Keith Richards

Keith Richards is an English musician, songwriter, singer, actor, and record producer. Born on 18 December 1943, he is best known as an original member, guitarist, secondary vocalist, and co-principal songwriter of the rock band the Rolling Stones. His songwriting partnership with lead vocalist Mick Jagger is recognized as one of the most successful in history, with a career spanning over six decades. Known for his trademark guitar playing style, Richards has also gained press notoriety as a countercultural figure due to his romantic involvements and illicit drug use.

Richards was born at Livingston Hospital in Dartford, Kent, England, as the only child of Doris Maud Lydia Dupree and Herbert William Richards, a factory worker wounded in World War II. His paternal grandparents were socialists and civic leaders who both served as mayors of the Municipal Borough of Walthamstow. Richards's interest in the guitar was fostered by his maternal grandfather, Augustus Theodore "Gus" Dupree, a touring jazz big band musician who gave Richards his first instrument and taught him his first tune, "Malagueña".

Richards attended Wentworth Primary School, where he first met Jagger, and later attended Dartford Technical High School for Boys, singing as a boy soprano for Queen Elizabeth II at Westminster Abbey. After being expelled for truancy in 1959, he transferred to Sidcup Art College, where he focused heavily on playing Chuck Berry solos. Reconnecting with Jagger by chance on a train platform, Richards joined Jagger's amateur group, Little Boy Blue and the Blue Boys. By mid-1962, Richards left college to focus on music, moving into a London flat with Jagger and Brian Jones as the Rolling Stones formed.

Within the Rolling Stones, Richards plays both lead and rhythm guitar, pioneering a dual-guitar "weaving" style alongside fellow guitarists Brian Jones, Mick Taylor, and Ronnie Wood. He developed a distinctive syncopated style using open tunings, most notably a five-string open G tuning. Richards acts as the band's musical timesetter and bandleader. In addition to guitar, he contributes backing vocals and occasionally sings lead on tracks such as "Happy", "Before They Make Me Run", and "Connection".

Beginning in 1963 at the suggestion of manager Andrew Loog Oldham, Richards and Jagger established a prolific songwriting partnership. They wrote early hits for other artists, such as Gene Pitney and Marianne Faithfull, before achieving international acclaim with Rolling Stones originals like "(I Can't Get No) Satisfaction", "The Last Time", and "Brown Sugar". Incorporating diverse genres ranging from blues and rock and roll to reggae and funk, Richards was inducted into the Songwriters Hall of Fame in 1993.

Beyond his work with the Rolling Stones, Richards has co-produced records alongside Jagger under the pseudonym "the Glimmer Twins" and produced projects for artists such as Aretha Franklin and Ronnie Spector. He also formed his own side project, The X-Pensive Winos. As an actor, Richards portrayed Captain Teague, the father of Jack Sparrow, in two Pirates of the Caribbean films, playing a character whose visual appearance and characterization were directly inspired by Richards himself.

Originally performing professionally under the name Keith Richard from 1963 at his manager's suggestion, he reverted to his full legal family name in 1978. Richards was inducted into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame in 1989 and the UK Music Hall of Fame in 2004 with the Rolling Stones. Rolling Stone magazine ranked him fourth on its list of 100 best guitarists in 2011 and 15th in 2023, while also recognizing fourteen Jagger/Richards compositions on its list of the 500 Greatest Songs of All Time.