Looking forward to that autobiography.

By Simon Cable
Last updated at 3:05 PM on 04th April 2010
http://www.dailymail.co.uk/tvshowbiz/article-1263492/How-hell-raising-Rolling-St...


Bookworm: Rolling Stones guitarist is an avid reader

When it comes to living a life of excess, he virtually wrote the rulebook.

But Rolling Stones fans eager to hear about Keith Richard's debaucherous tales of sex, drugs and rock n roll in his upcoming autobiography may be a little disappointed.

It appears that the guitarist has made a rather startling confession: He is in fact an avid bookworm who has taken great pride in developing libraries inside his homes in Sussex and Connecticut.

Sources in the publishing world who are familiar with the contents of his memoirs, claim he admits to once considering 'professional training' to manage his vast collection of books.

The 66-year-old is said to have started painstakingly arranging copies of rare books about the history of early American rock and the Second World War using libraries standard Dewey Decimal classification system.

Despite apparently giving up on the idea because it was 'too much hassle', he still takes pride in displaying his favourite books by the bedside for guests who visit Redlands, his Elizabethan farmhouse in West Sussex and his property in Weston, Connecticut.

He is also said to enthusiastically lend volumes of Bernard Cornwell and Len Deighton novels to friends, according the The Times.

In his autobiography, which is due out in October, Richards it is claimed that he will talk about how he developed a love of reading whilst growing up in the suburbs of London following the Second World War and before discovering music.

He once said: 'When you are growing up there are two institutional places that affect you most powerfully: the church, which belongs to God and the public library, which belongs to you. The public library is a great equaliser.'


Rock god: Richards on stage with Rolling Stones members Charlie Watts and Mick Jagger

It is not quite what fans expected to hear ahead of publication of his autobiography and from a man who has spent almost five decades on the road with one of the most hedonistic bands in music history.

He reportedly received an advance of £4.8million from publishers Little Brown in the hope that he would open up about his most infamous moments, including his numerous drug busts and an incident when he underwent brain surgery after he fell out of a coconut tree.

He also once claimed to have snorted his father's ashes along with a line a cocaine.

The Rolling Stone has also revealed he was finding it 'very difficult' to remember things for the book.

In an interview, Richards said he was working on the project with friend and writer James Fox. But he said: 'I’m trying to remember things, which is very difficult.'

keith is really a total nerd... which is why he is so cool...

Bitch wrote on Mar 31^st, 2010 at 8:21pm:


I fear that Keef may not be able to work a pen at this point, not unlike a guitar, sadly....

Already available for pre-order on Amazon:

http://www.amazon.com/Life-Keith-Richards/dp/031603438X/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&s=boo...

Well, the Cannes premiere was last week.

But - it had been reported that, contrary to the initial stories, Mick would be the only Stone attending.

Due diligence loses out to sensationalism yet again...

It is slated to hit with a one-day lay down on Oct. 26, and will include a major publicity tour and heavy promotion by Richards himself.


Great news! KEEF will be making personal appearances and NYC will be one stop that is sure to be on promo tour! OK Ronnie's book signing was on Halloween night at the Union Square Barnes & Noble. It has a security checkpoint, an upstairs area large enough for entourage, tables, press box, chairs for the customers, and cash registers to ring up the sales. Ca-ching!

Keith Richards teams up with Nick Kent for forthcoming autobiography

2 June 2010

Former NME journalist Nick Kent has been helping Keith Richards pen his autobiography.

Kent, speaking at the recent Hay Festival, revealed that he helped The Rolling Stones guitarist "fill in" the gaps in his memory of the '70s.

Richards revealed last month that he is currently waiting to read the proofs of the book, which he hopes to release in October.

"I've helped Keith Richards write his upcoming book on the years of the early '70s. I helped fill in the early '70s, when things got really, really bad. I can understand why he forgot all about it. It just wasn't pleasant," Kent explained.

He added: "His memories are incredibly gloomy. A lot of resentment, bitterness, Keith broke down in tears several times when he talked about it and turned into a blubbering wreck. It was a bad time for him. When you look back on your life you tend to suppress bad memories and that's what he's done, apart from the fact that he was taking more drugs than all Motley Crue put together."

NME

If Nick Kent's eye-witness 'accounts' in his book 'The Dark Stuff' of various on-stage incidents involving Keith on the '82 tour are anything to go by, they may as well file this autobiography in the 'fiction' department.

The above Nick Kent article is now being recanted in NME as of today 6-3-10:
http://www.nme.com/news/the-rolling-stones/51341

Veteran music journalist Nick Kent has reiterated that his role in the writing of Keith Richards' autobiography is minimal, after parts of his recent talk at the Hay Festival were taken out of context.

Kent told NME that he was interviewed for the book once by the co-writer James Fox and is not working with the guitarist on the volume.
"I've not been in direct contact with any of The Rolling Stones for well over a decade," Kent explained. "Three years ago, I gave a single interview to James Fox – the book's real co-writer – specifically about the guitarist's exploits during the post-'Exile [On Main Street]' '70s."

He added: "But I'm only one of many people James has interviewed and my input in the work ended there. According to James, the guitarist has an excellent memory – particularly about his childhood and the '60s – and is using other peoples' reminiscences to contrast with his own, rather than fill in any inconvenient memory gaps. I've not read the finished tome either, although I learned recently it'll be called Life and become available in October 2010."

Richards recently said he is waiting to sign off the proofs of the book

LadyJane wrote on Apr 1^st, 2010 at 11:05pm:

Now, that's the kind of "faith" I can get behind!

Brainbell Jangler wrote on Jun 4^th, 2010 at 4:33pm:


Absolutely, in the Keith Rolling Stone interview in '71, Keith says that Bill has a computer mind for remembering.