Brian jones biography

Life (Richards book)

Memoir by Keith Richards

Life is a memoir by the Rolling Stones guitarist Keith Richards, written with the assistance of journalist James Fox. Published in October , in hardback, audio and e-book formats, the book chronicles Richards' love of music, charting influences from his mother and maternal grandfather, through his discovery of blues music, the founding of the Rolling Stones, his often turbulent relationship with Mick Jagger, his involvement with drugs, and his relationships with women including Anita Pallenberg and his wife Patti Hansen.

Richards also released Vintage Vinos, a compilation of his work with the X-Pensive Winos, at the same time.

Co-writer James Fox interviewed Richards and his associates over a period of five years to produce the book. Life was generally well received by critics and topped The New York Times non-fiction list in the first week of release.

Synopsis

Life is a memoir covering Keith Richards's life, starting with his childhood in Dartford, Kent, through to his success with the Rolling Stones and his current life in Connecticut. His interest in music was triggered by his mother, Doris, who played records by Sarah Vaughan, Billy Eckstine and Louis Armstrong, and his maternal grandfather, Augustus Theodore Dupree, a former big band player, who encouraged him to take up the guitar.

In his teens he met up with Mick Jagger, who he had known in primary school, and discovered that they both shared a love of blues music. In the early s Richards moved into a London flat, shared with Jagger and Brian Jones. Together with Bill Wyman, Ian Stewart and Charlie Watts, the Rolling Stones were founded in , playing gigs at Ealing Jazz Club and the Crawdaddy Club.

The book chronicles Richards's career with the Stones since , following their rise from playing small club gigs to stadium concerts, Richards's drug habits, his arrests and convictions.

His relationships with a number of women, including Anita Pallenberg, Marianne Faithfull, Ronnie Spector and Patti Hansen, whom he married in , are covered in detail.[3] The often difficult partnership between Richards and Jagger is referred to throughout the work and coverage of this has caused much media interest.[4][5]

Throughout the work, much attention is given to Richards' love of music, his style of playing and chord construction.[5] His non-Stones projects, such as the X-Pensive Winos and recording with the Wingless Angels in Jamaica, as well as collaborations with Chuck Berry and Gram Parsons amongst others are covered in some detail.

Production

James Fox, journalist and author of the non-fiction book White Mischief: The Murder of Lord Erroll, was credited, along with Keith Richards, as co-author.

He had previously interviewed Richards in and the pair had been friends since then. Reportedly, $ million was paid for the work in , "on the basis of a page excerpt".[7] Fox spent "hundreds of hours" with Richards at his Caribbean home, and also in the United Kingdom, to gather material for the book.[3] Cover Photographed by David LaChapelle.

He interviewed Richards at length and also talked to many associates. Fox said of Richards, "I'd have to catch him like a salmon."[8] The interviews were conducted seated at a table, but the two were not opposite each other. Richards always played music, so Fox provided him with a lapel microphone. The subject matter was not handled chronologically; Fox allowed his subject to mentally "dart about".

"Some sessions lasted hours and some, dealing with the more painful parts of Richards' life, lasted just minutes." The project took five years to complete.[8]

"Once the manuscript was complete, he [Fox] sat opposite Richards and read the entire book aloud to him He turned out to be a really natural editor.

He cut according to the sound of it."[8][9] Rebecca Dana of The Daily Beast said of Life that it "covers all the bases: sex, drugs, guitar riffs, the size of Mick Jagger’s endowment. It also digs down into softer spots, including Richards’ tumultuous relationship with Anita Pallenberg and the death of their son.

The book, which already seems to have earned a place in the admittedly small canon of genuinely great rock lit, is dishy but not lurid, technical but not wonky. Richards’ voice, filtered through Fox’s brain, is so relentlessly endearing, no less a critic than Maureen Dowd has declared the prince of darkness a "consummate gentleman."[10]Time's Richard Corliss writes "Confessional autobiographies, unless they're by William Boroughs [sic], tend to have inspirational endings: salvation through strong will or a good woman.

Charlie watts biography: Richards not surprisingly didn’t talk about the estate tax in Life, and happily kept his autobiography free of the nitwit political commentary that so often fills celebrity memoirs, but his.

Life has both."[11]

Publication

Life was published by Weidenfeld & Nicolson in the United Kingdom and by Little, Brown and Company in the United States on 26 October It debuted, and spent two weeks, at the top position on The New York Times hard-back non-fiction best-sellers' list.[4][12][13] It spent six weeks on the USA Today's best sellers' list, peaking at the third position.[14]

A hour audio book version, read by Richards, Johnny Depp and musician Joe Hurley, was also published.[15] The book is available as a digital download and has also been published in e-book format.

A paperback version was published in May [16]

Coinciding with the publication of Life, Richards released Vintage Vinos, a compilation album featuring tracks from three albums by his band, the X-Pensive Winos, as well as some previously unreleased material.[17] The BBC television arts programme The Culture Show broadcast a special on 28 October , consisting of a minute interview with Keith Richards, conducted by Andrew Graham-Dixon.

The programme covered "his childhood in Dartford, his passion for music and the decade that catapulted the Rolling Stones from back-room blues boys to one of the greatest rock 'n' roll bands in the world". It included contributions from co-writer James Fox, Dick Taylor, former Stones PA Georgia Bergman and Bobby Keys and covered the same territory as the book.

The programme was repeated on 12 November [18]

Reception

The book was generally well received by critics, with several commenting on the honesty of the work.

Keith richards biography book

Questions regarding taxes on the wealthy are germinating feverishly in a country struggling with income inequality. And those millions often pale in comparison to what the owners of those companies bring in. A good example of the blowback against income inequality is a recent Huffington Post article entitled "Should Billionaires Even Exist? Other suggestions include progressive tax rates which top out at 70 percent for the top 0. But there's something about limiting individual wealth in America which is in direct conflict with everything we believe about our country and free enterprise.

Charles Spencer of The Daily Telegraph wrote, "Life offers much more than vicarious thrills. It captures the true spirit of rock and roll, the nitty-gritty of life on the road, and just what it feels like to be a heroin addict who doesn't know where his next fix is coming from. It also movingly captures Richards' extraordinary love of music—an even more powerful addiction for him than smack—and perhaps more surprisingly, his manifest destiny as a human being."[19] Jim Fusilli of the Wall Street Journal said that "Mr.

Richards writes with disarming introspection about his childhood, family and fame. And it's quite likely that no rock musician has ever written so keenly about the joys of making music. With a warm sense of humor and willingness to share his grief, Mr. Richards in "Life" defies almost every public perception about him."[20] In The Independent, John Walsh commented, "He tells it with complete, reckless, disclosure.

Sometimes it sounds like a man ranting into a tape machine; sometimes, in the tidier and more reflective sections, you can detect the hand of his co-writer, James (White Mischief) Fox. But the watchwords of this book are honesty, confessionalism, telling it straight."[21]

The New Yorker said of Life, "Half book, half brand extension, it's an entertaining, rambling monologue, a slurry romp through the life of a man who knew every pleasure, denied himself nothing, and never paid the price."[22]The New York Times said, "Mr.

  • Charlie watts biography
  • Ron wood biography
  • Brian jones biography

    • Richards, now 66, writes with uncommon candor and immediacy. He's decided that he's going to tell it as he remembers it, and helped along with notebooks, letters and a diary he once kept, he remembers almost everything."[7]

    The popular press focused on the relationship between Jagger and Richards. Tom Bryant in The Daily Mirror wrote, "Keith says his songwriting partner 'started to become unbearable' in the early 80s, adding: 'I think Mick thinks I belong to him but I haven't been to his dressing room in 20 years.'"[23]

    Awards

    The audiobook Life won two prestigious Audie Awards for —Audiobook of the Year and Best Biography/Memoir.[24] Additionally, the audiobook Life was voted Amazon's No.

    1 Audiobook of the Year for [25]Life received the Norman Mailer Prize for biography.[26]

    References

    1. ^ abFricke, David (13 October ). "Keith Richards on His Remarkable New Memoir, 'Life'". Rolling Stone. New York.

      Retrieved 11 November

    2. ^ abSchuessler, Jennifer (5 November ). "Inside the List". The New York Times. Retrieved 11 November
    3. ^ abO'Hagan, Sean (31 October ).

      Keith richards biography life T he Rolling Stones duo, Sir Mick Jagger and Keith Richards, have long been synonymous not just with music but also with strategic financial planning. Shrewd wealth management , such as leveraging legal loopholes and tax-efficient structures, allows the iconic rock stars pay minuscule tax bills relative to their earnings, all within the confines of the law. Promogroup BV, founded by Prince Rupert, is the linchpin in this tax minimisation scheme. By channelling their earnings through this holding company, the Stones exploit favourable Dutch tax laws that exempt certain intellectual property earnings, such as royalties, from taxation. Earnings from intellectual property, a significant revenue stream for musicians like The Rolling Stones, remain untaxed under Dutch law.

      "Life by Keith Richards". The Observer. London. Retrieved 12 November

    4. ^ abKakutani, Michiko (25 October ). "A Writing Stone: Chapter and Verse".

      Keith richards new book Keith Richards, the guitarist of the band The Rolling Stones, embodied the scandalous image of the group like no one else. Chaos, dark stories, drug excesses, and legal battles were all part of his life. He was a bad boy of rock and roll, a tempting figure for both fans of the band and sensation-seeking reporters. Keith Richards did not have a privileged upbringing. He grew up as an only child in a working-class neighborhood.

      The New York Times. Retrieved 11 November

    5. ^ abcDana, Rebecca (27 October ). "Keith Richards Memoir Writer James Fox Speaks". The Daily Beast. RTST, Inc. Retrieved 13 November
    6. ^Millman, Joyce (9 November ).

      "Review: Keith Richards's Life". Boston Phoenix. Archived from the original on 30 November Retrieved 13 November

    7. ^Dowd, Maureen (28 October ). "Gentleman pirate: Keith Richards wouldn't step on a woman's head". Pittsburgh Post-Gazette. Retrieved 6 October
    8. ^Corliss, Richard (26 October ).

      "The Rolling Stones Guitarist Keith Richards' 'Life' Autobiography". TIME. Retrieved 6 October

    9. ^Schuessler, Jennifer (14 November ). "Bestsellers – Hardcover Nonfiction". New York Times. Retrieved 10 December
    10. ^Schuessler, Jennifer (21 November ).

      "Bestsellers – Hardcover Nonfiction". New York Times. Retrieved 10 December

    11. ^"Best-Selling Books Database". USA Today. Retrieved 10 December
    12. ^Memmott, Carroll; Minzesheimer, Bob; DeBarros, Anthony (3 November ). "Book Buzz: Grisham, Keith Richards and cookbooks".

      USA Today. McLean, Virginia. Retrieved 12 November

    13. ^"Life: Keith Richards". Orion Books. Retrieved 12 November
    14. ^Mapes, Jillian; Frazier, Walter; Vick, Megan; Gaedeke, Emma (26 October ). "Billboard Bits: Taylor Swift Canoodles with Jake Gyllenhaal, Coldplay Puts People to Sleep".

      Billboard. Retrieved 5 December

    15. ^"The Culture Show, Keith Richards: A Culture Show Special". BBC News. 24 November Retrieved 9 October
    16. ^Spencer, Charles (7 November ). "Life by Keith Richards: Review". The Daily Telegraph. London. Retrieved 12 November
    17. ^Fusilli, Jim (27 October ).

      "Keith Richards, With No Ax to Grind – Cultural Conversation by Jim Fusilli". The Wall Street Journal. Retrieved 12 November

    18. ^Walsh, John (5 November ). "Life, By Keith Richards with James Fox".

    19. Downvote
    20. Billionaires, wealth tax and Keith Richards - Daily Commercial
    21. Keith Richards Age, Net Worth, Biography, and Career ...
    22. Billionaires, wealth tax and Keith Richards - Daily Commercial
    23. Keith Richards : the biography : Bockris, Victor, 1949 ...

      24. The Independent. London. Archived from the original on 14 June Retrieved 12 November

    24. ^Remnick, David (1 November ). "Keith Richards's "Life,"". The New Yorker. Retrieved 5 December
    25. ^Bryant, Tom (16 October ). "Keith Richards mocks size of Mick Jagger's penis". Daily Mirror.

      Retrieved 5 December

    26. ^Deborah Netborn (25 May ).

      Keith richards biography 2015 taxes Keith Richards [ nb 1 ] born 18 December is an English musician, songwriter, singer and record producer who is an original member, guitarist, secondary vocalist, and co-principal songwriter of the Rolling Stones. His songwriting partnership with the band's lead vocalist Mick Jagger is one of the most successful in history. His career spans over six decades, and his guitar playing style has been a trademark of the Rolling Stones throughout the band's career. Richards gained press notoriety for his romantic involvements and illicit drug use, and he was often portrayed as a countercultural figure. First professionally known as Keith Richard, by the early s he had fully asserted his family name.

      "Keith Richards Life Wins Top Award at the Audies". Los Angeles Times. Retrieved 27 May

    27. ^"The Best Books of Audiobooks Top 10". Retrieved 5 August
    28. ^"Norman Mailer Prize ". . Norman Mailer Center. Archived from the original on 3 November Retrieved 10 November

    Sources

    External links