Posted on 12/16/2008 8:23:10 PM PST by NormsRevenge
LONDON (AFP) – Famously drug-addled Rolling Stone Keith Richards turns 65 this week, but he remains tightlipped about any wild party plans he might have to celebrate becoming a pensioner.
The legendary guitarist, songwriter and archetypal wild rocker will reach the landmark age -- more usually associated with gardening and cardigans -- only a few months after Stones frontman Mick Jagger, who turned 65 in July.
"He wants to keep it very private," was all a spokesman for Richards would say when asked how the musician would mark his birthday on Thursday.
Named by Rolling Stone magazine as the tenth best guitarist in the world, the shaggy-haired star has proved remarkably resilient to a lifetime of substance abuse, explained by his view that his body was a "laboratory".
Richards toured the world with the Stones last year, and continues to release music, although his image as a hell-raiser was nuanced by his recent appearance in an advert for upmarket luggage maker Louis Vuitton.
But the myth surrounding him remains strong, reinforced by tales of him falling out of a coconut tree in Fiji in 2006, reports that he snorted his father's ashes with cocaine and, for younger fans, his reincarnation as Johnny Depp's character Captain Jack Sparrow in the Pirates of the Caribbean films.
Born December 18, 1943 in Dartford, east of London, Richards was initiated into the world of the blues by his mother.
In 1960, he met up with Jagger, an old primary school classmate, and with Brian Jones they formed Rolling Stones, named after the Muddy Waters song.
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Famously drug-addled Rolling Stone Keith Richards (seen here in April) turns 65 this week, but he remains tightlipped about any wild party plans he might have to celebrate becoming a pensioner. The legendary guitarist, songwriter and archetypal wild rocker will reach the landmark age only a few months after Stones frontman Mick Jagger, who turned 65 in July. (AFP/File/Max Nash)
Time is on my side , Yes, It is.
Wow, he doesn’t look a day over 120.
Just remember to fall out of a palm tree and land on your head when you’re 60 or so and you’ll do fine too. ;-)
One of my favorite albums.
Get off my lawn!
rock on.
I once spent an evening hanging out and talking with Keith Richards. He was disheveled and drunk, but was also witty, generous, pleasant and insightful. We talked about being the emotional difficulties of being a dad and dealing with his own dad, who was in failing health. All in all, I thought he was a pretty deceit guy, cursed with a life-long substance dependency problem.
Chill out, Dude! I’m just letting the dog do his thing.
It ain’t the years; it’s the miles.
i’ve thought for a decade that the stones will be making music and videos and performing live
while in wheelchairs.
that head looks like it wore out 3 bodies.
Just remember the only two things that will survive a nuclear attack are cockroaches and Keith Richards
I actually never thought he’d make 65. He may outlive all of us.
I kinda think the same of Ozzy Osbourne, who just turned 60 earlier this month (though I am fully convinced if it wasn't for Sharon, he would have been dead a LONG time ago)
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