Keith Richards is a successful guitarist who is also known as the co-founder, co-songwriter, and secondary vocalist of The Rolling Stones. Ranked No. 4 on Rolling Stone’s list of the ‘100 Best Guitarists’ in 2011, Keith Richards has written fourteen songs with the band’s lead vocalist Mick Jagger featured in Rolling Stone’s ‘500 Greatest Songs Of All Time’ list.
Playing both the lead and rhythm guitar parts for the band’s songs, Richards sometimes plays all of the parts, as he did on the Rolling Stone classics; ‘Paint It Black,’ ‘Ruby Tuesday,’ ‘Sympathy For The Devil,’ and ‘Gimme Shelter.’ Although he is 77 years old, Keith Richards still insists that the Rolling Stones have no plans of retirement. It is known that nowadays the band is getting ready for their upcoming No Filter 2021 tour as they announced the tour’s rescheduled dates recently.
Despite having a notable music career, it is known that Keith Richards has abused drugs and alcohol for a long time period throughout his life. Living on the edge, he even snorted his father’s cremated remains mixing them with cocaine one time.
Since the beginning of his career, he has faced five drug charges but is still not leading a sober life. Moreover, Richards is known to use so many substances that he also became the subject of a rumor claiming that he has replaced all of his blood to get clean from drugs.
Keith Richard’s Troubled Life And Luck Of The Devil
Considering his long history of substance abuse, surviving from fatal injuries, and going through disastrous incidents, Keith Richards is known as an immortal music icon. Like a cat with nine lives, Richards seems to find his way out of trouble every time he faces a disaster.
The catastrophes Richards went through are too many to be counted. For instance, he was almost crushed by a pile of books one time when he was in his library when it fell onto him after he slipped his foot. This accident resulted in three broken ribs and a tour postponement for his band. Richards has also experienced several house fires as he once forgot a lit cigarette in his hand and burned his bed, and also lost his house in 1973 after a big fire, but managed to escape from both incidents just right in time.
Richards was also electrocuted when he was on the stage after he hit his mic stand with his guitar’s neck, surviving the accident with nothing but a few scrapes. After getting high one time, he was exposed to strychnine which is used as a bait for rodents, and was poisoned when some strychnine got mixed with his drugs. Nonetheless, he escaped that situation with little or no harm.
Keith Richard’s Secret Of Immortality: The Myth Of Getting A Blood Transfusion
Observing his career and lifetime, it is obvious that Keith was also a heavy (ab)user of drugs. He was even the subject of a rumor that has been circulating for a long time which indicates that Richards wanted to get clean for a European tour in 1973 so desperately that he went to a clinic to get all of his blood replaced with clean blood.
The myth was also confirmed by Tony Sanchez in his 1979 book about the band titled ‘Up And Down With The Rolling Stones,’ stating it was the record producer Marshall Chess’ idea. However, Richard’s biographer claimed that he simply underwent a hemodialysis process to filter toxins from his blood, not transfusing it all for a clean one.
Despite the claims, Richards later revealed that he was the one who instigated the rumor. He is reported to have confessed that when asked about how he got clean, the rocker said that he went to Switzerland and had his blood completely changed. Saying he was just fooling around, Richards stated that he made the story up as he was tired of answering questions about drugs.
Keith Richards is known to have said that:
“Someone asked me how I cleaned up, so I told them I went to Switzerland and had my blood completely changed. I was just fooling around. I opened my jacket and said, ‘How do you like my blood change?’ That’s all it was, a joke. I was fucking sick of answering that question. So I gave them a story.”
Although there is no certain evidence whether he had his blood replaced to get clean from drugs, it seems like Richards is the one telling the truth as a full-blood transfusion appears to be impossible. Despite the extraordinary near-death experiences he has had, Keith has a charmed existence and is known as the ‘immortal’ rock icon throughout the history of rock.
