5 Things You Didn’t Know: Keith Richards
By Ross BonanderEntertainment Correspondent
Every Thursday
http://www.askmen.com/entertainment/special_feature_250/257_5-things-you-didnt-k...Iconic Rolling Stones guitarist Keith Richards, whose notorious life of excess was matched only by his innovative brilliance as a rhythm guitarist and songwriter has died.
If only one man could epitomize the full spectrum of the rock n roll revolution -- one rebel leader who espoused the cause, enjoyed its spoils, suffered its hardships, and survived to bear witness to it all -- one who, as he grew older remained every bit that original rebel, it was Keith Richards. Heavily under the influence of early American rhythm and blues, he developed a uniquely gritty sound manifested as irresistibly dirty, groove-driven riffs that defined a genre and helped put the Rolling Stones at the top of the heap as the most important rock band the world will ever know.
In honor of Rock and Roll’s greatest rhythm guitarist, we present 5 things you didn’t know about Keith Richards.
1- Keith Richards was a boy soprano
Few images contrast more sharply with Keith Richards’ hard living, drug-addled public persona than that of an innocent, pre-pubescent Keith in a black coat and tie, performing as a so-called ‘boy soprano’ with the Dartford school choir at Westminster Abbey for Queen Elizabeth (In a choir, boy sopranos are boys with higher-pitched unchanged voices than other boys, and they sing the same choral parts as the soprano girls).
His choral experience would pay dividends as a member of the Rolling Stones, contributing both lead and back-up vocals on a number of tracks.
2- Keith Richards didn't want "Satisfaction" released
Another thing you didn’t know about Keith Richards is that, if it had been up to him, rock and roll’s most important song would never have been released.
“(I Can’t Get No) Satisfaction” was the Stones’ first international #1 hit, it helped establish their sound and contributed to their rebel reputation. According to BBC radio personality Paul Gambaccini, the sexual double entendre of the song was less of a threat than the way the lyrics were “perceived as an attack on the status quo." Keith Richards himself claimed the famous riff came to him in a dream; when he woke up he quickly recorded it on tape (“two minutes of ‘Satisfaction,’” he once said, “40 minutes of me snoring”).
Yet Keith Richards was so concerned he’d be accused of ripping off a song by Martha and the Vandellas that he lost all faith in the tune, leading to an ultimately losing battle with Mick Jagger over releasing it as a single.
3- Keith Richards always carried a pistol
Another thing you didn’t know about Keith Richards is that for most of his adult life, he was packing heat.
In June of 1964, Keith Richards was backstage at the state fair in San Antonio, Texas when he got into a tussle with a fair attendee. The incident rattled him so much that he went to a local gun shop and bought a Browning Automatic; a weapon he claimed never left his side. Although he purchased the gun to protect himself from a growing legion of unpredictable fans, in the future he would carry it for a slightly different reason: having descended into an enormous drug addiction, he was always sure to be armed when forced to go into the tougher New York City neighborhoods to score heroin.
4- Keith Richards once stayed awake for 9 days
Long a rumor, in a 1998 AOL Live chat with fans Keith Richards confirmed that he had indeed passed nine straight days without sleep (adding, “Don’t try it.”). He didn’t explain why or how he did this, leaving room for some basic conjecture: in the 1960s and 1970s amphetamine-based pills such as Dexedrine and Benzedrine (“bennies”) were loosely prescribed, readily available, and widely abused (recall the well-documented use of such amphetamines by Johnny Cash, Jack Kerouac, and the Beatles). Although unconfirmed, it seems safe to guess that Keith Richards stayed up for 9 days with a little help from pharmaceuticals.
That said, he also may have been an insomniac. He told Interview Magazine’s Dmitri Ehrlich “I never go to bed. I just keep going until I pass out."
5- Keith Richards insured his hands for £1 million
The last thing you didn’t know about Keith Richards was his relationship with insurers.
For many years, Keith Richards had a pretty standard disability policy with Lloyd’s of London insuring -- what else -- his hands (in a Fortune article titled “Inside the Rolling Stones Inc”, he flashed his hands to writer Andy Serwer and said "These are the business.") The policy paid him £1 million if while on tour something happened to his hands and he was unable to play -- and at least once he collected.
Lloyd’s also covered the band’s massive 1989 Steel Wheels/Urban Jungle tour, their first since 1982, but demanded that the band pass physical exams. To everyone’s amazement, including Keith’s, he passed. In 2006 during the phenomenally lucrative Bigger Bang tour, Keith Richards suffered a serious head injury that required surgery. Lloyd’s insisted that Dr. Andrew Law, the performing neurosurgeon, join the band for the remainder of the tour.
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