A real Rock and roller!

If there is one person who epitomises the hedonistic lifestyle of a rock and roll star it would have to be veteran Rolling Stones guitarist Keith Richards.
Now 66-year old ‘Keef’ is about to unleash all his antics of sex, drugs and rock n roll in a soon to be released autobiography. With a face only a mother could love and a body that has defied any reasonable expectation of human endurance, due to continued ingestion of illegal substances, Richards’ memoir – simply titled Life – will be a music groupie’s wet dream and a big money earner.
Mick Jagger’s well-worn side kick, whom he irreverently refers to in the memoir as "Your Majesty" and "Brenda" – gets the treatment from ‘Keef’ in the book, as do other celebrities including Johnny Depp and John Lennon.
With Richards promising to dish the dirt on his rock mates, as well as reveal his own well-documented lifetime foibles, the memoir is likely to be a huge seller and it has already brought its subject an advance of £4.8 million after a massive bidding war by publishers.
Even yours truly – not being a Stones fanatic or even someone with a great interest in celebrity culture or huge knowledge of music – is likely to be interested in reading ‘Keef’s’ missal.
Why? Because the guy is colourful, a survivor and a real character to boot.
Richards is an old style rock and roll legend. He is talented, gifted, but also flawed. And the founding member of the Rolling Stones is still very much musically relevant after 50 years in the business.
That is opposed to the manufactured music stars of today – such as Justin Bieber (who to me is the modern day equivalent of David Cassidy on Prozac). The modern day pop stars are neither talented, gifted and will definitely not still be around in 50 years time belting out their pointless, bubble gum songs. And thank god for that.
I also have a grudging admiration – and admittedly, a fair bit of envy – that Richards, even the way he looks, can still pull good looking birds. Bastard! And as someone who has battled the bottle and lost, I find it amazing that Keef has drunk, sniffed, smoked, injected and ingested anything and everything in his path and still not only remains alive, but also vertical and functioning.
True to form, Richards – who is famous for his insatiable appetite for drugs, although he gave up heroin in 1978 after a fifth drug bust and stopped using cocaine after a 2006 fall in Fiji forced him to undergo brain surgery – says he does not regret his exploits.
"I loved a good high. And if you stay up, you get the songs that everyone else misses because they're asleep."
Richards' memoir is published later this month and I have no doubt it will be a best seller.
Rock on Keef, rock on!