Keith Richards co-founded the Rolling Stones in 1960 and has been a member of the band since then. The guitarist survived many difficulties throughout his life and career. He is known to have a health problem every decade and ‘almost died’ four times.
In 1965, he was electrocuted during a soundcheck, and in 1971, his bed caught fire, and he almost burned alive. In 1998, he fell while reaching for a book, broke his ribs, and to top it off; he fell off a palm tree in Fiji in 2006. He had to go through brain surgery because of a blood clot resulting from the fall.
The musician doesn’t seem bothered by any of the dangers he went through throughout his life. Instead of being depressed about it, he stated that he felt ‘indestructible.’ However, every person has a limit when it comes to pain tolerance. Keith Richards losing his 10-week-old son in 1976 was a pain that exceeded his limitations and made him consider suicide.
What Happened To Keith Richards’ Son Tara?
Richards had a baby son named Tara with his then partner Anita Pallenberg. However, shortly after his child’s birth, the rocker found out about Tara’s death during the Stones in Paris Tour in June 1976. Pallenberg called him to tell him about the incident and revealed that baby Tara died from cot death, otherwise known as Sudden Infant Death Syndrome, when a baby dies without any health problems.
According to the guitarist, he had two options at that time. He was either going to go on stage or kill himself. Thankfully, Richards was saved by his band and decided to go on stage that night. He stated in a 2015 interview that if he hadn’t performed that night, he would have shot himself but had to postpone his grief till after the show.
Here is what he stated in his 2015 interview:
“It was such a shock at the time, especially getting a phone call in Paris and this happened in Geneva, and I thought I’m going to go mad unless I do this show tonight.
Maybe it was a sense of self-preservation. It was a rough, rough thing. And I had a feeling. I must go on stage now, and I’ll worry and grieve and think about all this after the show. Because it didn’t go on the stage, I’d have probably shot myself.”
The fans highly criticized him for showing up to perform after hearing the bad news, but everybody grieves differently, and everyone should do what they think is best for them. In this case, Richards did what was best for himself, or he wouldn’t have been alive today. Even though cot death isn’t something that could have been prevented or cured, the guitarist feels terrible for leaving his 10-month-old son to go on tour.
