Life – Keith Richards

Published 1st October 2010

Winner of the Norman Mailer Prize  2010

Keith’s autobiography would always be the ultimate rock and roll memoir and it was waited on for decades and across several unoffical biographies: The entire myth of rock has been anchored in the legend and the persona of Keith Richards. He became in addition, a folk hero in the popular imagination, unlike any other rock star before him. His cast iron outlaw image as the authority-defying untouchable, is still true to itself.

It is the story of musical genius and innovation which created, to the sound of Keith’s magic signature riffs, the great cultural, stylistic, even political tremors that the Rolling Stones unleashed – their music and lyrics providing the backdrop to the turbulent 60’s and early 70’s.

For Keith, so often on the rock and roll critical list, it is an unprecedented story of survival, physical as well as artistic. No one would have thought he would survive until now to write his autobiogrpahy, least of all lower the guard of his privacy to do so. And very few of his readers will have imagined how eloquent he can be.

 

This book is available to purchase from www.orionbooks.co.uk.

Reviews

Life is pretty faultless as the quintessential depiction of the man in full and his extraordinary life and times to date – Nick Kent, THE TIMES.
Addictive reading – VOGUE.
This autumn’s best entertainment comes from the notorious Rolling Stones’ guitarist in this tell-all memoir… All the sex, drugs and rock ‘n’ roll are there – let the fun begin! – SAINSBURY’S MAGAZINE.
Richards has written an opus on a lifetime of brutal honesty, an all-encompassing account of what it’s been like to be one of the coolest rock stars in the world – THE ATLANTIC.
Keith comes across as a thoroughly decent man, with just a hint of the devil. His relationship with Jagger is complex and fascinating… – Pete Clark, EVENING STANDARD
Electrifying… the intimate and moving story of one man’s long strange trip over the decades, told in dead-on, visceral prose without any of the pretence, caution or self-consciousness that usually attend great artists sitting for their self-portraits – NEW YORK TIMES.
[A]n absolute blast… mesmerizing. It is like being button-holed by a piratical ancient mariner with amazing tales to tell. But Life offers much more than vicarious thrills. It captures the true spirit of rock and roll… It also movingly captures Richard’s extraordinary love of music…and perhaps more surprisingly, his manifest decency as a human being…how good is it that this hugely endearing rock and roll legend…is able to describe his extraordinary life with such honesty and panache – Charles Spencer, THE SUNDAY TELEGRAPH
The 500-plus pages of Life throb with energy, pulsate with rhythm and reverberate with good stories… densely textured, vivid and utterly charming autobiography – far better-written and more coherent than anyone could have hoped – John Walsh, THE INDEPENDENT
[A] fascinating book; by turns appalling, rambling, hilarious and even surprisingly touching… Life is an important addition to rock literature, giving fresh insights into the working dynamic between Richards and Jagger… Life crackles with the authentic, likeable voice of a man who is not what you think – Jan Moir, DAILY MAIL
[T]he very existence of this book is a marker against the ravages of time. It suggests Richards’s memory is fresh in a way that his face isn’t…funnier than Spinal Tap’s reminiscences of their native Squatney… And he can be tender, too… There’s a junkie-artist frankness throughout, coupled with a refusal to omit things: how he plays the guitar, how post-gig coupling works, and his recipe for bangers and mash (don’t try it at home) – Tom Payne, THE DAILY TELEGRAPH
[F]rom music to Mick, and from drugs to deaths: Richards holds little back in his immensely readable memoir – THE SUNDAY TIMES
‘Must Read’
Keith Richards’s autobiography Life has resulted in a huge outpouring of adoration for ‘the human riff’ – much of it well deserved… The entire world currently seems to be in love with this charmingly gnarled relic – Suzanne Moore, MAIL ON SUNDAY
Life, as it’s very aptly titled, is testament to not just a man with a superhuman constitution, but a passionate discourse on the nature of rebellion, how to take every day as it comes and, yes, live life to the full… Richards’ guitar playing and music making are inseparable from how he conducts every other aspect of his life. It’s this very attitude, indeed commitment, that comes across as remarkably refreshing. He’s the ultimate pirate adventurer and outsider – Henry Sutton, DAILY MIRROR
Life is a riveting, exhilarating read… With brutal honesty Keith spills all, taking in his childhood in grim, post-war Dartford, Kent, and 50 turbulent years of the Stones. It’s all here – the drugs, the arrests, the bust-ups, the women and the music – Simon Copeland, THE SUN
Never boring… A rocking good read – NEWS OF THE WORLD
There is much to learn from Keith Richards’ richly entertaining biography… This is the “Keef” of Rolling Stones legend: rascally, dangerous, witty; the ultimate rock-and- roll survivor – Ludovic Hunter-Tilney, FINANCIAL TIMES
[O]ne of the most honest, amusing, no-holds- barred rock biographies I have ever read… informative and often amusing with no excuses or false contrition… there is something for everyone here, even a particularly good recipe for bangers and mash – Barry Miles, NEW STATESMAN
One of the greatest rock memoirs ever…The title of Richards’ book is a simple, accurate description on the contents: the 66-year- old guitarist’s highs, lows and death-defying excesses, from birth to now, vividly related in his natural pirate-hipster cadence and syntax – David Fricke, ROLLING STONE
A vivid self-portrait and, of the Stones and their musical era, a grand group portrait. Surely thanks in part to his co-writer James Fox, Richards shows a strong, sure authorial voice, acute in detail, passionate about his achievements in music and nearly always amused by his excesses, not least in having survived them…spellbinding storytelling – Richard Corliss, TIME MAGAZINE
Entertaining…a slurry romp through the life of a man who knew every pleasure, denied himself nothing, and never paid the price – David Remnick, THE NEW YORKER
Keith Richards’s Life is an excellent insight into the life of this extraordinarily gifted man. It’s touching and breathtaking. As important as Van Gogh’s letters to his brother. Fabulous – Joanna Lumley
He is not just a credit to Sidcup Art School; he is an inspiration to every London child who peeps a recorder or strums a guitar. I cannot think of another member of the British artistic, cultural or media world who has done so much or who has so widely penetrated the global consciousness. David Attenborough? Stephen Fry? He knocks them into a cocked hat… Arise Sir Keef, I say, and if there were any damn merit in it, he would have the Order of Merit, too – Boris Johnson