British musician, who formed “The Rolling Stones” with Mick Jagger in July 1962, one of the most famous groups of the wide-open ’60s who retained their notoriety for four decades. He and Jagger first met in primary school and re-met in 1960, both avid fans of blues and American R&B. Their first pro gig was on 7/12/1962 and they were selling gold by 1969. Richards on guitar and vocals wrote many of their songs along with Jagger, attacking taboos with an attitude of flippant defiance.
He was known as the wildest Stone. When charged with heroin traffic in Toronto, 1977, he escaped a heavy jail sentence by agreeing to a free concert for the blind and rehab center. At that time he was living with German actress Anita Pallenberg and their two kids. He split with Jagger in 1986 and did a solo album “Talk is Cheap.”
Finally, in 1977, Richards turned his life around with rehab. He lives the life of a rich gypsy, traveling with beautiful fiancé Patti Hansen and a goodly supply of bourbon. Like the other Stones, he has homes here and there, in his case, a house in Jamaica, an apartment in Paris, a country estate in CT. and a country home in England.
On May 5, 2006, the guitarist successfully underwent surgery in Auckland, New Zealand to relieve a blood clot that had formed on his brain. Richards had been complaining of headaches after he had sustained what was thought to be a mild concussion in an accident a week and a half prior while vacationing in Fiji. Reports about the nature of the accident conflicted but most commonly attribute his injuries to a fall from a palm tree or a jet-ski accident. Again in the news for outrageous antics, in spring 2007 he said that he had snorted his dad’s ashes along with cocaine but later said he really never mixed his dad’s ashes in with his cocaine snort. His dad died in 2002.
Link to Wikipedia biography