to the U.S. this year or next to play more shows.