Few people embody the spirit of rock n' roll more than Keith Richards, rhythm guitarist and founding member of the Rolling Stones. Born in the December of 1943, Richards discovered his fondness for blues artists like Chuck Berry and Muddy Waters at an early age. It was a shared love of this music that drove Richards and schoolfriend Mick Jagger together and inspired them to form the Rolling Stones in 1962.
It didn't take long for the Rolling Stones to become a major success; a key element to it being Richards simple, catchy and incisive guitar riffs. Songs such as "Street Fighting Man" and "Start Me Up" all became famous due to Richards' innovative use of open tunings on rhythm guitar, a technique more frequently seen on slide slide guitar.
Richards songwriting can also not be doubted with classics such as "Wild Horses" having clear and heavy Keith influence in them. Occasionally Richards also takes to the microphone, "Happy" (a song often described as encapsulating the Keith spirit) being arguably the best example of this.
Richards is just as famous (if not more so) due to his lifestyle as he is because of his undoubted musical genius. Tales that have helped to define his outlaw persona included falling out of a coconut tree at the not so tender age of 62, snorting his father's ashes and frequent drug fuelled binges. In a band which is famously destructive (see Brian Jones and Gram Parsons), some consider it a miracle that Richards has managed to survive a life of alcoholism, obscene drug use and all that comes with it.
As he recently said in "Stones in Exile", a film documenting the recording of the masterpiece Exile on Main St. (often known as Keith's album due to the chaotic manner of its recording), "Mick (Jagger) needs to know what he's going to do tomorrow. Me, I'm just happy to wake up and see who's hanging around. Mick's rock, I'm roll."
It didn't take long for the Rolling Stones to become a major success; a key element to it being Richards simple, catchy and incisive guitar riffs. Songs such as "Street Fighting Man" and "Start Me Up" all became famous due to Richards' innovative use of open tunings on rhythm guitar, a technique more frequently seen on slide slide guitar.
Richards songwriting can also not be doubted with classics such as "Wild Horses" having clear and heavy Keith influence in them. Occasionally Richards also takes to the microphone, "Happy" (a song often described as encapsulating the Keith spirit) being arguably the best example of this.
Richards is just as famous (if not more so) due to his lifestyle as he is because of his undoubted musical genius. Tales that have helped to define his outlaw persona included falling out of a coconut tree at the not so tender age of 62, snorting his father's ashes and frequent drug fuelled binges. In a band which is famously destructive (see Brian Jones and Gram Parsons), some consider it a miracle that Richards has managed to survive a life of alcoholism, obscene drug use and all that comes with it.
As he recently said in "Stones in Exile", a film documenting the recording of the masterpiece Exile on Main St. (often known as Keith's album due to the chaotic manner of its recording), "Mick (Jagger) needs to know what he's going to do tomorrow. Me, I'm just happy to wake up and see who's hanging around. Mick's rock, I'm roll."
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