Keith Richards

From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

You have new messages (last change).
Keith Richards

Born December 18, 1943 (age 63)
Flag of England Dartford, Kent, England
Alias(es) Keith Richard
Genre(s) Rock 'n Roll, Blues, Country, Reggae, Rhythm and Blues
Affiliation(s) The Rolling Stones
Label(s) Virgin Records
Notable guitars 1952 Fender Telecaster, Gibson ES-355
Years active 1962 – present
Official site Official website

Keith Richards (a.k.a. Keith Richard) (born 18 December 1943 in Dartford, Kent) is an English guitarist, songwriter, singer and a founding member of the internationally popular British musical group The Rolling Stones in 1962. With songwriting partner and Stones lead vocalist Mick Jagger, he has written and recorded numerous songs for the Stones including "Satisfaction", "Jumpin' Jack Flash", "Miss You" and "Start Me Up". Though he has had a brief solo career and appears as a guest artist on the recordings of other artists, his association with the Stones has defined his musical career. As a guitarist Richards is mostly known for his innovative rhythm playing. In 2003, Rolling Stone magazine ranked Richards #10 in its list of "100 Greatest Guitarists of All Time".[1]

Contents

[edit] Early life

Keith Richards, the only child of Bert Richards and Doris Dupree, was born at Livingstone Hospital, East Hill, in Dartford, Kent, on 18 December 1943. His father Bert was a factory laborer slightly injured during World War II. Richards' paternal grandparents were socialists and civic leaders. His maternal grandfather (Augustus Theodore Dupree) toured Britain as a jazz/big band musician who influenced his grandsons' ambition to become a musician. Richards' mother also introduced Richards to the music of Billie Holiday, Louis Armstrong and Duke Ellington. As an adolescent, Richards was a teddy boy.

Richards attended Dartford Technical School, singing in the choir - once for the Queen - until his voice broke at puberty. After expulsion from Dartford, Richards enrolled in Sidcup Art College where he devoted more time to playing guitar than his proper studies. He also played in various skiffle groups as was common at the time. Richards left the College and moved into a flat with Jagger and Jones in 1962. His parents subsequently divorced.

[edit] Musical career

[edit] Guitar playing

Richards derived much of his early inspiration from Chuck Berry, whose guitar work remained a touchstone for Richards throughout his career. While The Rolling Stones were conceived as a rhythm and blues band, both Jagger and Richards were responsible for bringing the rock 'n' roll songs of Bo Diddley and Chuck 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 the virtuoso guitarist Mick Taylor (1969–1974), who contributed to some of the group's most well-regarded records, but 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 says the pairing with Wood has resulted in his most musically satisfying years with 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." Richards has frequently used a five-string variant of the open G (borrowed from Don Everly of the Everly Brothers)) which uses GDGBD and is unencumbered by a rumbling, lower 6th string . On some of the Stones' biggest hits, including "Honky Tonk Women," "Brown Sugar," and "Start Me Up", this tuning is prominent. Though he still uses standard tunings, Richards claimed that his adoption of open tunings in the late sixties led to a musical "rebirth". When Jones declining contributions left Richards to record all guitar parts on many tracks, Richards began playing more slide parts, but Richards stopped playing slide after Taylor and later Wood, both accomplished slide players, joined the band.

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. It is often hard to detect by ear what guitar he plays. In Guitar World he joked that no matter what make of guitar, he can make them sound the same. "(I Can't Get No) Satisfaction" Richards recorded the first top ten hit to feature a guitar fuzz effect which has since become commonplace.[citation needed] Though in the 1970s and early 80s he used guitar effects frequently, since then he has rarely used effects. Richards considers the acoustic guitar as the basis for his playing, and many Stones hits including "Street Fighting Man" and "Brown Sugar" feature acoustic guitar parts.

Richards' backing vocals appear on every Stones album. From 1969's Let It Bleed, most Stones' releases contained a Richards lead vocal. He has also contributed occasional bass and keyboard parts. Richards has always been active in record production for the Stones and for himself, often in tandem with Mick Jagger and outside producers.

[edit] Songwriting

Richards and Jagger began writing songs following the example of the Beatles' Lennon/McCartney, encouraged by Stone's manager Andrew Loog Oldham who saw little future for a band that played only covers. The Stones had a number of hits with Jagger/Richards-penned songs with 1965's "Satisfaction" becoming 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, calypso, reggae, and punk. Since 1980 with "All About You", Richards has specialized in slow, torchy ballads.

With scattered exceptions, all Rolling Stones albums from 1966 onwards have 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.

[edit] Solo recordings

Keith Richards in a promotional photo for his solo album Talk Is Cheap
Keith Richards in a promotional photo for his solo album Talk Is Cheap

Richards released a solo single, "Run Rudolph Run", and toured with The New Barbarians in 1979, consisting of Stones guitarist Ronnie Wood, 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 Organized 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 organized, 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.

Richards' solo career put him in the role of frontman, and the Hollywood Palladium concert video showed a more active stage persona than the Richards seen in the documentary of the Stones' 1969 American tour, Gimme Shelter. Jagger and Richards eventually resumed working with the Stones in 1989. The band released Steel Wheels, containing material Richards started with the Winos such as "Almost Hear You Sigh".

[edit] Recordings with other artists

Richards rarely recorded or appeared outside of The Rolling Stones during the 1960s and 70s. Exceptions were Richards playing bass with John Lennon, Eric Clapton, and Mitch Mitchell as The Dirty Mac for The Rolling Stones Rock and Roll Circus TV special, and Keith singing with Mick and several guests on The Beatles' TV broadcast of "All You Need Is Love". In the 1970s Richards played and helped produce John Phillips' solo recording Pay, Pack & Follow, (released in 2001). He also appeared on some of Ronnie Wood's solo 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 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 early 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.

In 2006, Richards appeared in the video "God's Gonna Cut You Down" as a tribute to country legend Johnny Cash.

[edit] 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.

[edit] Public image and private life

Photo by Sante D'Orazio, from Talk is Cheap album art work. 1988.
Photo by Sante D'Orazio, from Talk is Cheap album art work. 1988.

Richards has earned notoriety for his drug-related outlaw image. Richards and the Stones cultivated a decadent and counter-culture aesthetic during the 1960s and 70s, and Richards' frank admission that he used narcotics often made him a poster-boy for teens and adults who sought refuge in — as Keith sings in "Before They Make Me Run" — "booze and pills and powders."

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"[2] 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 the cannabis smoke filled 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.

Richards and Hansen, photo courtesy Launch Music www.launch.yahoo.com
Richards and Hansen, photo courtesy Launch Music www.launch.yahoo.com

Later in 1979, Keith met future wife and model Patti Hansen. They married 18 December 1983, Richards's 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, and another daughter, Angela (nee Dandelion). Their third child, a boy named after Keith's close friend Tara Browne, died several weeks after his birth in 1976.

[edit] Recent news

On 27 April 2006, Richards, while vacationing in Fiji, suffered a head injury. At the time there was no confirmation of how this injury happened, but it was speculated Richards fell from a coconut tree or had a jet ski accident. On May 22, official press releases by The Rolling Stones confirmed that Richards had returned to his home in Weston, Connecticut. The Rolling Stones announced a revised tour schedule on June 2, which included a brief statement from Richards apologizing for "falling off his perch". The band will tour in Europe in 2007 to make up for some missed dates as a result of the accident. The 2007 tour will start in Belgium on June 5th, 2007, as confirmed by Mick Jagger.

In August 2006 Richards was granted a pardon by Arkansas governor Mike Huckabee for a 1975 reckless driving citation.[3]

Richards is making a cameo appearance as the father of Captain Jack Sparrow (played by Johnny Depp) in Pirates of the Caribbean: At World's End. [1] Depp has stated that he based Sparrow's mannerisms on Richards. According to castmate Bill Nighy, Richards was so drunk on the set that director Gore Verbinski had to hold his shins steady while he filmed his scenes.[2]

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 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."[4].

[edit] Solo discography

[edit] Albums

[edit] 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

[edit] Notable collaborations

  • 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"
  • 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"
  • Toots & the Maytals: True Love (2004) – "Careless Ethiopeans" (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)
  • John Phillips: Pay, Pack & Follow (recorded 1973–1979, released 2001) – Album co-producer; guitar on every track
  • Timeless: Tribute to Hank Williams (2001) – "You Win Again"
  • Wingless Angels (1993) – Album producer
  • George Jones: Bradley Barn Sessions (1993) – "Say It's Not You" (duet)
  • Tom Waits: Bone Machine (1992) – "That Feel"
  • Weird Nightmare: Meditations on Mingus (1992) - "Oh Lord Don't Let Them Drop That Atomic Bomb on Me (lead vocal and guitar)
  • Johnnie Johnson: Johnnie B. Bad (1991) – "Key to the Highway" (lead vocal, guitar, co-producer), "Tanqueray" (guitar, co-composer),
  • Hail! Hail! Rock 'n' Roll (1987) – Soundtrack of Chuck Berry concert film (additional material released on DVD June 2006)
  • 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
  • Ron Wood: Now Look (1975) - "Breathe on Me", "I Can't Stand the Rain", "I Can Say She's Alright" (guitar, backing vocals)
  • 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

[edit] 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:

[edit] Popular lead vocal bootlegs

Songs unreleased by the Rolling Stones or Richards in any market world-wide. Verification of the track should be documented by citing some sources, such as The Rolling Stones Complete Recording Sessions 1962–2002

  • "Sometimes Happy, Sometimes Blue" (early version of "Dandelion") (recorded 1966, unreleased outtake)
  • "Gimme Shelter" (recorded 1969, unreleased "Let It Bleed" outtake, 1969)
  • "Rip This Joint" (recorded 1971–1972, unreleased "Exile On Main Street" outtake, 1972)
  • "Scarlet" (recorded 1974, unreleased solo demo featuring Jimmy Page from Led Zeppelin on guitar)
  • "I Got A Letter" (recorded 1974, unreleased "Black And Blue" outtake)
  • "Holding On" (recorded 1976, unreleased solo demo)
  • "Bad Luck" (recorded 1977, unreleased solo demo)
  • "I Can't Help It" (recorded 1977–1978, unreleased Some Girls outtake)
  • "I Think I'm Going Mad" (recorded 1982, unreleased Undercover outtake)
  • "Crushed Pearl" (1985) Dirty Work outtake
  • "Breakin'" (1985) Dirty Work outtake
  • "Too Much" (1985) Dirty Work outtake
  • "Deep Love" (1985) Dirty Work outtake
  • "You Don't Tell Me" (with Bobby Womack) Dirty Work outtake
  • "Almost Hear You Sigh" (1987) Talk is Cheap outtake
  • "Love is Strong/Strange" (1993) Voodoo Lounge outtake
  • "You Got it Made" (1993) Voodoo Lounge outtake

[edit] External links

Wikiquote has a collection of quotations related to:

[edit] References

This article or section needs additional references or sources to improve its verifiability. It may be using the words or ideas of other publications in its text, without citing the source(s) of the information.
Please help improve this article by introducing appropriate citations. This article has been tagged since January 2007. (help)
  1. ^ "100 Greatest Guitarists of All Time". Rolling Stone (magazine) Issue 931: September 22, 2003. Available online at: http://www.rollingstone.com/news/story/5937559/the_100_greatest_guitarists_of_all_time
  2. ^ Greenspan, Edward (editor), Regina v. Richards 49 C.C.C. (2d), Canadian Criminal Cases (1980), Canada Law Book
  3. ^ Arkansas News Bureau (website). "Huckabee prepares pardon papers for rocker Keith Richards." July 20, 2006. Available online at: http://www.arkansasnews.com/archive/2006/07/20/News/336946.html
  4. ^ You Tube. "Keith Richards backstage Rock & Roll Hall of Fame ceremony". Added March 13, 2007 by WDST1001. Available online at: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xPYVUtQstEE


 v • d • e The Rolling Stones
Mick Jagger • Keith Richards • Charlie Watts • Ron Wood

Brian Jones • Bill Wyman • Mick Taylor • Ian Stewart

See also

Chuck Leavell • Darryl Jones • Andrew Loog Oldham • Allen Klein • Nicky Hopkins • Bobby Keys • Jimmy Miller • Jim Price • Billy Preston

Related articles

Discography • The Glimmer Twins • Jagger/Richards • Nanker Phelge • Rolling Stones Records • Rock and Roll Circus

Categories

The Rolling Stones • Members • Albums • Singles • Songs • Tours
Retrieved from "http://en.wikipedia.org../../../k/e/i/Keith_Richards_53f8.html"