Keith Richards (born 18 December 1943) is an English musician, co-songwriter, and founding member of the rock band the Rolling Stones. His innovative rhythm guitar playing was cited when Rolling Stone magazine ranked Richards as the "10th greatest guitarist of all time." Fourteen songs Richards wrote with songwriting partner and the Rolling Stones' vocalist Mick Jagger were listed on Rolling Stone's "500 Greatest Songs of All Time".
Early life
The only child of Bert Richards and Doris Dupree Richards, Richards was born at Livingston Hospital in Dartford, Kent. His father was a factory labourer injured during World War II during the Normandy invasion.
Keith Richards' paternal grandparents were socialists and civic leaders whose family was originally from Wales. His maternal grandfather (Augustus Theodore Dupree), who toured Britain with a jazz big band Gus Dupree and his Boys, fostered Richards interest in guitar.
Richards' mother introduced him to the music of Billie Holiday, Louis Armstrong and Duke Ellington and bought his first guitar, while his father disparaged his son's musical enthusiasm." Richards's first guitar hero was Scotty Moore.
Richards attended Wentworth Primary School with Mick Jagger and was his neighbor until 1954 when the family moved. From 1955 to 1959 he attended Dartford Technical School. Recruited by Dartford Tech's choirmaster Jake Clair, Richards sang in a trio of boy sopranos at, among other occasions, Westminster Abbey for Queen Elizabeth II.
In 1959 Richards was expelled from Dartford Technical School for truancy and transferred to Sidcup Art College. At Sidcup Richards was diverted from his studies proper and devoted more time playing guitar with other students in the boys room, where Richards was noted for knowing most of Chuck Berry's solos."
When taking a train to school Richards met Jagger, who was heading to classes at the London School of Economics. The mail order rhythm & blues albums from Chess Records albums by Chuck Berry and Muddy Waters Jagger was carrying revealed a mutual interest and led to a renewal of their friendship. Along with mutual friend Dick Taylor, Jagger was singing in an amateur band Little Boy Blue and the Blue Boys, which Richards soon joined. The Blues Boys folded when Brian Jones and Ian Stewart accepted Richards, Jagger, and Taylor into the just forming Rolling Stones.
In mid-1962 Richards had left Sidcup Art College to devote himself to music and moved into a London flat with Jagger and Jones. His parents divorced about the same time resulting in Richards staying close to his mother and remaining estranged from his father until 1982.
After the Rolling Stones signed to Decca Records in 1963, their band manager,Andrew Loog Oldham, dropped the "s" from his surname believing "Keith Richard", in his words, "looked more pop". (In the late 1970s Richards reestablished the "s" to his surname.)
Musical career
Guitar playing
Richards' guitar playing shows his fascination with chords and rhythm; he avoids flamboyant virtuosity in favour of riffs which guitarist Chris Spedding described as "direct, incisive and unpretentious". Richards prefers to play in tandem with another guitarist and has always toured with one. Chuck Berry has been a constant inspiration for Richards. Richards and Jagger played many Berry numbers with the first band they played in, Little Boy Blue and the Blue Boys, and it was Richards and Jagger who introduced Berry's songs to The Rolling Stones' early repertoire. Jimmy Reed and Muddy Waters records were another early source of inspiration, and the basis for the style of interwoven lead and rhythm guitar that Richards developed with Brian Jones. In the late 1960s, Brian Jones's declining contributions led Richards to record all guitar parts on many tracks, including slide guitar, which had been Jones's specialty in the band's early years. Jones's replacement guitarist Mick Taylor worked with The Rolling Stones from 1969 to 1974, and Taylor's virtuosity at lead guitar led to a much more pronounced separation between lead and rhythm guitar roles, notably onstage. In 1975 Taylor was replaced by Ronnie Wood, marking a return to the style of guitar interplay that he and Richards described as "the ancient art of weaving".
The 1967/68 break in the Rolling Stones' touring allowed Richards to focus on open tunings. Open tunings are commonly used for slide guitar, but Richards used them for rhythm playing. In doing so, he developed an innovative and distinctive style of syncopated and ringing I-IV chording that can be heard on "Street Fighting Man" and "Start Me Up". Richards has used various open tunings (while continuing to use standard tuning) but has often favoured a five-string variant of open G tuning using GDGBD unencumbered by a low 6th string. Several of his Telecasters are tuned this way (see the "Guitars" section below), and this tuning is prominent on Rolling Stones tracks and concert renditions including "Honky Tonk Women", "Brown Sugar" and "Start Me Up".
Richards considers acoustic guitar to be the basis for his playing, and has said: "...you're never going to get the full potential out of an electric, because you lose that touch." Richards's acoustic guitar is featured on tracks throughout the Rolling Stones' career, including hits like "Not Fade Away", "Brown Sugar", "Beast of Burden" and "Almost Hear You Sigh". All the guitars on the studio version of "Street Fighting Man" are Richards on acoustic, distorted by overloading a small cassette recorder microphone, a technique also used on "Jumping Jack Flash".
Richards has described his role in the Rolling Stones as "oiling the machinery". Ian Stewart called him the musical leader of the Rolling Stones, and both Bill Wyman and Ronnie Wood have noted that while other bands follow the drummer, the Rolling Stones follow Richards. Wyman stated in 1978: "[O]nstage you have to follow Keith. You have no way of not following him."
Vocals
Richards's backing vocals appear on every Rolling Stones album; and on most albums since Between the Buttons (1967), he has sung lead or co-lead on at least one track (see list below). Richards views the vocal training he got in his choirboy days as part of his professional arsenal, and has said of his own singing: "It's not the most beautiful voice in the world anymore, but the Queen liked it, when it was at its best ... It's not been my job, singing, but to me, if you're gonna write songs, you've got to know how to sing." .
On stage, Richards began taking a regular lead-vocal turn in 1972, singing "Happy" (from the album Exile on Main Street). "Happy" has become one of Richards's signature songs, featured on most Rolling Stones tours ever since, as well as on both of Richards's solo tours. From 1972 to 1982, Richards routinely took one lead-vocal turn during Rolling Stones concerts; since 1989 he has normally sung lead on two numbers per show. Each of the band's studio albums since Dirty Work (1986) have also featured Richards's lead vocals on at least two tracks. During concerts on the two final legs (autumn 2006 and summer 2007) of The Rolling Stones' Bigger Bang Tour, Richards set his guitar aside to sing his 1969 ballad "You Got the Silver" without self-accompaniment. Prior to that he had occasionally switched from guitar to keyboards in concert, but these concerts were the first time since his choirboy days that Richards appeared on stage armed with only his voice.
Other instruments
Richards has played bass on about two dozen Rolling Stones studio recordings, from "Have You Seen Your Mother, Baby, Standing in the Shadow?" (1966) through "Infamy" (2005). One unusual instance was when he and Bill Wyman joined forces to play the bowed double bass on "Ruby Tuesday" (1967) – Wyman did the fingerboard work while Richards manned the bow. The rest of Richards's contributions that followed have been on bass guitar, rather than double bass. Among these were on tracks including "Jumpin' Jack Flash" (1968), "Sympathy for the Devil" (1968), "Live With Me" (1969), "Before They Make Me Run" (1978), "Sleep Tonight" (1986) and "Brand New Car" (1994). He has occasionally played bass on stage, including The Dirty Mac performance in 1968 (see "Recordings with other artists", below) and on "Sympathy for the Devil" at a Rolling Stones concert at Madison Square Garden in June 1975.
Richards's keyboard playing has also been featured on several Rolling Stones tracks, including "She Smiled Sweetly" (1967), "Memory Motel" (1976), "All About You" (1980), "Thru and Thru" (1994) and "This Place Is Empty" (2005), among others. He sometimes composes on piano – "Have You Seen Your Mother, Baby, Standing in the Shadow?" and "Let's Spend the Night Together" are two early examples, and he's said of his keyboard playing: "Maybe I'm a little more accomplished now – to me it's just a way of getting out of always using one instrument to write." Richards played keyboards on stage at two 1974 concerts while Ron Wood toured to support his solo albums, and on The New Barbarians' tour in 1979, and 1977 and 1981 studio sessions featuring his piano and vocals have been well documented, though never officially released.
Richards has also served as percussionist on a few Rolling Stones tracks, including the floor tom on "Jumpin' Jack Flash" and bicycle spokes on "Continental Drift" (1989).
Songwriting
Richards and Jagger collaborated on songs in 1963, following the nearby example of the Beatles' Lennon/McCartney and the encouragement of Rolling Stones manager Andrew Loog Oldham, who saw little future for a cover band. The earliest Jagger/Richards collaborations were recorded by other artists, including Gene Pitney, whose rendition of "That Girl Belongs to Yesterday" was their first top-ten single in the UK. Richards recalls: "We were writing these terrible pop songs that were becoming Top 10 hits. ... They had nothing to do with us, except we wrote 'em."
The Rolling Stones' first top-ten hit with a Jagger/Richards original was "The Last Time" (1965), "(I Can't Get No) Satisfaction" (also 1965) was their first international #1 recording. (Richards has stated that the "Satisfaction" riff came to him in his sleep; he woke up just long enough to record it on a cassette player by his bed.) Since Aftermath (1966) most Rolling Stones albums have consisted mainly of Jagger/Richards originals. Their songs reflect the influence of blues, R&B, rock & roll, pop, soul, gospel and country, as well as forays into psychedelia and Dylanesque social commentary. Their work in the 1970s and beyond has incorporated elements of funk, disco, reggae and punk. Richards has also written and recorded slow torchy ballads, such as "All About You" (1980).
In his solo career, Richards has often shared co-writing credits with drummer and co-producer Steve Jordan. Richards has said: "I've always thought songs written by two people are better than those written by one. You get another angle on it."
Richards has frequently stated that he feels less like a creator than a conduit when writing songs: "I don't have that God aspect about it. I prefer to think of myself as an antenna. There's only one song, and Adam and Eve wrote it; the rest is a variation on a theme."
Richards was inducted into the Songwriters Hall of Fame in 1993.
Record production
Richards has been active as a record producer since the 1960s. He was credited as producer and musical director on the 1966 album Today's Pop Symphony, one of manager Andrew Loog Oldham's side projects, although there are doubts about how much Richards was actually involved with it. On the Rolling Stones' 1967 album Their Satanic Majesties Request the entire band was credited as producer, but since 1974, Richards and Mick Jagger have frequently co-produced Rolling Stones and other artists' records under the joint name "The Glimmer Twins", often in collaboration with other producers.
Since the 1980s Richards has chalked up numerous production and co-production credits on projects with other artists including Aretha Franklin, Johnnie Johnson and Ronnie Spector, as well as on his own albums with the X-Pensive Winos (see below). In the 1990s Richards co-produced and added guitar and vocals to a recording of nyabinghi Rastafarian chanting and drumming entitled Wingless Angels, released on Richards's own record label, Mindless Records, in 1997.
Solo recordings
Generally resisting sustained ventures outside of The Rolling Stones, Richards has released few solo recordings. In 1978 he released his first solo single: renditions of Chuck Berry's "Run Rudolph Run" and Jimmy Cliff's "The Harder They Come". In 1987, after Jagger had put The Rolling Stones on hold in order to promote his solo albums, Richards formed a backing band boasting several high profile sidemen dubbed the "X-pensive Winos", enlisting the songwriting talents of drummer/record producer Steve Jordan. Jordan had played on some tracks on Dirty Work and in the band Richards assembled for the documentary Hail! Hail! Rock 'n' Roll (see below).
Besides Steve Jordan, the X-pensive Winos included Sarah Dash, Waddy Wachtel, Bobby Keys, Ivan Neville and Charley Drayton. Their first album, Talk Is Cheap (which also featured session musicians Bernie Worrell, Bootsy Collins and Maceo Parker), went gold and has remained a consistent seller. It spawned a brief US tour – one of only two that Richards has done as a solo artist. The first tour is documented on the Virgin release Live at the Hollywood Palladium, December 15, 1988. In 1992 Main Offender was released, and following a "warm-up concert" in Buenos Aires, the X-Pensive Winos (including a new member, backing vocalist Babi Floyd) toured Europe and North America.
Recordings with other artists
During the 1960s most of Richards's recordings with artists other than The Rolling Stones were sessions for Andrew Oldham's Immediate Records label. Notable exceptions were when Richards, along with Mick Jagger and numerous other guests, sang on The Beatles' 1967 TV broadcast of "All You Need Is Love" and when he played bass with John Lennon, Eric Clapton, Mitch Mitchell, Ivry Gitlis and Yoko Ono as The Dirty Mac for The Rolling Stones Rock and Roll Circus TV special, filmed in 1968.
In the 1970s Richards worked outside The Rolling Stones with Ronnie Wood on several occasions, contributing guitar, piano and vocals to Wood's first two solo albums and joining him on stage for two July 1974 concerts to promote I've Got My Own Album to Do. In December 1974 Richards also made a guest appearance at a Faces concert. In 1976-77 Richards played on and co-produced John Phillips' solo recording Pay, Pack & Follow (released in 2001). In 1979 he toured the U.S. with The New Barbarians, the band that Wood put together to promote his album Gimme Some Neck; he and Wood also contributed guitar and backing vocals to "Truly" on Ian McLagan's 1979 album Troublemaker (re-released in 2005 as Here Comes Trouble).
Since the 1980s Richards has made more frequent guest appearances. In 1981 he played on reggae singer Max Romeo's album Holding Out My Love to You. He has worked with Tom Waits on two occasions, adding guitar and backing vocals to Waits's 1985 album Rain Dogs, and co-writing, playing and sharing the lead vocal on "That Feel" on Bone Machine (1992). In 1986 Richards produced and played on Aretha Franklin's rendition of "Jumping Jack Flash" and served as musical producer and band leader (or as he phrased it "S&M director") for the Chuck Berry film Hail! Hail! Rock 'n' Roll.
In the 1990s and 2000s Richards has continued to contribute to a wide range of musical projects as a guest artist. A few of the notable sessions he has done include guitar and vocals on Johnnie Johnson's 1991 release Johnnie B. Bad, which he also co-produced; and lead vocals and guitar on "Oh Lord, Don’t Let Them Drop That Atomic Bomb on Me" on the 1992 Charles Mingus tribute album Weird Nightmare. He duetted with country legend George Jones on "Say It's Not You" on the Bradley Barn Sessions (1994); a second duet from the same sessions – "Burn Your Playhouse Down" – appeared on Jones' 2008 release Burn Your Playhouse Down – The Unreleased Duets. He partnered with Levon Helm on "Deuce and a Quarter" for Scotty Moore's album All the King's Men (1997). His guitar and lead vocals are featured on the Hank Williams tribute album Timeless (2001) and on veteran blues guitarist Hubert Sumlin's album About Them Shoes (2005). Richards also added guitar and vocals to Toots & the Maytals' recording of "Careless Ethiopians " for their 2004 album True Love and to their re-recording of "Pressure Drop", which came out in 2007 as the b-side to Richards's iTunes re-release of "Run Rudolph Run".
Rare and unreleased recordings
In 2005 The Rolling Stones released Rarities 1971-2003, which includes some rare and limited-issue recordings, but Richards has described the band's released output as the "tip of the iceberg". Many of the band's unreleased songs and studio jam sessions are widely bootlegged, as are numerous Richards solo recordings, including his 1977 Toronto studio sessions, some 1981 studio sessions and tapes made during his 1983 wedding trip to Mexico.
Musical equipment
Guitars
Richards has a collection of more than 1000 guitars. Even though Richards has used many different guitar models, in a 1986 Guitar World interview he joked that no matter what model he plays, "give me five minutes and I'll make 'em all sound the same." However, Richards has often thanked Leo Fender, and other guitar manufacturers for making the instruments, as he did during the induction ceremony of the Rolling Stones into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame. Some of his notable instruments are:
• 1959 Gibson Les Paul Standard: Richards acquired this instrument, fitted with a Bigsby tailpiece, in 1964. The guitar was the first "star-owned" Les Paul in Britain and served as one of Richards's main instruments through 1966. He later sold the guitar to future Rolling Stones bandmate Mick Taylor.
• 1961 Epiphone Casino: Richards first used this instrument in May 1964, shortly before the Stones' first tour of America. The guitar (along with the 1959 Les Paul Standard) became a frequently used guitar by Richards until 1966.
• 1957 Gibson Les Paul Custom: In 1966 Richards acquired a 1957 Les Paul Custom, and hand-painted it with psychedelic patterns in 1968. It served as his main stage and studio guitar from 1966 through the end of the Rolling Stones' 1970 European tour, for which he acquired a second late-50s Les Paul Custom which he used in open-G tuning.
• 1969 Gibson SG: In the 1969 film "Gimme Shelter", Richards is seen playing the iconic Gibson SG, with its signature "Heritage Cherry" finish. It is this Gibson flat-body which produced the raw, driving chord progression heard in the live version of "Jumping Jack Flash" on the Stones' 1969 live album "GET YER YA-YAS OUT!".
• Gibson ES-355s: Richards used this semi-hollow model on stage during the Rolling Stones' 1969 tour; it was a favourite for both Richards and Taylor during recording sessions for Sticky Fingers and Exile on Main St. Richards has also used ES-355s on every tour since 1997. In 2006 he also unveiled a white Gibson ES-345.
• Gibson Les Paul Juniors: Richards has regularly used both single-cutaway and double-cutaway Juniors since 1973. The one he is most frequently seen with is a TV-yellow double-cutaway instrument nicknamed "Dice", which he has used since 1979. On recent tours he has used this guitar for "Midnight Rambler" and "Out of Control".
• 1953 Fender Telecaster: Richards acquired this butterscotch Telecaster in 1971. Nicknamed "Micawber", after a character in Charles Dickens's novel David Copperfield, it is set up for five-string open-G tuning (-GDGBD), and has only five bridge saddles. The neck pick-up has been replaced by a Gibson PAF humbucking pick-up, and the bridge pick-up has been replaced by a Fender lap steel pick-up (similar to a Fender Broadcaster pick-up). "Micawber" is one of Richards' main stage guitars, and is often used to play "Brown Sugar", "Before They Make Me Run", and "Honky Tonk Women".
• 1954 Fender Telecaster: A second Telecaster, nicknamed both "Malcolm" and "Number 2", is also set up for 5-string open-G tuning and has a Gibson PAF pick-up in the neck position. It has a natural finish and the wood grain is visible.
• 1967 Fender Telecaster: A third Telecaster used for 5-string open-G playing is a dark sunburst model which is also fitted with a Gibson PAF pick-up; the PAF on this guitar has had its cover removed, exposing the bobbins. Richards has used this guitar on stage for many songs, including "You Can't Always Get What You Want" and "Tumbling Dice".
• 1958 Fender Stratocaster: Fellow Rolling Stones guitarist Ronnie Wood gave Richards his 1958 Mary Kaye Signature Stratocaster after the band's 1982 tour. The guitar is finished in see-through blond and fitted with gold hardware. Richards has used this guitar onstage for "You Don't Have to Mean It" and "Miss You".
• 1975 Fender Telecaster Custom: Richards first used this guitar on the Rolling Stones' 1975 Tour of the Americas, and it was his main stage and recording guitar until 1986. It was later adapted for 5-string open-G tuning, and reappeared on stage in 2005. Ampeg Dan Armstrong plexiglas guitar: The Dan Armstrong guitar was given to Richards during rehearsals for the 1969 tour, and became one of his main stage guitars from 1969 through the first shows of the 1972 tour. Fitted with a custom-made "sustained treble" humbucker pick-up, the guitar was used mainly in standard tuning and can be heard on "Carol", "Sympathy for the Devil" and "Midnight Rambler" on Get Yer Ya-Ya's Out. On the 1970 tour Richards added a second Dan Armstrong guitar fitted with a "rock treble" pick-up.
• Gibson L6-S Custom: Played around the time of "Black And Blue". Appears in a video performance of "Crazy Mama".
• Zemaitis 5-String: Custom-made in 1974 by British luthier Tony Zemaitis, the guitar nicknamed both "Macabre" and "the Pirate Zemaitis" was decorated with skulls, a pistol and a dagger. Richards used it as his main open-G guitar from 1975 to 1978, when it was destroyed in a fire at his rented Los Angeles home. Richards used a Japanese-made replica on the 2005/06 tour.
• Newman-Jones custom guitars: Texas luthier Ted Newman-Jones made several custom five-string instruments that Richards used on the 1973 tours of Australasia and Europe. Richards used another Newman-Jones custom model on the 1979 New Barbarians tour.
Amplifiers
Richards's amplifier preferences have changed repeatedly, but some of his notable amplifiers are:
• Mesa Boogie Mark 1 A804 - Used between 1977 and 1993, this 100-watt 1x12" combo is finished in hardwood with a wicker grille. It can be heard on the Rolling Stones albums Love You Live, Some Girls, Emotional Rescue and Tattoo You, as well as on Richards's two solo albums Talk is Cheap and Main Offender. This amplifier was handcrafted by Randall Smith and delivered to Richards in March 1977.
• Fender Twin - Since the 1990s, Richards has tended to use a variety of Fender "tweed" Twins on stage. Containing a pair of 12" speakers, the Fender Twin was, by 1958, an 80-watt all-tube guitar amplifier. Richards has utilised a pair of Fender Twins to "to achieve his signature clean/dirty rhythm and lead sound."
• Fender Dual Showman - first acquired in 1964, Richards made frequent use of his blackface Dual Showman amp through mid-1966. Used to record The Rolling Stones, Now!, Out of Our Heads, December's Children and Aftermath before switching over to various prototype amplifiers from Vox in 1967 and the fairly new Hiwatt in 1968
Effects
In 1965 Richards used a Gibson Maestro fuzzbox to achieve the distinctive tone of his riff on "(I Can't Get No) Satisfaction" the success of the resulting single boosted the sales of the device to the extent that all available stock had sold out by the end of 1965. In the 1970s and early 1980s Richards frequently used guitar effects such as a wah-wah pedal, a phaser and a Leslie speaker, but he mainly relies on combining "the right amp with the right guitar" to achieve the sound he wants.
Public image and private life
Richards, who has been frank about his habits, has earned notoriety for his decadent outlaw persona. Rock critic Nick Kent summed up his 1970s image: "[Keith Richards] was the big Lord Byron figure. He was mad, bad, and dangerous to know." In 1994 Richards said of this image: "It's something you drag around behind you like a long shadow ... Even though that was nearly twenty years ago, you cannot convince some people that I'm not a mad drug addict. So I've still got that [image] in my baggage." In 2010, Peter Hitchens wrote of Richards that he is "a capering streak of living gristle who ought to be exhibited as a warning to the young of what drugs can do to you even if you're lucky enough not to choke on your own vomit".
Richards has been tried on drug-related charges five times: in 1967, twice in 1973, in 1977 and in 1978. The first trial – the only one involving a prison sentence – resulted from a February 1967 police raid on Redlands, Richards's Sussex estate, where he and some friends, including Jagger, were spending the weekend. The subsequent arrest of Richards and Jagger put them on trial before the Courts of the United Kingdom as well as the court of public opinion. On 29 June 1967, Jagger was sentenced to three months' imprisonment for possession of four amphetamine tablets; Richards was found guilty of allowing cannabis to be smoked on his property and sentenced to one year in prison. Both Jagger and Richards were imprisoned at that point: Jagger was taken to Brixton prison in south London, and Richards to Wormwood Scrubs Prison in west London. Both were released on bail the next day pending appeal. On 1 July The Times ran an editorial entitled "Who breaks a butterfly on a wheel?", portraying Jagger's sentence as persecution, and public sentiment against the convictions increased. A month later the appeals court overturned Richards's conviction for lack of evidence, while Jagger was given a conditional discharge.
The most serious charges Richards faced resulted from his arrest on 27 February 1977 at Toronto's Harbour Castle Hotel (R. v. Richards (1979), 49 C.C.C. (2d) 517), when the Royal Canadian Mounted Police found him in possession of "22 grams of heroin". Richards was originally charged with "possession of heroin for the purpose of trafficking" – an offence that under the Criminal Code of Canada can result in prison sentences of seven years to life. His passport was confiscated and Richards and his family remained in Toronto until 1 April, when Richards was allowed to enter the United States on a medical visa for treatment for heroin addiction. The charge against him was later reduced to "simple possession of heroin".
For the next two years, Richards lived under threat of criminal sanction. Throughout this period he remained active with The Rolling Stones, recording their biggest-selling studio album, Some Girls, and touring North America. Richards was tried in October 1978, pleading guilty to possession of heroin. He was given a suspended sentence and put on probation for one year, with orders to continue treatment for heroin addiction and to perform a benefit concert on behalf of the Canadian National Institute for the Blind. Although the prosecution had filed an appeal of the sentence, Richards performed two CNIB benefit concerts at Oshawa Civic Auditorium on 22 April 1979; both shows featured The Rolling Stones and The New Barbarians. In September 1979 the Ontario Court of Appeal upheld the original sentence.
Later in 1979, Richards met future wife, model Patti Hansen. They married on 18 December 1983, Richards's 40th birthday, and have two daughters, Theodora and Alexandra, born in 1985 and 1986 respectively.
Richards maintains cordial relations with Italian-born actress Anita Pallenberg, the mother of his first three children; although they were never married, Richards and Pallenberg were a couple from 1967 to 1979. Together they have a son, Marlon (named after the actor Marlon Brando), born in 1969, and a daughter, Angela (originally named Dandelion), born in 1972. Their third child, a boy named Tara (after Richards's and Pallenberg's friend Guinness heir Tara Browne), died on 6 June 1976, less than three months after his birth.
Richards still owns Redlands, the Sussex estate he purchased in 1966, as well as a home in Weston, Connecticut and another in Turks & Caicos. His primary home is in Weston. He is an avid reader with a strong interest in history and owns an extensive library. An April 2010 article revealed that Richards yearns to be a librarian.
21st century
On 27 April 2006, Richards, while in Fiji, suffered a head injury after falling out of a tree; he subsequently underwent cranial surgery at a New Zealand hospital. The incident caused a six-week delay in launching The Rolling Stones' 2006 European tour and the rescheduling of several shows; the revised tour schedule included a brief statement from Richards apologising for "falling off his perch". The band made up most of the postponed dates in 2006, and toured Europe in the summer of 2007 to make up the remainder.
In August 2006 Richards was granted a pardon by Arkansas governor Mike Huckabee for a 1975 reckless driving citation.
On 12 March 2007 Richards attended the Rock & Roll Hall of Fame ceremony to induct The Ronettes; he also played guitar during the ceremony's all-star jam session.
In an April 2007 interview for NME magazine, music journalist Mark Beaumont asked Richards what the strangest thing he ever snorted was, and quoted him as replying: "My father. I snorted my father. He was cremated and I couldn't resist grinding him up with a little bit of blow. My dad wouldn't have cared ... It went down pretty well, and I'm still alive." In the media uproar that followed, Richards' manager said that the anecdote had been meant as a joke, Beaumont told Uncut magazine that the interview had been conducted by international telephone and that he had misquoted Richards at one point (reporting that Richards had said he listens to Motörhead, when what he had said was Mozart), but that he believed the ash-snorting anecdote was true. Musician Jay Farrar from the band Son Volt wrote a song titled 'Cocaine And Ashes', which was inspired by Richards drug habits.
Doris Richards, the guitarist's 91-year-old mother, died of cancer in England on 21 April 2007. An official statement released by a Richards representative stated that Richards, her only child, kept a vigil by her bedside during her last days.
Richards made a cameo appearance as Captain Teague, the father of Captain Jack Sparrow (played by Johnny Depp), in Pirates of the Caribbean: At World's End, released in May 2007, and won the Best Celebrity Cameo award at the 2007 Spike Horror Awards for the role. Depp has stated that he based many of Sparrow's mannerisms on Richards. Richards reprised his role as Teague in Pirates of the Caribbean: On Stranger Tides.
In March 2008 fashion house Louis Vuitton unveiled an advertising campaign featuring a photo of Richards with his ebony Gibson ES-355, taken by photographer Annie Leibovitz. Richards donated the fee for his involvement to The Climate Project, an organisation for raising environmental awareness.
On 28 October 2008 Richards appeared at the Musicians' Hall of Fame induction ceremony in Nashville, Tennessee, joining the newly inducted Crickets on stage for performances of "Peggy Sue", "Not Fade Away" and "That'll Be the Day".
In August 2009, Richards was ranked #4 in Time magazine's list of the 10 best electric guitar players of all time. In September 2009 Richards revealed to Rolling Stone magazine that in addition to anticipating a new Rolling Stones album, he has done some recording with Jack White: "I enjoy working with Jack," he said. "We’ve done a couple of tracks." On 17 October 2009, Richards received the Rock Immortal Award at Spike TV’s Scream 2009 awards ceremony at the Greek Theatre in Los Angeles; the award was presented by Johnny Depp. "I liked the living legend, that was all right," Richards said, referring to an award he received in 1989, "but immortal is even better."
In 2009, a book of Richards' quotations was published, titled What Would Keith Richards Do?: Daily Affirmations from a Rock 'n' Roll Survivor.
In August 2007 Richards signed a publishing deal for his autobiography, Life, which was released October 26, 2010. On October 15, 2010, the Associated Press published an article stating that Richards refers to Mick Jagger as "unbearable" in the book and notes that their relationship has been strained "for decades."
Discography
Studio albums
Year Title Chart positions Certifications
1988 Talk Is Cheap
• Released: October 3, 1988
• Label: Virgin
1991 Live at the Hollywood Palladium, December 15, 1988
• Released: December 10, 1991
• Label: Virgin
1992 Main Offender
• Released: October 19, 1992
• Label: Virgin 45
2010 Vintage Vinos
• Released: November 2, 2010
• Label: Mindless Records — —
Singles
Release date Title US Mainstream Rock
December 1978 "Run Rudolph Run" b/w "The Harder They Come" —
October 1988 "Take It So Hard"
November 1988 "You Don't Move Me" 18
February 1989 "Struggle" 47
October 1992 "Wicked As It Seems" 3
January 1993 "Eileen" 17
December 2007 "Run Rudolph Run" b/w "Pressure Drop"
—
"—" denotes releases that did not chart
Guest appearances on other artists' releases
• The Beatles: backing vocals on "All You Need Is Love" broadcast (1967)
• The Dirty Mac: The Rolling Stones' Rock & Roll Circus (recorded 1968, released 2004): bass on "Yer Blues" and "Her Blues"
• Billy Preston: That's the Way God Planned It (1969): bass
• Alexis Korner: Musically Rich...and Famous: Anthology 1967-1982 (2003): guitar on "Get Off of My Cloud" (recorded 1974 or 1975)
• Ronnie Wood: I've Got My Own Album to Do (1974): co-composer, guitar and vocals on "Sure the One You Need"; co-composer, guitar, piano and backing vocals on "Act Together"; guitar and backing vocals on several other tracks; The First Barbarians Live From Kilburn (recorded 1974, released 2007): guitar, vocals, keyboards; Now Look (1975): guitar and backing vocals on "Breathe on Me", "I Can't Stand the Rain" and "I Can Say She's Alright"; Gimme Some Neck (1979): guitar and backing vocals on "Buried Alive", backing vocals on "Seven Days"
• Faces: The Faces' Final Concert (recorded 1974, released 2000): guitar on "Sweet Little Rock & Roller", "I’d Rather Go Blind" and "Twistin’ The Night Away"
• John Phillips: Pay, Pack & Follow (recorded 1976–1977, released 2001) and Pussycat (outtakes and alternate mixes - recorded 1976-77, released 2008): co-producer, guitar, backing vocals
• Peter Tosh: Bush Doctor (1978): guitar
• The New Barbarians: Buried Alive: Live in Maryland (recorded 1979, released 2006): guitar, piano, lead and backing vocals
• Ian McLagan: Troublemaker (1979, re-released in 2005 as Here Comes Trouble): guitar and backing vocals on "Truly"
• Screamin' Jay Hawkins: Portrait of a Man: A History of Screamin' Jay Hawkins (1979): guitar on "I Put a Spell on You and "Armpit #6"
• Max Romeo: Holding Out My Love For You (1981): guitar, mixing
• Tom Waits: Rain Dogs (1985): guitar and backing vocals on "Big Black Mariah", "Union Square" and "Blind Love"; Bone Machine (1992): co-composer, guitar and vocals on "That Feel"
• Sun City: Artists United Against Apartheid (1985): co-composer and guitar on "Silver and Gold"
• Slim Jim Phantom, Lee Rocker & Earl Slick: Phantom Rocker and Slick (1986): guitar on "My Mistake"
• Aretha Franklin: Jumpin' Jack Flash film soundtrack (1986): producer and guitar on title track, also on Jewels in the Crown: All-Star Duets with the Queen (2007)
• Chuck Berry concert film Hail! Hail! Rock 'n' Roll (1987): musical producer, guitar and backing vocals
• Nona Hendryx: Female Trouble (1987): guitar on "Rock This House"
• Ziggy Marley: Conscious Party (1988): guitar on "Lee & Molly"
• Feargal Sharkey: Wish (1988): guitar on "More Love"
• The Dirty Strangers: Dirty Strangers (1988): guitar; From W12 to Wittering (2009): piano on five tracks, co-composer of "Real Botticelli"
• Johnnie Johnson: Johnnie B. Bad (1991): co-producer, guitar and vocals on "Key to the Highway", co-composer and guitar on "Tanqueray"
• John Lee Hooker: Mr. Lucky (1991): guitar on "Crawling King Snake", guitar and backing vocals on "Whiskey and Wimmen"
• The Neville Brothers: Uptown (1991): guitar
• Weird Nightmare: Meditations on Mingus (1992): guitar and vocals on "Oh Lord Don't Let Them Drop That Atomic Bomb on Me"
• George Jones: Bradley Barn Sessions (1994): guitar and vocals on "Say It's Not You"; Burn Your Playhouse Down - The Unreleased Duets (2008): vocals on "Burn Your Playhouse Down" (recorded in 1994)
• Bernie Worrell: Funk of Ages (1994): guitar
• Bobby Womack: Resurrection (1994): guitar
• Marianne Faithfull: A Collection (1994): co-producer and guitar on "Ghost Dance"; Easy Come, Easy Go (2008): guitar and harmony vocals on "Sing Me Back Home"
• The Chieftains: Long Black Veil (1995): guitar on "The Rocky Road to Dublin"
• Ivan Neville: Thanks (1995): guitar; Scrape (2004): guitar
• Bo Diddley: A Man Amongst Men (1996): guitar on "Bo Diddley Is Crazy"
• B.B. King: Deuces Wild (1997): guitar on "Paying the Cost to Be the Boss"
• Wingless Angels (1997): co-producer, guitar, backing vocals
• Scotty Moore: All the King's Men (1997): guitar and vocals on "Deuce and a Quarter"
• Jimmy Rogers All-Stars: Blues Blues Blues (1999): guitar on "Trouble No More", "Don't Start Me Talkin'" and "Goin' Away"
• Sheryl Crow: Sheryl Crow & Friends: Live From Central Park (1999): guitar and vocals on "Happy"
• Charlie Watts: Charlie Watts - Jim Keltner Project (2000): guitar on "The Elvin Suite"
• Timeless: Tribute to Hank Williams (2001): guitar and vocals on "You Win Again"
• Peter Wolf: Sleepless (2002): guitar and vocals on "Too Close Together"
• Willie Nelson & Friends: Stars & Guitars (2002): guitar and vocals on "Dead Flowers"; Outlaws & Angels (2004): guitar and vocals on "We Had It All", guitar on "Trouble in Mind" and "Whole Lotta Shakin' Goin On"
• Hubert Sumlin: About Them Shoes (2004): guitar and vocals on "Still a Fool", guitar on "I Love the Life I Lead" and "Little Girl"
• Toots & the Maytals: True Love (2004): guitar and vocals on "Careless Ethiopians"; guitar and backing vocals on "Pressure Drop" (released 2007)
• Return to Sin City: A Tribute to Gram Parsons (2004): guitar and vocals on "Love Hurts", "Hickory Wind" and "Wild Horses"
• Make It Funky (2005): guitar and vocals on "I'm Ready"
• Les Paul & Friends: American Made World Played (2005): guitar on "Good Morning Little Schoolgirl"
• Buddy Guy: Bring 'Em In (2005): guitar on "The Price You Gotta Pay"
• Jerry Lee Lewis: Last Man Standing: The Duets (2006): guitar and vocals on "That Kind of Fool"
• Ronnie Spector: Last of the Rock Stars (2006): guitar and vocals on "It's Gonna Work Out Fine", guitar on "All I Want"
• Lee "Scratch" Perry: Scratch Came Scratch Saw Scratch Conquered (2008): guitar on "Heavy Voodoo" and "Once There's a Will There's a Way"
• Little Steven's Underground Garage: Christmas a Go-Go (2008): This compilation album starts with Richards' "Run Rudolph Run", which the liner notes state is now "available for the first time on CD"
• Richards also appeared on The Simpsons episode How I Spent My Strummer Vacation
Lead vocals on Rolling Stones tracks
Below is a list of the officially released Rolling Stones tracks on which Richards sings lead vocals or shares lead-vocal duties:
• "Something Happened to Me Yesterday" (alternates with Jagger), "Connection" (co-lead with Jagger) - Between the Buttons (1967)
• "Salt of the Earth" (first verse) - Beggars Banquet (1968)
• "You Got the Silver" - Let It Bleed (1969)
• "Happy" - Exile On Main St. (1972)
• "Coming Down Again" - Goats Head Soup (1973)
• "Memory Motel" (alternates with Jagger) - Black and Blue (1976)
• "Happy" (live) - Love You Live (1977)
• "Before They Make Me Run" - Some Girls (1978)
• "All About You" - Emotional Rescue (1980)
• "Little T&A" - Tattoo You (1981)
• "Wanna Hold You" - Undercover (1983)
• "Too Rude", "Sleep Tonight" - Dirty Work (1986)
• "Can't Be Seen", "Slipping Away" - Steel Wheels (1989)
• "Can't Be Seen" (live) - Flashpoint (1991)
• "The Worst", "Thru and Thru" - Voodoo Lounge (1994)
• "Slipping Away" (acoustic studio rehearsal) - Stripped (1995)
• "You Don't Have to Mean It", "Thief in the Night", "How Can I Stop" - Bridges to Babylon (1997)
• "Thief in the Night" (live) - No Security (1999)
• "Losing My Touch" - Forty Licks (2002)
• "Happy" (live), "The Nearness of You" (live), "You Don't Have to Mean It" (live) - Live Licks (2004)
• "This Place Is Empty", "Infamy" - A Bigger Bang (2005)
• "Hurricane" - CD single (free at U.S. Rolling Stones concerts in 2005 with donation to Hurricane Katrina fund)
• "Thru and Thru" (live) - Rarities 1971-2003 (2005)
• "You Got the Silver" (live), "Connection" (live), "Little T&A" (live) - Shine a Light (2008)
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