Best Known As: The weatherbeaten guitarist for the Rolling Stones
Keith Richards and a schoolmate, Mick Jagger, fell in together in the early 1960s and formed the rock band The Rolling Stones with Brian Jones. Losing and adding a few other band members along the way, The Rolling Stones made a name for themselves with up-tempo cover tunes that hit the charts in 1963 and 1964, such as their version of Buddy Holly's "Not Fade Away." Richards and Jagger started writing their own songs in 1965 and the hits began to pile up, fueled by Richards' bluesy, chunky guitar riffs. The Stones went on to a legendary career, recording and performing for the next four decades. Richards did his best to live up to the band's bad-boy image: hard partying and indestructibility became his hallmarks. (His increasingly lined and weatherbeaten face made him a kind of anti-Dick Clark, prematurely aged and always looking as if he was at death's door.) The Rolling Stones' hits included "(I Can't Get No) Satisfaction," "Jumpin' Jack Flash," "Honky-Tonk Woman," " "Miss You" and "Start Me Up." Keith Richards released his first solo album in 1988, and since then he has worked both with the Stones and on other solo projects. He had a small role as a pirate in the 2007 sequel Pirates of the Caribbean: At World's End, a bit of an inside joke launched after Johnny Depp admitted patterning his own pirate character, Jack Sparrow, on Richards in earlier films. Keith Richards published an autobiography, Life, in 2010.
Keith Richards has acknowledged using drugs in the 1960s and 1970s, particularly heroin. In 2010 interviews he said he had been off heroin for 30 years... Richards had three children with actress Anita Pallenberg, whom he dated for several years but never married. Those children are son Marlon (b. 1969), daughter Dandelion (aka Angela, b. 1972), and son Tara (b. 1976). Tara died a few months after his birth... Richards married model Patti Hansen in 1983. They have two daughters: Theodora (b. 1985) and Alexandra (b. 1986)... Richards was injured in Fiji in 2006 when he reportedly fell out of a tree while on vacation. He underwent brain surgery in Aukland, New Zealand, but returned to touring with the Stones later that summer... He is affectionately called "Keef" by many fans.
Borm December 18, 1943, in Dartford, England; known earlier in his career as Keith Richard; son of Bert Richards (a factory laborer and electrician) and Doris Dupress; married Patti Hansen (a model and actress), December 18, 1983; children: (with Anita Pallenberg) Marlon, Dandelion (later Angela); (with Hansen) Theodora, Alexandra. Education: Attended art school in Sidcup, England.
Member of the Rolling Stones, 1962—; solo performer, 1988—. Appeared in and acted as musical director of film Hail! Hail! Rock ‘n’ Roll and produced soundtrack album, 1987.
Awards: With Rolling Stones, inducted into Rock and Roll Hall of Fame, 1989.
Addresses:Agent—Raindrop Services, 1776 Broadway, New York, NY 10019. Record company—Virgin Records, 338 North Foothill Rd., Beverly Hills, CA 90210-3608.
Guitarist, singer, songwriter
Much has been made of Keith Richards’s reputation as rock’s ultimate bad boy; his weathered face and checkered past are legendary. As the guitarist and primary musical force behind the Rolling Stones, one of the most influential bands in rock and roll history, Richards may have been less visible than flamboyant frontman Mick Jagger, but he provided an example of cool that other musicians have imitated for decades. In the words of author Mark Leyner, who interviewed Richards for Spin, "Any one of a thousand Keith Richards photographs could serve as the defining totemic image of the rock ‘n’ roll life."
Yet Richards’s drug history and onstage demeanor have frequently overshadowed his remarkable focus and seriousness as a musician. Inspired by a variety of roots-based musical forms, primarily the blues, he has helped the Stones branch out continually as a vital creative unit. Since 1988 Richards has released two critically acclaimed solo albums with a versatile backup band called the X-Pensive Winos; though he long avoided recording apart from the Stones, his work without them indicates he has lost none of his fire. As he noted in one of many candid interviews with Rolling Stone, his intention has long been to "grow this music up"—to leave behind the teen appeal and theatricality of rock’s past and invest it with maturity and honest feeling.
Richards also demonstrated in the wake of his renewed solo effort that he had reached a state of happy grace in his life. "The impression Richards gives is of someone perfectly content to be who he is and do what he does with no evident regard for external judgments or objections," noted Ira Robbins in Pulse! The guitarist confirmed this perception in numerous interviews: "To me, the main thing about living on this planet is to know who the hell you are and be real about it," he told Rolling Stone. "That’s the reason I’m still alive." Content in his second marriage, the father of several children of various ages, he indicated that he’d put aside the youth-obsessed sentimentalism exemplified by a classic line in "My Generation," a 1960s standard by Stones contemporaries The Who: "Hope I die before I get old." People quoted an interview in which Richards declared, "Getting old is a fascinating thing. The older you get, the older you want to get."
From Black and White to Technicolor Richards was born in 1943 in Dartford, England. His father, Bert, worked in a factory, struggling to feed the family. "We just about made the rent," the guitarist recalled in a Rolling Stone interview. "The luxuries were very, very few." Keith knew early on that he didn’t have
his father’s discipline—"That’s the hardest work of all, bein’ lazy," he quipped to Kurt Loder in 1987, as quoted in the rock scribe’s Bat Chain Puller—and he was expelled from the Dartford Technical School for truancy at age 15. He spent some time at art school before discovering the guitar and the blues. Rock and roll was brand new in the late 1950s, and its arrival, Richards told Loder, signaled the advent of "a new era. Totally. It was almost like A.D. and B.C., and 1956 was year 1, you know? The world was black-and-white, and then suddenly it went into living color. Suddenly there was a reason to be around, besides just knowing you were gonna have to work and draggin’ your ass to school every day. Suddenly everything went zoom—glorious Technicolor."
Richards always understood—and is at pains to explain to contemporary rock fans—that rock and roll derived in large part from the blues, an African-American art form. And the work of black artists in ensuing years, from soul and rhythm and blues to the pioneering rock of Richards’s idol, Chuck Berry, would provide basic musical compass points for the guitarist and his band. Richards met Mick Jagger in 1960; the singer was then attending the London School of Economics. They shared a love of R & B and ended up jamming together with a handful of other musicians. The Rolling Stones—named after a song by blues legend Muddy Waters—were formed in 1962 and featured a shifting roster of musicians as they coalesced, though Jagger and Richards were constants. The rhythm section of Bill Wyman and Charlie Watts stabilized the band’s sound, and they released their first single, a Chuck Berry cover, in 1963. Although they were often touted as "London’s answer to the Beatles" and at first sported a clean-cut look, the group’s gritty, sexually charged sound and attitude offered a unique appeal. Their 1965 single "(I Can’t Get No) Satisfaction" was a monster hit that became one of the defining songs of the era. Newsweek later called Richards’s signature "Satisfaction" guitar riff "five notes that shook the world."
The Stones unleashed a string of hit singles—among them "The Last Time," "Time Is on My Side," "19th Nervous Breakdown" and "Get Off My Cloud"—before the tide of the decade turned to "album-oriented" rock. Late-1960s and early-1970s Stones LPs such as Beggar’s Banquet, Let It Bleed, Sticky Fingers, and Exile on Main Street have become hallmarks of committed, adventuresome rock. The Stones also experienced a tragic watershed of the hippie age: at a 1970 concert at California’s Altamont Speedway, members of the Hell’s Angels motorcycle club—the band’s erstwhile security force—fatally stabbed an unruly fan as the Stones played their hit "Sympathy for the Devil."
Poster Boy for Excess Richards, during this tumultuous period, became something of a poster boy for excess. While many rockers—including Jagger and the Beatles—championed mysticism and psychedelia, Richards was laying low and shooting up. He admitted to Bryan Appleyard of Vanity Fair that during his heroin days in New York, he carried a gun, and he recalled, "I got used to getting shot at." At the same time, however, his notoriety often bestowed a strange immunity upon him; would-be muggers waved him through and "cops [gave him] lifts when [it was] raining." In Toronto in 1977 he was arrested on a serious possession charge and—faced with stringent penalties—agreed to undergo drug treatment and perform at a 1979 charity concert. Rock lore has it that Richards periodically had his blood changed in order to curtail various bouts with addiction.
Living on this particular edge, he told Spin’s Leyner, was in part a way of dealing with stardom’s distorting effect on one’s self-regard: "I’ve tried to keep my feet on the ground—sometimes almost six feet under—in order not to stay up there in that stratosphere [of fame]. Maybe the whole dope thing was some way of negating that—’cause that put me down in the gutter. One minute I’m operating as a superstar and the next I’m shooting up with some guys on the Lower East Side. I’ll never know really what that was all about—just an experiment that went on too long, I guess." Richards explained to Loder in Rolling Stone in 1981, "The problem is not how to get off of it, it’s how to stay off of it." By 1980 Richards’s long-term relationship with Anita Pallenberg had come to an end, and in 1983 he would marry actress and model Patti Hansen. Jagger served as best man at their wedding in Mexico; by the time Richards and Hansen had their two daughters, his two children by Pallenberg, Marlon and Dandelion, were in their teens. In 1982, the guitarist was reunited with his father, whom he had not seen in many years; their newfound closeness became another constant in Richards’s life.
The Rolling Stones sustained their success through the 1970s—releasing such hit albums as Goat’s Head Soup, It’s Only Rock ‘N’ Roll, and Some Girls—and played in more and more massive arenas. By the 1980s, their tours had become events of elephantine proportions, and though he still felt firmly committed to the band, Richards was keenly aware of the intimacy and directness lost in the fanfare. In 1985 Mick Jagger decided to release a solo album, She’s the Boss, and he announced in 1986 that he would not tour with the Stones in support of their recent record, Dirty Work. Richards and Jagger traded barbs in the press; "To me, twenty-five years of integrity went down the drain with what he did," the guitarist told Anthony DeCurtis in Rolling Stone. Speculation about the band’s imminent dissolution flew about and were not quelled by Richards’s decision to ink a deal with Virgin Records and put out his own solo album.
Birth of the X-Pensive Winos In addition to assembling a band, Richards served as musical director for Taylor Hackford’s Hail! Hail! Rock ‘N’Roll, a film biography of Chuck Berry. "He’s a loner," Richards told DeCurtis of the senior rocker. "That’s why I could work with Chuck Berry, because he’s very much like Mick." But not working with Mick—or rhythm guitarist Ron Wood or Wyman or Watts—was Richards’s imperative for the moment. He decided to collaborate with drummer Steve Jordan, who had played in the World’s Most Dangerous Band on television’s Late Night With David Letterman, and assembled a stellar ensemble that included bassist Charley Drayton, guitarist Waddy Wachtel, and keyboardist Ivan Neville.
An air of mutual admiration and camaraderie pervaded the sessions for Talk Is Cheap, the first album by Keith Richards and the X-Pensive Winos. "Every drummer’s dream is to play with Keith," Jordan declared in Newsweek. "He’s the Time Machine, right?" Jordan wasn’t referring to a nostalgia trip; Richards’s rhythmic accuracy as a guitarist—what musician’s call "time"—is legendary. Wachtel confirmed this, adding, "It’s due to his right hand. Magic. When he plays rhythm, it’s like a room full of the best drummers in the world." Talk Is Cheap featured guest musicians like funk superstars Bootsy Collins and Maceo Parker and soulful vocals from Sarah Dash. Yet Richards’s own singing, only an occasional feature on the Stones’ records, was the biggest surprise for many listeners and critics. Guitar Player rated the album the best by the Rolling Stones—even though Richards was the only Stone on it—in nearly two decades. Richards and his group also released a live album taken from a performance at the Hollywood Palladium in December of 1988.
The Stones reassembled for the hugely successful 1989 album Steel Wheels, which spawned a tremendous tour. "The songs just tumbled out," Richards told the New York Times of the recording sessions in Barbados. "First, we just screamed and yelled at each other. We needed to clear the air, which, as old mates, we’re very good at. Then, when we got into that room and sat down with our guitars, something entirely different took over." That year, the Rolling Stones were inducted into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame. In a 1992 Guitar Player interview, Richards noted that the imbalance produced by frenzied playing and idle downtime had been a root cause of the tension within the group. "And that’s what the Stones had to live with from the early 70s until the middle ’80s: constant work for a year and a half, and then nothing for two years. And that stopping and starting was fraying. That was the underlying force of what all of that shit was about."
1992 saw the publication of Victor Bockris’s largely panned Poseidon Press tome Keith Richards: The Biography, which Gene Santoro attacked in Pulse! as a collection of "recycled press clips" interlaced with pretentious analysis and pop clichés. More importantly, late in the year Richards released his second solo studio album, Main Offender. Once again employing the versatile X-Pensive Winos—who traded instruments during the sessions—Richards explored more emotional territory this time around. Entertainment Weekly awarded the album a B+ and closed its review with a cheeky "Your move, Mick." Echoing Guitar Player’s assessment of Talk Is Cheap, Spin’s Leyner called Main Offender "the finest ‘Rolling Stones’ album in years," elaborating, "It’s stripped down and full of gorgeous songwriting—sinewy and poignant." Musician was a trifle more critical, suggesting that Main Offender was "the best mediocre album of the year," perhaps because it conveyed a pleasantly raw feel with no obvious effort: "Exile on Easy Street." For his part, Richards revealed in an interview with Rolling Stone’s Kim Neely, "This band is very new and fresh for me. In a way it reminds me of working with the Stones in the early days."
The Stones were set to regroup for a new record in 1993, despite the departure of bassist Wyman, which apparently had been in the works for some time. Richards had joked about scaring Wyman into remaining by threatening to replace him with a woman, but this macho gambit presumably failed. Richards told Neely, "I think there’s a possibility of another golden period in the Stones somewhere," this projection ostensibly undimmed by Wyman’s exit. As to his own future, Richards told Rolling Stone’s DeCurtis in 1988, "I played with Muddy Waters six months before he died, and the cat was just as vital as he was in his youth. And he did it until the day he died. To me, that is the important thing. I mean, what am I gonna do now, go for job retraining and learn to be a welder? I’ll do this until I drop. I’m committed to it and that’s it."
In both his role as a Rolling Stone and as that of a solo artist, Keith Richards has demonstrated that it is possible to "grow up" in rock and maintain the spark and intensity required to keep it fresh. "To me, it’s important to prove that this isn’t just teenage kids’ shit and you should feel embarrassed when you’re over forty and still doing it," he remarked to DeCurtis. "That’s not necessary. This is a job. It’s a man’s job, and it’s a lifelong job. And if there’s a sucker to ever prove it, I hope to be the sucker."
Selected discography
With the Rolling Stones; on ABKCO Records The Rolling Stones (England’s Newest Hitmakers), 1964. 12X5, 1964. The Rolling Stones Now!, 1965. December’s Children, 1965. Big Hits (High Tide and Green Grass) (includes "[I Can’t Get No] Satisfaction," "The Last Time," "Time Is on My Side," "19th Nervous Breakdown," and "Get Off My Cloud"), 1966. Aftermath, 1966. Got LIVE If You Want It!, 1966. Between the Buttons, 1967. Flowers, 1967. Their Satanic Majesties Request, 1967. Beggar’s Banquet (includes "Sympathy for the Devil"), 1968. Through the Past, Darkly (Big Hits, Volume II), 1969. Let It Bleed, 1969. Get Yer Ya-Ya’s Out, 1970. Hot Rocks, 1964-1971, 1971. More Hot Rocks (Big Hits and Fazed Cookies), 1972. The Rolling Stones Singles Collection: The London Years, 1989.
On Rolling Stones/Columbia Records Sticky Fingers, 1971. Exile on Main Street, 1972. Goat’s Head Soup, 1973. It’s Only Rock & Roll, 1974. Made in the Shade, 1975. Black and Blue, 1976. Love You Live, 1977. Some Girls, 1978. Emotional Rescue, 1980. Sucking in the Seventies, 1981. Tattoo You, 1981. Still Life, 1982. Undercover, 1983. Rewind (1971-1984), 1984. Dirty Work, 1986. Steel Wheels, 1989. 25 x 5, 1990. Flashpoint, 1991.
With the X-Pensive Winos; on Virgin Records Talk Is Cheap, 1988. Keith Richards and the X-Pensive Winos Live at the Hollywood Palladium, December 15, 1988, 1988. Main Offender, 1992.
Sources Books Loder, Kurt, Bat Chain Puller: Rock & Roll in the Age of Celebrity, St. Martin’s, 1990. The Rolling Stone Interviews: The 1980s, edited by Sid Holt, St. Martin’s/Rolling Stone Press, 1989.
Periodicals Entertainment Weekly, November 6, 1992. Guitar Player, December 1992; September 1993. Musician, May 1992; December 1992. New York Times, June 4, 1989. Newsweek, October 24, 1988. People, November 9, 1992. Pulse!, November 1992. Rolling Stone, November 26, 1992; February 4, 1993. Spin, January 1993. Vanity Fair, December 1992.
He's acknowledged as perhaps the greatest rhythm guitarist in rock & roll, but Keith Richards is even more legendary for his near-miraculous ability to survive the most debauched excesses of the rock & roll lifestyle. His prodigious consumption of drugs and alcohol has been well documented, and would likely have destroyed anyone with a less amazing endurance level. On-stage with the Rolling Stones, he epitomized guitar-hero cool as the quiet, stoic alter ego to Mick Jagger's extroverted frontman, a widely imitated image made all the more fascinating by his tightrope-walking hedonism. Yet that part of Richards' mystique often overshadows his considerable musical legacy. Arguably the finest blues-based rhythm guitarist to hit rock & roll since his idol Chuck Berry, Richards knocked out some of the most indelible guitar riffs in rock history, and he did it so often and with such apparent effortlessness that it was easy to take his songwriting skills for granted. His lean, punchy, muscular sound was the result of his unerring sense of groove and intuitive use of space within songs, all of which played a major part in laying the groundwork for hard rock. Never intensely interested in soloing, Richards preferred to work the groove using open-chord tunings drawn from Delta blues, and his guitars were often strung with only five strings for cleaner fingering, which made it difficult for cover bands to duplicate his distinctive sound precisely. For all his rock-star notoriety, Richards was perfectly happy in the confines of a group, and thus was the last Rolling Stone to release a side-project solo album; his 1988 solo debut appeared more than a quarter century after he co-founded the band that earned him the nickname "Mr. Rock and Roll."
Richards was born December 18, 1943, in Dartford, Kent, on the southern outskirts of London. When he was just an infant, his family had to be temporarily evacuated from their home during the Nazi bombing campaign of 1944. In 1951, while attending primary school, Richards first met and befriended Jagger, although they would be split up three years later when they moved on to different schools. By this age, Richards had already become interested in music, and was an especially big fan of Roy Rogers; in his very early adolescence, he sang in a choir that performed for the Queen herself, although he was forced to quit when his voice changed. Around that time, he became interested in American rock & roll and began playing guitar, with initial guidance from his grandfather. Behavior problems at school led to Richards' expulsion in 1959, but the headmaster thought he might find a niche as an artist, and Richards was sent to Sidcup Art School. There he met future Pretty Things guitarist Dick Taylor, who at the time was playing in a blues band with Jagger. Discovering their new mutual interest, Richards and Jagger struck up their friendship all over again, and Richards joined their band not long after. Over the next couple of years, that band evolved into the Rolling Stones, who officially debuted on-stage in the summer of 1962 (by which time Richards had left school).
The rest was history -- initially a blues and R&B cover band, the Stones branched out into original material penned by Jagger and Richards. The duo took some time and practice to develop into professional-quality songwriters, but by 1965 they'd hit their stride. "(I Can't Get No) Satisfaction" made them superstars in the States as well as the U.K., boasting one of rock's all-time great guitar riffs, which Richards played into a tape recorder in the middle of the night and didn't recall writing when he heard the tape the next morning. With their menacing, aggressively sexual image, the Stones became targets for British police bent on quelling this new threat to public decency, and Richards suffered his first drug bust in 1967 when police raided his residence and found amphetamines in the coat pocket of Jagger's girlfriend, singer Marianne Faithfull. Richards was convicted of allowing the activity on his premises and sentenced to a year in prison, but public furor over the trumped-up nature of the charges and the purely circumstantial evidence prompted a hasty reversal of the decision. The same year, Richards hooked up with bandmate Brian Jones' former girlfriend, model/actress Anita Pallenberg; although the two never officially married, they remained together (more or less) for the next 12 years, and had two children (Marlon, in 1968, and Angela, in 1972).
After the death of Brian Jones in 1969, the Stones became a more straightforward, hard-rocking outfit, and Richards' guitar took center stage more than ever before. By this era, he'd taken to calling himself Keith Richard, simply because he thought it sounded better without the s. Privately, the band was sinking further into decadence, clearly audible on its early-'70s masterpieces Sticky Fingers and Exile on Main Street. However, Richards' burgeoning heroin addiction began to affect the consistency of the band's recordings for the next few years. Additionally, he ran into more legal troubles; his French villa was the subject of a drug raid in 1972, as was his British residence the following year. (Rumors dating from this era that Richards had all of his blood replaced in a cleanup effort, while entertaining, were not true.) Over 1976-1977, Richards entered the studio for a few solo sessions, but the only result to see the light of day was the Christmas single "Run Rudolph Run" (issued in 1978). Perhaps the lack of productivity was due to the fact that Richards was in the middle of the most difficult period of his life.
In 1976, Richards' infant son Tara, his third child by Pallenberg, died suddenly; the official cause was SIDS, although unsubstantiated rumors about the couple's drug abuse playing a factor circulated as well. In early 1977, Richards was busted for coke, and faced the most serious charges of his life when, in Toronto, he was caught in possession of heroin. He narrowly escaped serving jail time, agreeing to perform a charity concert for the blind and enter drug rehabilitation in the United States. The scare convinced him to clean up, and when the Stones returned in 1978 with Some Girls, it was acclaimed as their strongest, most focused work in years, and helped rejuvenate their popularity as an arena rock attraction. Things went sailing along smoothly for the next few years, and Richards even officially married for the first time in 1983, wedding Patti Hansen, who would bear him two more daughters, Theodora and Alexandra (he and Pallenberg had finally split in 1979). However, around the same time, Jagger decided the Stones should take a new direction more in line with contemporary pop; Richards refused, and Jagger embarked on a solo career that began to take priority over the Stones. It ignited a very public feud between the two, and rumors of the Stones' imminent demise swirled over the next few years. When Jagger refused to tour behind 1986's Dirty Work in order to record his second solo album, Richards retaliated by going out on his own, forming a backing band he dubbed the Xpensive Winos.
Richards released his first solo album, Talk Is Cheap, in 1988. Both critically and commercially, it was a far greater success than Jagger's Primitive Cool. Reviews were generally quite complimentary, calling it a solid rock & roll record; plus, buoyed by the minor hit single and MTV favorite "Take It So Hard," Talk Is Cheap went gold. Richards embarked on a supporting tour which produced the concert album Live at the Hollywood Palladium, released three years later, and his success convinced Jagger to return to the fold (of course, the relative failure of his own solo venture helped). Their future thus seemingly assured, the Stones had their biggest success in some time with the 1989 album Steel Wheels and its blockbuster supporting tour. In the early '90s, Richards and Jagger once again began working on solo projects, but this time with the understanding that nothing took precedence over the Stones; Richards' second studio album, Main Offender, was issued in 1992, and again received fairly solid notices, although it didn't get quite the same commercial exposure. Since then, Richards has concentrated on recording and touring with the Stones. ~ Steve Huey, Rovi
Keith Richards (born 18 December 1943) is an English musician, songwriter, and founding member of The Rolling Stones. Rolling Stone magazine said Richards has created "rock's greatest single body of riffs," and has named him the 10th greatest guitarist of all time. Fourteen songs written by Richards and songwriting partnerMick Jagger, The Rolling Stones' lead vocalist, are listed among Rolling Stone magazine's "500 Greatest Songs of All Time".[1][2][3] Richards' notoriety for illicit drug use stems in part from several drug busts during the late 1960s and 1970s.
Keith Richards is the only child of Bert Richards and Doris Dupree Richards. He was born at Livingston Hospital in Dartford, Kent. His father was a factory worker injured during World War II during the Normandy invasion.[4]
Richards' paternal grandparents were socialists and civic leaders whose family originated from Wales.[5][6][7] His maternal grandfather, Augustus Theodore Dupree, who toured Britain with a jazzbig band, "Gus Dupree and his Boys", fostered Richards' interest in guitar.[8]
Richards' mother bought Richards his first guitar, and he played at home recording Billie Holiday, Louis Armstrong, Duke Ellington and others.[9] His father on the other hand disparaged his son's musical enthusiasm.[10] One of Richards' first guitar heroes was Scotty Moore.[11]
Richards attended Wentworth Primary School with Mick Jagger and was his neighbor until 1954, when the family moved.[12] From 1955 to 1959 he attended Dartford Technical High School for Boys.[12][13] Recruited by Dartford Tech's choirmaster R. W. "Jake" Clare, Richards sang in a trio of boy sopranos at, among other occasions, Westminster Abbey for Queen Elizabeth II.[14]
In 1959 Richards was expelled from Dartford "Tech" for truancy, and transferred to Sidcup Art College.[15] At Sidcup he was diverted from his studies proper and devoted more time to playing guitar with other students in the boys' room. At this point Richards had learned most of Chuck Berry's solos.[16]
Richards 1965
Richards met Jagger on a train as Jagger was headed to classes at the London School of Economics.[17] The mail order rhythm & blues albums from Chess Records 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 joined Richards, Jagger and Taylor into the just-forming Rolling Stones.[citation needed]
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 his staying close to his mother and remaining estranged from his father until 1982 [Richards, Keith (2010). Life].[citation needed]
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".[18] In the late 1970s Richards re-established the "s" to his surname.
Musicianship
Bandleader
Richards 1972.
Richards views his role in the Rolling Stones as "oiling the machinery", while Stewart has called him the musical leader of the band. Both Bill Wyman and Ronnie Wood have said that, unlike most other bands which usually follow the drummer, the Rolling Stones, in Wyman's words, "have no way of not following him".[19][20][21]
Guitar playing
Richards' guitar playing shows a fascination with chords and rhythm while avoiding flamboyant virtuosity in favour of riffs described by Chris Spedding as "direct, incisive and unpretentious."[19][22] Richards prefers to play in tandem with another guitarist and has always toured with one.[23] Chuck Berry has been an inspiration for Richards,[24] and it was Richards and Jagger who introduced Berry's songs to the Rolling Stones' early repertoire. Chicago artists such as Jimmy Reed and Muddy Waters provided the basis of a style of interwoven lead and rhythm guitar that Richards developed with Brian Jones that continues with the Rolling Stones' current guitarist, Ronnie Wood.[25] In the late 1960s, Jones' declining contributions led Richards to record all guitar parts on many tracks, including slide guitar, which had been Jones' specialty in the band's early years. Jones' 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.[19] In 1975 Taylor was replaced by Wood, marking a return to the style of guitar interplay that he and Richards described as "the ancient art of weaving".[26]
The 1967-68 break in touring allowed Richards to focus on open tunings, which are commonly used for slide guitar. Instead, Richards primarily used open tunings for fingered chording, developing a distinctive style of syncopated and ringing I-IV chording heard on "Street Fighting Man" and "Start Me Up".[27] 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 sixth 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".[28]
Richards regards acoustic guitar as the basis for his playing,[29] believing that the limitations of electric guitar would cause him to "lose that touch" if he didn't play acoustic.[28] Richards plays acoustic guitar on many Rolling Stones' tracks including like "Not Fade Away", "Satisfaction", "Brown Sugar", and "Angie". All guitars on the studio versions of "Street Fighting Man" and "Jumping Jack Flash" feature acoustic guitars overloaded to a cassette recorder which were then reamped through a loudspeaker in the studio.[30]
Vocals
Richards sang in a school choir - most notably for Queen Elizabeth - until adolescence's effect on his voice forced him out of the choir.[31] He has sung backing vocals on every Rolling Stones album. Since Between the Buttons (1967), he has sung lead or co-lead on at least one track (see list below).
During the Rolling Stones' 1972 tour Richards began singing lead vocals on "Happy", and has since then typically sung one lead vocal, progressing to two since 1986.[32] During the 2006 and 2007 Rolling Stones' tours Richards sang "You Got the Silver" (1969) without self-accompaniment.[33]
Other instruments
Recordings of Richards playing other instruments besides guitar are not unusual. He has played bass on several Rolling Stones studio recordings, including "Have You Seen Your Mother, Baby, Standing in the Shadow?" (1966) and "Infamy" (2005).[34] Richards regards keyboards as a songwriting tool though he has played keyboards on several Rolling Stones recordings, and live he played keyboards for two Ronnie Wood concerts, and during The New Barbarians' 1979 tour.[35][36] Richards has also played percussion on select Rolling Stones tracks, including the floor tom on "Jumpin' Jack Flash"[37] and bicycle spokes on "Continental Drift" (1989).[38]
Songwriting
Richards and Jagger 1972
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.[39] 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.[40] 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."[41]
The Rolling Stones' first top-ten hit with a Jagger/Richards original was "The Last Time" (1965);[42] "(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.)[43] 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.[41] 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."[41]
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."[41]
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.[45] 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
Richards has released few solo recordings. His first solo single released in 1978 was versions of Chuck Berry's "Run Rudolph Run" and Jimmy Cliff's "The Harder They Come". In 1987, after Jagger pursued a solo recording and touring career, Richards formed the "X-pensive Winos" with co-songwriter, and co-producer Steve Jordan whom Richards assembled for his Chuck Berry documentary, Hail! Hail! Rock 'n' Roll.
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.[35] 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).[46]
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 three occasions, adding guitar and backing vocals to Waits's 1985 album Rain Dogs (1992); co-writing, playing and sharing the lead vocal on "That Feel" on Bone Machine ; and adding guitar and vocals to Bad As Me (2011). 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")[48] for the Chuck Berry film Hail! Hail! Rock 'n' Roll.[46]
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".[46]
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".[49] 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.[46]
Public image and private life
Music journalist Nick Kent attached to Richards Lord Byron's epithet of "mad, bad, and dangerous to know." Jagger thought that Richards' image had "contributed to him becoming a junkie." [50] In 1994 Richards said his image was "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."[51] 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".[52]
Richards has been tried on drug-related charges five times: in 1967, twice in 1973, in 1977 and in 1978.[53][54] The first trial – the only one involving a prison sentence[54] – resulted from a February 1967 police raid on Redlands, Richards's Sussex estate, where he and some friends, including Jagger, were spending the weekend.[55] The subsequent arrest of Richards and Jagger put them on trial before the British courts while also exposing them to 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.[56] Both Jagger and Richards were imprisoned at that point: Jagger was taken to Brixton Prison in south London,[57] and Richards to Wormwood Scrubs Prison in west London.[58] Both were released on bail the next day pending appeal.[59] 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.[60] A month later the appeals court overturned Richards's conviction for lack of evidence, while Jagger was given a conditional discharge.[61]
Toronto hotel, site of his 1977 drug bust
On 27 February 1977 Richards was 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.[62] 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.[63] The charge against him was later reduced to "simple possession of heroin".[64]
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.[65][66] 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.[67] 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.[68] In September 1979 the Ontario Court of Appeal upheld the original sentence.[69]
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,[70] and a daughter, Angela (originally named Dandelion), born in 1972.[71] 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.[72]
Richards still owns Redlands, the Sussex estate he purchased in 1966, as well as a home in Weston, Connecticut and another in Turks & Caicos.[73] His primary home is in Weston.[74] He is an avid reader with a strong interest in history and owns an extensive library.[75][76] An April 2010 article revealed that Richards yearns to be a librarian.[77]
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.[78] 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".[79] 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.[80][81]
Richards at the premiere of Pirates of the Caribbean 3
In an April 2007 interview for NME magazine, music journalist Mark Beaumont asked Richards what the strangest thing he ever snorted was,[82] 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."[83][84] In the media uproar that followed, Richards' manager said that the anecdote had been meant as a joke;[85] 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.[82][86] Musician Jay Farrar from the band Son Volt wrote a song titled 'Cocaine And Ashes', which was inspired by Richards' drug habits.[87]
Doris Richards, Richards' 91-year-old mother, died of cancer in England on 21 April 2007. An official statement released by a family representative stated that Keith kept a vigil by her bedside during her last days.[88][89]
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.[92]
In August 2009, Richards was ranked #4 in Time magazine's list of the 10 best electric guitar players of all time.[95] 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."[96] 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.[97] "I liked the living legend, that was all right," Richards said, referring to an award he received in 1989,[98] "but immortal is even better."[99]
In 2009, a book of Richards' quotations was published, titled What Would Keith Richards Do?: Daily Affirmations from a Rock 'n' Roll Survivor.[100]
In August 2007 Richards signed a publishing deal for his autobiography,[101]Life, which was released October 26, 2010.[102] 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."[103]
Musical equipment
Guitars
Richards has a collection of approximately 3,000 guitars.[104] 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."[19] 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:
Harmony Meteor: This was Richards main guitar in the stones early periods it was all but retired in 1964 when he acquired his Les Paul Standard.
1959 Gibson Les Paul Standard: Richards acquired this instrument, fitted with a Bigsby tailpiece, in 1964.[105] The guitar was the first "star-owned" Les Paul in Britain and served as one of Richards's main instruments through 1966.[106] He later sold the guitar to future Rolling Stones bandmate Mick Taylor.[107]
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.[108]
1957 Gibson Les Paul Custom: In 1966 Richards acquired a 1957 Les Paul Custom,[109] 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,[110] 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;[111] it was a favourite for both Richards and Taylor during recording sessions for Sticky Fingers[citation needed] and Exile on Main St.[citation needed] Richards has also used ES-355s on every tour since 1997. In 2006 he also unveiled a white Gibson ES-345.[112][113]
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".[citation needed]
Richards playing a 6 string Telecaster, 2006.
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".[114]
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.[114]
1967 Fender Telecaster: A third Telecaster used for five-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.[114] 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.[114] 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 five-string open-G tuning, and reappeared on stage in 2005.[citation needed]
Ampeg Dan Armstrong plexiglas guitar: The Dan Armstrong guitar was given to Richards during rehearsals for the 1969 tour,[citation needed] 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.[citation needed]
Gibson L6-S Custom: Played around the time of "Black And Blue". Appears in a video performance of "Crazy Mama".
Zemaitis Five-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.[citation needed]
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.[citation needed]
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.[115]
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."[116]
Ampeg V-4 and V-2 heads and VT-22 and VT-40 Combos – With 120 watts (V-4/VT-22) and 60 watts (V-2/VT-40) respectively these powerful Ampeg amps' midrange control, midrange shift switch, input pads, treble control with bright switch and incredibly effective and full sounding spring reverb shaped the guitar sound of 70's Stones. Used live by Keith from '69-78, as shown in tour photos and the documentary "Stones In Exile", the Ampeg V4, SVT, VT22 and VT40 amps shared duties in the studio with Fender Twins.
Effects
Richards 1995
In 1965 Richards used a Gibson Maestro fuzzbox to achieve the distinctive tone of his riff on "(I Can't Get No) Satisfaction";[117] 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.[118] In the 1970s and early 1980s Richards frequently used guitar effects such as a wah-wah pedal, a phaser and a Leslie speaker,[119] but he mainly relies on combining "the right amp with the right guitar" to achieve the sound he wants.[120]
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 1976–77, released 2001) and Pussycat (outtakes and alternate mixes – recorded 1976–77, released 2008): co-producer, guitar, backing vocals
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"; Bad As Me (2011): guitar on "Chicago", "Satisfied", "Last Leaf", and "Hell Broke Luce"
Sun City: Artists United Against Apartheid (1985): co-composer and guitar on "Silver and Gold"
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)
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"
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"
^Ellis, Estelle; Seebohm, Carol and Sykes, Christopher Simon (1995). At Home with Books: How Booklovers Live with and Care for Their Libraries. Clarkson Potter. pp. 209–212. ISBN0-517-59500-1.
^Richards, Keith (2009). Jessica Pallington West. ed. What Would Keith Richards Do?: Daily Affirmations from a Rock 'n' Roll Survivor. New York: Bloomsbury. ISBN9781596916142.
^Burrluck, Dave (September 2007). "The Keithburst Les Paul". Guitarist Magazine: 55–58.
^Bacon, Tony (2002). 50 Years of the Gibson Les Paul. Backbeahttp://members.tripod.com/blue_lena/guitar2.htmlt Books. pp. 38, 50, 123. ISBN0-87930-711-0.
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