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Keith Richards

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Keith Richards

Keith Richards (born 18 December 1943) is an English guitarist, songwriter, singer, producer and founding member of The Rolling Stones. With songwriting partner and Stones lead vocalist Mick Jagger, he has written and recorded hundreds of songs. As a guitarist Richards is mostly known for his innovative rhythm playing. In 2003 Richards ranked 10th on Rolling Stone Magazine's "100 Greatest Guitarists of All Time".[1]

Early life

Richards, the only child of Bert Richards and Doris Dupree, was born in Dartford, Kent. His father was a factory labourer slightly injured during World War II, and Richards' paternal grandparents were socialists and civic leaders. His maternal grandfather (Augustus Theodore Dupree), who toured Britain in a jazz big band called Gus Dupree and his Boys, influenced Richards' musical ambitions. Richards' mother introduced him to the music of Billie Holiday, Louis Armstrong and Duke Ellington. As a boy soprano, Richards sang in Westminster Abbey with a choir in front of the Queen.[2]

Richards attended Wilmington Grammar School for Boys, and then Sidcup Art College where he devoted more time to playing guitar than his proper studies. His parents divorced about the time Richards was expelled from Sidcup. As an adolescent, Richards was a teddy boy who played in various skiffle groups. Richards left college and moved into a flat with Jagger and Brian Jones, the Stones' founder and second guitarist, in 1962.

Musical career

Guitar playing

Richards has derived inspiration from Chuck Berry throughout his career. While The Rolling Stones were conceived by Jones as a rhythm and blues band, both Jagger and Richards were responsible for bringing the rock 'n' roll songs of Bo Diddley and Berry to the band. With Stones founding member and guitarist Brian Jones, Richards developed a two-guitar style of interwoven leads and rhythms. Jones was replaced by guitarist Mick Taylor (1969 – 1974), who contributed to some of the group's most well-regarded records. Taylor's addition also led to a pronounced separation in the duties of lead and rhythm guitar. Taylor's replacement in 1975 was the more rhythmically-oriented Ron Wood. Richards feels the years with Wood to be his most musically satisfying period in the Stones.

Richards often uses guitars with open tunings which allow for syncopated and ringing I-IV chording that can be heard on "Start Me Up" and "Street Fighting Man." A five-string variant of the open G (borrowed from Don Everly of the Everly Brothers) which uses GDGBD unencumbered by a rumbling, lower 6th string, is prominent on "Honky Tonk Women," "Brown Sugar" and "Start Me Up". Though he still uses standard tunings, Richards claimed that his adoption of open tunings in the late sixties led to a musical "rebirth". Jones' declining contributions left Richards to record all guitar parts on many tracks - including slide guitar. After Taylor and later Wood, both accomplished slide players, joined the Stones, Richards rarely played slide.

Richards - who has over 1000 guitars, some of which he has not played but was simply given - is often associated with the Fender Telecaster, but his main guitar of late appears to be an ebony Gibson ES-355, and he has often played Fender Stratocasters. In Guitar World he joked that no matter what make of guitar, he can make them sound the same. On The Stones "(I Can't Get No) Satisfaction" Richards recorded the first top ten hit to feature a guitar fuzz effect which has since become commonplace.[3] Though in the 1970s and early 1980s he used guitar effects frequently, since then he has rarely used effects. Richards considers the acoustic guitar as the basis for his playing [4], and many Stones hits including "Not Fade Away", "Satisfaction", "Street Fighting Man" and "Brown Sugar" feature acoustic guitar parts.

Richards' backing vocals appear on every Stones album, and since 1969's Let It Bleed, most Stones' releases contained a Richards lead vocal. He has often played bass and occasionally keyboard parts. Richards has always been active in record production for the Stones and for himself, often in tandem with Mick Jagger (as the Glimmer Twins) and outside producers.

Songwriting

Richards and Jagger began writing songs following the example of the Beatles' Lennon/McCartney and the encouragement of Stone's manager Oldham, who saw little future for a cover band. The Stones had many hits with Jagger/Richards-penned songs; 1965's "Satisfaction" was their first international #1 recording. Jagger/Richards songs reflected the influence of blues, R&B, and rock 'n' roll, and later incorporated soul, folk, pop, country, gospel, psychedelia, and the social commentary that Bob Dylan made prominent on Top 40 radio. Their work in the 1970s and beyond has incorporated elements of funk, disco, reggae, and punk. Since 1980 with "All About You", Richards has frequently written and recorded slow, torchy ballads.

All Rolling Stones albums have mostly consisted of songs credited to Jagger/Richards regardless of how much collaboration occurred. For solo recordings, Richards always credits a songwriting partner, frequently drummer and co-producer Steve Jordan.

Richards was inducted into the Songwriters Hall of Fame in 1993.[5]

Solo recordings

Richards released his first solo single "Run Rudolph Run" in late-1978, and toured with The New Barbarians in 1979, consisting of Stones guitarist Ronnie Wood, former Faces keyboardist Ian McLagan, bassist Stanley Clarke and Meters drummer Ziggy Modeliste. Nonetheless Richards resisted sustained ventures outside of the Stones. Consequently his solo recordings are fewer than those of Jagger, Charlie Watts, and even Ronnie Wood.

When Jagger refused to tour behind Dirty Work, Richards actively pursued solo work. He formed Keith Richards and the X-pensive Winos in 1988 (first named Organised Crime) with Steve Jordan, who had drummed on the Stones' "Dirty Work" and on Hail! Hail! Rock 'N' Roll, a documentary of Chuck Berry's 60th birthday concert organised, produced and hosted by Richards.

Besides Steve Jordan, the X-pensive Winos featured Sarah Dash, Waddy Wachtel, Ivan Neville, Charley Drayton and Bernie Worrell. Their first release, Talk Is Cheap produced no Top 40 hits, though it went gold and has remained a consistent seller. It spawned a brief U.S. 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 the Winos toured again through North and South America as well as Europe.

Recordings with other artists

Richards rarely recorded or appeared outside The Rolling Stones during the 1960s. Exceptions were Richards singing with Mick Jagger and several guests on The Beatles' TV broadcast of "All You Need Is Love" and playing bass with John Lennon, Eric Clapton, and Mitch Mitchell as The Dirty Mac for The Rolling Stones Rock and Roll Circus TV special. In the 1970s Richards played on, and helped produce, John Phillips' solo recording Pay, Pack & Follow, (released in 2001). He also appeared on some of Ronnie Wood's recordings in the 1970s. From the 1980s on Richards has more frequently appeared as a guest artist. He duetted with country legend George Jones on the Bradley Barn Sessions, singing "Say It's Not You" as an homage to deceased friend Gram Parsons, and on a Hank Williams tribute album Timeless ("You Win Again"). He has also appeared on veteran blues guitarist Hubert Sumlin's About Them Shoes, singing lead vocal on "Still a Fool". He contributed guitar and vocals, and co-produced Johnnie Johnson's release "Johnny B. Bad". In the 1990s Richards played and produced a recording of Jamaican Rastafarians, The Wingless Angels releasing the collaboration on his own label, Mindless Records. He has also recorded with Tom Waits, playing guitar on several songs on Rain Dogs (1985), and playing on, singing and co-writing "That Feel" on Bone Machine (1992). Richards also played with Toots & the Maytals on the song Careless Ethiopians for their 2004 album True Love.

Rare and unreleased recordings

The Stones recently released Rarities 1971-2003 (2006), which includes sixteen rare and limited-issue recordings. Richards has described the released output of the Stones as the "tip of the iceberg." Many unreleased songs and studio jam sessions including their BBC recordings from the early 1960s are widely bootlegged. Many bootlegs feature Richards singing, include the post-bust 1977 Canadian studio sessions, 1981 studio sessions, 1983 wedding tapes, among others. Since unreleased recordings often appear as post-career or posthumous releases - and also due to tangled legal complexities with past management - many of these recordings are available only as bootlegs - often as MP3 files on peer-to-peer sharing programs.

Public image and private life

File:Keith-hand.jpg
Photo by Sante D'Orazio, from Talk is Cheap album art work, 1988.

Richards, who has been frank about his habits, has earned notoriety for his drug-related decadent outlaw image. Two famous arrests came ten years apart, the first in 1967 with Jagger and friends at Redlands, Richards' Sussex estate, which placed him in custody and trial before the court of public opinion and Her Majesty. The Times editorial "Who breaks a butterfly upon a wheel?" portrayed the trial as persecution and helped turn public sentiment against the conviction which was quashed after two days of imprisonment. The case also began a succession of drug arrests for Richards that continued until the late 1970s.

More threatening was the arrest in February 1977 at Toronto's Harbour Castle Hotel (Regina v. Richards) when Richards was arrested by the Royal Canadian Mounted Police for "22 grams of heroin"[6] and was charged with importing narcotics, an offence with a minimum sentence of seven years imprisonment according to the Criminal Code of Canada.

For the next three years, Richards lived under threat of criminal sanction as he sought medical treatment in the U.S. for heroin addiction. During this period, The Rolling Stones released their biggest-selling album (eight million copies), Some Girls, which included their last North American number-one pop chart single, "Miss You". After the Ontario Court of Appeal upheld Richards' original sentence, he paid his debt to society by performing two benefit concerts for the Canadian National Institute for the Blind at Oshawa Civic Auditorium on April 22, 1979. Both concerts featured The Rolling Stones and The New Barbarians, a band Ron Wood had formed to promote his album Gimmie Some Neck.


Later in 1979, Keith met future wife and model Patti Hansen. They married 18 December, 1983, Richards' 40th birthday, and have two daughters, Theodora and Alexandra.

Richards continues cordial relations with Anita Pallenberg, the mother of his first three children, and often refers to having two wives, although he never officially married Pallenberg. Together they have a son, Marlon Richards (named after the actor Marlon Brando[7]), and another daughter, Angela (nee Dandelion). Their third child, a boy Tara (named after Keith's close friend Tara Browne), died several weeks after his birth in 1976.

Recent news

Doris Richards, Keith's 91-year-old mother died of cancer in England on April 21, 2007. In an official statement released by a Richards representative, it was said Richards, her only child, kept a vigil by her bedside during her last days.[8][9]

In an April 2007 interview conducted by the British music journalist Mark Beaumont for the music magazine NME, Richards told other musicians not to follow his example when it comes to drug use, claiming he is lucky to be alive after his years of substance abuse[10].

When Beaumont asked him to complete the sentence "The worst time on drugs I've had is..." to which Richards responded by relating an anecdote about once having his drugs spiked with strychnine before admitting that the strangest thing he ever snorted was

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, he didn't give a shit. It went down pretty well, and I'm still alive.[11]

Afterwards, Richards' manager pointed out that the statement was untrue and was "said in jest".[12] However, on August 6 2007, Richards confirmed in another interview with NME that he had, in fact, snorted his father's ashes--with no cocaine mixed in.[13] Beaumont confessed to the BBC Radio 4 Today programme[1] that he believed Richards had been speaking truthfully, adding that "He did seem to be quite honest about it. There were too many details for him to be making it up."

Back stage at the March 12, 2007 Rock & Roll Hall of Fame ceremony, Richards was asked about another possible solo album and tour with the X-pensive Winos. He stated that "the guys are calling me up, I have a feeling something might be bubbling. Once again it's all up in the air, but I'd love to do it."[14]

Richards at the Pirates 3 premiere.

Richards made a cameo appearance as the father of Captain Jack Sparrow (played by Johnny Depp), Captain Teague in Pirates of the Caribbean: At World's End.[15] Depp has stated that he based Sparrow's mannerisms on Richards.

In September 2006, Richards claimed he has quit taking drugs, not for health reasons, but because they were not strong enough anymore.[16]

In August 2006 Richards was granted a pardon by Arkansas governor Mike Huckabee, and Republican Presidential candidate, for a 1975 reckless driving citation.[17]

On 27 April 2006, Richards, while in Fiji, suffered a head injury after falling out of a tree. On May 22, an official press release confirmed that Richards had returned to his home in Weston, Connecticut.[18] The Rolling Stones announced a revised tour schedule on June 2, which included a brief statement from Richards apologising for "falling off his perch". The band toured Europe in mid-2007 to make up for the lost dates.

Richards won the award for Best Celebrity Cameo at the 2007 Spike Horror Awards, he gave his acceptance letter via a recording.

Solo discography

Albums

Singles

  • "Run Rudolph Run" b/w "The Harder They Come" (December 1978)
  • "Take It So Hard" (October 1988) #3 US Mainstream Rock
  • "You Don't Move Me" (November 1988) #18 US Mainstream Rock
  • "Struggle" (February 1989) #47 US Mainstream Rock
  • "Wicked As It Seems" (October 1992) #3 US Mainstream Rock
  • "Eileen" (January 1993) #17 US Mainstream Rock

Guest appearances

  • The New Barbarians: Buried Alive (recorded 1979, released 2006) – the band's 1979 Largo MD concert (guitar, piano, lead and backing vocals)
  • Jerry Lee Lewis: Last Man Standing: The Duets (2006) – "That Kind of Fool" (duet)
  • Ronnie Spector: Last of the Rock Stars (2006) – "It's Gonna Work Out Fine" (duet) and "All I Want"
  • Les Paul & Friends: American Made World Played (2005) – "Good Morning Little Schoolgirl"
  • Buddy Guy Bring "Em In – "The Price You Gotta Pay"
  • Toots & the Maytals: True Love (2004) – "Careless Ethiopians" (duet)
  • Return to Sin City: A Tribute to Gram Parsons (2004) – "Love Hurts" (duet with Norah Jones), "Hickory Wind" (duet with Jim Lauderdale), "Wild Horses" (with the Sin City all-star ensemble)
  • Willie Nelson & Friends: Outlaws & Angels (2004) – "We Had It All" (duet with Willie Nelson), "Trouble in Mind" and "Whole Lotta Shakin Goin On" (with Jerry Lee Lewis, Willie Nelson, et al)
  • Hubert Sumlin: About Them Shoes (2004) – "Still a Fool" (lead vocal), "I Love the Life I Lead" and "Little Girl"
  • Willie Nelson & Friends: Stars & Guitars (2002) – "Dead Flowers" (with the Lost Highwaymen)
  • Alexis Korner: Musically Rich...and Famous: Anthology 1967-1982 (2003) (Guitar on "Get Off My Cloud")
  • Peter Wolf: Sleepless (2002) - guitar
  • John Phillips: Pay, Pack & Follow (recorded 1973–1979, released 2001) – co-producer, guitar
  • Charlie Watts: Charlie Watts - Jim Keltner Project (2000) - guitar
  • Timeless: Tribute to Hank Williams (2001) – "You Win Again"
  • Sheryl Crow: "Happy" Sheryl Crow & Friends: Live From Central Park (1999)
  • Marianne Faithfull: This Little Bird (1998) - guitar with Ron Wood
  • B.B. King: Deuces Wild (1997) - guitar
  • Scotty Moore: All the King's Men (1997). "Deuce and a Quarter", (duet with Levon Helm)
  • Ivan Neville: Thanks (1995) - guitar with Ron Wood, Scrape (2004) - guitar
  • Bernie Worrell: Funk of Ages (1994) - guitar
  • Bobby Womack: Resurrection (1994) - guitar
  • Wingless Angels (1993) – producer
  • Jimmy Rogers All-Stars: Blues Blues Blues – "Trouble No More" and "Don't Start Me Talkin'" - guitar
  • George Jones: Bradley Barn Sessions (1993) – "Say It's Not You" (duet)
  • Ian McLagan: Troublemaker (1993) - guitar with Ron Wood
  • Tom Waits: Bone Machine (1992) – "That Feel" (co-composer, backing vocal and guitar), Rain Dogs (1985) - guitar
  • Weird Nightmare: Meditations on Mingus (1992) – "Oh Lord Don't Let Them Drop That Atomic Bomb on Me (lead vocal and guitar)
  • John Lee Hooker (1991) – Mr. Lucky "Crawling King Snake" - guitar and "Whiskey and Wimmen" - guitar, backing vocal
  • Johnnie Johnson: Johnnie B. Bad (1991) – "Key to the Highway" (lead vocal, guitar, co-producer), "Tanqueray" (guitar, co-composer).
  • The Neville Brothers: Uptown (1991) - guitar
  • Ziggy Marley: Conscious Party (1988) "Lee & Molly" - guitar
  • Feargal Sharkey: Wish (1988) - guitar
  • Nona Hendryx: Female Trouble (1987) - guitar
  • Hail! Hail! Rock 'n' Roll (1987) – soundtrack of Chuck Berry concert film (additional material released on DVD June 2006) - guitar, producer
  • Jumpin' Jack Flash (1986) – producer on Aretha Franklin's version of the title song
  • Sun City, Artists United Against Apartheid (1985) – "Silver and Gold" (guitar, co-composer) with Ron Wood and U2's Bono and The Edge
  • Max Romeo: Holding Out My Love For You (1981) – recorded guitar and mixed tracks
  • Dirty Strangers: Dirty Strangers. (1980) - guitar with Ron Wood
  • Ron Wood: Now Look (1975) – "Breathe on Me", "I Can't Stand the Rain", "I Can Say She's Alright" (guitar, backing vocals)
  • Peter Tosh: Bush Doctor (1978) – guitar
  • Ron Wood: I've Got My Own Album to Do (1974) – "Sure the One You Need" (co-composer, lead vocal and guitar), "Act Together" (co-composer, guitar, backing vocals); guitar and backing vocals on most other tracks
  • Billy Preston: That's the Way God Planned It (1969) - guitar

Rolling Stones lead vocals

Richards contributes guitar, piano, bass, backing vocals and lead vocals on Rolling Stones records, as well as producing and co-writing songs. Yet his lead vocals are memorable tracks for many fans and this list identifies those songs:

References

  1. ^ "100 Greatest Guitarists of All Time". Rolling Stone (931). 2003-09-22. {{cite journal}}: Check date values in: |date= (help)
  2. ^ http://www.filmspot.com/people/166901/keith-richards/bio.html
  3. ^ http://www.theventures.com/firstfuzz.pdf
  4. ^ http://pierresetparoles.blogspot.com/2004/09/keith-richards-guitar-world-vers-1995.html
  5. ^ http://www.songwritershalloffame.org/exhibit_home_page.asp?exhibitId=113
  6. ^ Greenspan, Edward (editor), Regina v. Richards 49 C.C.C. (2d), Canadian Criminal Cases (1980), Canada Law Book
  7. ^ http://www.genesis-publications.com/books/exile/green.html
  8. ^ "Rolling Stone Keith Richards' mother dies". ABC News Online. April 24 2007. Retrieved 2007-04-24. {{cite news}}: Check date values in: |date= (help); Cite has empty unknown parameter: |coauthors= (help)
  9. ^ MTV Music Television. Keith Richards’s Mum Dies. 24 April 2007. Retrieved 24 April 2007.
  10. ^ http://www.nme.com/news/the-rolling-stones/27531 NME interview]
  11. ^ "Keith Richards - 'I snorted my dad's ashes'". New Musical Express. 2007-04-03. {{cite news}}: Check date values in: |date= (help)
  12. ^ "Did Keith Richards Really Snort His Dad's Ashes? No — It Was A Joke!". MTV. 2007-04-03. {{cite news}}: Check date values in: |date= (help)
  13. ^ "Keith Richards: 'I DID snort my dad's ashes'". NME. 2007-08-06. {{cite news}}: Check date values in: |date= (help)
  14. ^ Keith Richards backstage Rock & Roll Hall of Fame ceremony. WDST. March 13. {{cite AV media}}: Check date values in: |date= and |year= / |date= mismatch (help)
  15. ^ "Richards will star in Pirates of the Caribbean 3". World Entertainment News Network. 2006-06-02. {{cite news}}: Check date values in: |date= (help)
  16. ^ "Keith Richards says no to drugs". Yahoo! music. 2006-09-20. {{cite news}}: Check date values in: |date= (help)
  17. ^ "Huckabee prepares pardon papers for rocker Keith Richards". Arkansas News Bureau. 2006-07-20. {{cite news}}: Check date values in: |date= (help)
  18. ^ "Keith Richards statement". RollingStones.com. 2006-05-22. {{cite news}}: Check date values in: |date= (help)
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