ROLLING STONE RONNIE WOOD’s former manager NICK COWAN has penned an explosive new book called Fifty Teabags And A Bottle Of Rum.
The Sun
http://www.thesun.co.uk/sol/homepage/showbiz/bizarre/article1834560.eceIn Day Two of a series of exclusive extracts from his memoirs, here Nick reveals the incredible booze and drug-fuelled antics of party animals Ronnie and bandmate KEITH RICHARDS.
MICK JAGGER has been clean for years and rarely drinks even a glass of wine on tour.
Ronnie and Keith Richards, on the other hand, were permanently fuelled by a combination of cocaine and alcohol.
I remember taking Ronnie to David Forecast, a Harley Street doctor, for his pre-tour medical.
He asked Ronnie how many units of alcohol he consumed on a regular basis. Ronnie totted it up and told him.
“Hmm,” said the doctor. “Not too bad — almost within the acceptable number of units per week.”
“Per week?” said Ronnie. “What are you talking about? That’s my daily intake.”
His addiction became so severe he could not pass the medical for the 2003 tour and had to spend a month in a clinic in Arizona before he was fit to go touring.
But it should be said that after drying out he completed the gigs without either drugs or alcohol.
It is Florida in October, 1981, and it’s another tour. Twenty-five shows have gone by since the first show in August.
The band are having a week’s break and Keith and Ronnie are staying in a rented house in Palm Beach.
Also staying in the house is one Freddie Sessler, who describes himself as the world’s oldest groupie but is also renowned for his ability to supply any sort of pill without prescription.
The first few days pass relatively quietly but on Wednesday Keith and Ronnie get involved in a marathon songwriting session which is to last more than 48 hours.
A mixture of vodka and cocaine plus pills known as Sessler’s Helpers keep both of them wired up.
Iron man Keith sees sleep as a weakness and heaps insults on anybody who needs to go to bed before he is ready.
I am able to slip back to my hotel in the early mornings without attracting too much attention, but by Friday, with a show scheduled for the next day we persuade both of them to take to their beds.
There is one problem — Keith is so overhyped from his intake of the past few days that he’s unable to sleep. Sessler is summoned and administers a powerful sleeping pill which has the desired effect.
The private jet which is due to transport everyone to Orlando is scheduled to leave at 1pm the following day, giving Ronnie and Keith plenty of time to recover.
But when I return to the house the next morning I realise immediately something has gone seriously wrong.
Ronnie is fine, wide awake and having his usual fry-up but Larry — Keith’s PA — has been unable to wake Keith. No amount of shaking and shouting can get him to stir.
It transpires that there were enough barbiturates in the sleeping pill to anaesthetise a horse.
Keith is finally woken up by having iced water poured all over him, but there is a further problem.
So deep was the drug-induced sleep that Keith has remained motionless for hours with his full weight on his right arm.
Circulation to the arm has been cut off and he cannot move it. At this point Keith says he is going back to sleep and does just that.
We are going to be two hours late taking off, but we cannot leave without Keith.
Sessler finally manages to wake Keith and persuades him to take another pill to get the adrenaline running. In the meantime, an assistant has been massaging Keith’s arm to try to get the circulation going.
Finally, after several hours of work on Keith’s arm, the circulation has been restored and we can leave for the airport — but not before Keith has had his usual afternoon breakfast of red wine.
Limos are waiting at Orlando to rush Keith and Ronnie to the stadium. By now the start of the show is two hours late and the audience is restless.
Although very late, the concert is hugely successful and the band leave in blacked out vans, with the audience calling for more.
At the hotel the band members retire to their respective suites. CHARLIE WATTS, who is teetotal and vegetarian, settles in for a quiet night after his usual massage.
Mick Jagger has a rendezvous known only to his security man.
Keith will spend the night listening to music with only a few close friends for company. His suite is not accessible unless an invitation has been issued. When issued, it has the force of a royal command.
Ronnie’s suite is known as party central. All night, every night, the door is open to anyone who wants a drink and more.
Of course, security is present to keep out undesirables but in every city Ronnie’s party friends seem to come out of the woodwork.
On tour ... Nick Cowan with Stones guitarist in 1992
Mick and Charlie, who enjoy their sleep, have suites as far away as possible from Keith and Ronnie.
Such is the volume of music that can be heard through the night from these two that their suites must be isolated from the other rooms.
The rooms on the floor below are unlettable except to the totally deaf.
The bars must be stocked with the right bottles and the hotel kitchen must be ready to produce special food around the clock.
Even in the most far-flung places in the world, British essentials such as baked beans, HP sauce and PG Tips tea must be on hand.
In 2002, Nick’s time as Ronnie’s manager came to an end after 22 years — after a joint business project ended in disaster. Nick says:
The time came when Ronnie asked me to find a project to keep his wife JO busy in London while we spent time in Ireland.
This resulted in the setting up of ill-fated Harrington private members club in south Kensington, London. It lost Ronnie and myself millions and cost me my job.
Once Jo was involved in the design, the budget flew out the window. The £1,000 a week on flowers was the least of it.
Every time the architect tried to rein her in, the response was: “It’s our money. We can do what we like with it.”
I lost more than a million pounds of my own money trying to keep it going. Within a year I was no longer Ron’s manager.
Adapted by BEN JACKSON. Fifty Tea Bags And A Bottle Of Rum by Nick Cowan (Quartet Books, £18) is out this week.
To buy a copy from the Sun Bookshop for £16.20 including p&p ring 08700 715517.
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Ronnie & Keith's mad drug antics (Read 2,334 times)
