2023-12-18 11:22:34
He is a rock rock and a music legend. Keith Richards has been delighting crowds with the Rolling Stones for over 60 years. Even at 80, the guitarist has no plans to slow down.
London.
There is hardly a living musician who is called a rock legend as much as Keith Richards. His wrinkled face and his smoky voice testify to his decades-long career in the music business. His life is the subject of countless myths.
The Rolling Stones guitarist is considered the personification of rock ‘n’ roll. When asked about it, Richards is modest. “No single person can fill this position,” he said in an interview with the German Press Agency in London last year. “I think it’s amazing that people accept my work. Sometimes I’m really overwhelmed.” Then he laughs. “But I don’t want to contradict them either.”
New tour sold out in a short time
Today Keith Richards turns 80 and has every reason to celebrate. Because in his old age, the indestructible musician continues to cement his legendary status. His Rolling Stones’ latest LP, “Hackney Diamonds,” is one of the most successful albums of the year. The restless veterans’ next tour, which runs through North America in spring and summer, was sold out after a short time. Planning for Europe is already underway behind the scenes.
Of course, the Stones are playing in the largest stadiums in the world again this time. Richards actually prefers the small halls and clubs. “You are simply closer,” he explains in an interview with dpa. “Plus, rock ‘n’ roll sounds a lot better in smaller rooms. I’ve always loved playing in clubs. It was actually always a chance to do things that I couldn’t do otherwise because the Stones got so big so quickly became.”
First appearance in July 1962
When the Rolling Stones played their first gig at London’s Marquee Club on July 12, 1962, no one could have predicted that the five nervous young men in dark suits would become one of the most famous, successful and long-lasting bands in music history. More than 60 years later, only Keith Richards and Mick Jagger remain of the original line-up. Ronnie Wood only joined the Stones in the 70s.
Only child “Keef” was born on December 18, 1943 in Dartford, Kent. He inherited his passion for music from his maternal grandfather. Gus Dupree was a jazz musician. He regularly took his grandson to music stores, eventually buying him his first guitar and teaching him chords.
At school, Richard’s current congenial partner, Mick Jagger, was one of his classmates. It was only a later chance meeting, during which the two had a lively conversation about the music of Muddy Waters and Chuck Berry, that made them friends, who soon became bandmates. “He was terribly shy,” Jagger recalls in the documentary series “My Life As A Rolling Stone.” “You can tell in interviews that he’s an introvert by nature.”
As a child, Richards dreamed of becoming a rock star
Accordingly, Richards was completely overwhelmed by the Stones’ huge success, even though he had dreamed of becoming a rock star as a child. “You’re 18, you’re playing the blues, and after a few months the women are trying to rip your clothes off and jumping off the balcony,” he says in the Stones documentary. “It’s not exactly what I had imagined. It was absolute chaos.”
The musician first had to get used to the loss of privacy. “That’s what comes with fame and all that other crap, a lot of things come at you.” It would have been completely enough for him to simply record music anonymously. “But of course that wasn’t possible,” says Richards. “You have to go out and present yourself. That’s what I learned and I really enjoyed it. But I think my refuge was heroin, it was drugs.”
It was only when he was arrested in Canada in 1977 for heroin possession and faced a prison sentence of up to 20 years that he realized that things couldn’t go on like this – but not because of his own health. “In Canada I realized that I was putting the band in danger,” he says. His thought: “If I get out of here and don’t have to go cold turkey in prison, then I’ll get clean.” Music was always a priority for him.
He now lives a reasonably healthy life
Compared to before, Richards now lives a relatively healthy life. “I stopped smoking in 2019 and haven’t touched a cigarette since,” he told the Telegraph. “I gave up heroin in 1978 and cocaine in 2006. But I still enjoy the occasional drink. Other than that, I try to enjoy being sober. It’s a unique experience for me.”
Because he is an icon as a guitarist, it is sometimes overlooked that he is also a brilliant songwriter. With Mick Jagger he created countless rock classics such as “Gimme Shelter”, “Jumpin’ Jack Flash” and “Start Me Up”, which are immediately recognizable. His recipe: “I just like meaty intros, especially in rock ‘n’ roll. If the intro grabs you, then you stay with it a little longer, and if the riff after the intro also grabs you, then you basically have the people .”
Occasionally he also appears vocally. He has recorded two solo albums with his backing band X-Pensive Winos, on which he sings lead vocals. As a schoolboy he sang in the choir and even once performed in front of Queen Elizabeth II at Westminster Abbey. “I really enjoy singing,” he says today. “It’s fun, and the more I do it, the more I like it.”
Write songs until you drop
With the Stones, however, he is only occasionally at the microphone. “I already have an incredible singer, and I have to keep him working,” jokes Richards. “I really enjoy singing when the song is right. I do it as often as possible. But my main job really is and always has been to write songs that Mick Jagger sings. That’s my job.” A job that he says he wants to do until he drops.
The question of whether the current LP is the last and the upcoming tour is the farewell to the stage has been asked for decades. But even if it is often claimed – the Rolling Stones have never announced their departure and probably never will. “Of course it will end – at some point,” Keith Richards recently told BBC 4 radio. “Everyone is in good shape. There is no particular time pressure.” (dpa)
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