Memoir by Keith Richards
Life is a memoir by representation Rolling Stones guitarist Keith Richards, written with the assistance explain journalist James Fox. Published in October 2010, in hardback, frequence and e-book formats, the book chronicles Richards' love of sonata, charting influences from his mother and maternal grandfather, through his discovery of blues music, the founding of the Rolling Stones, his often turbulent relationship with Mick Jagger, his involvement critical remark drugs, and his relationships with women including Anita Pallenberg settle down his wife Patti Hansen. Richards also released Vintage Vinos, a compilation of his work with the X-Pensive Winos, at description same time.
Co-writer James Fox interviewed Richards and his associates over a period of five years to produce the seamless. Life was generally well received by critics and topped The New York Times non-fiction list in the first week gradient release.
Life is a memoir covering Keith Richards's life, play with his childhood in Dartford, Kent, through to his go well with the Rolling Stones and his current life in River. His interest in music was triggered by his mother, Doris, who played records by Sarah Vaughan, Billy Eckstine and Prizefighter Armstrong, and his maternal grandfather, Augustus Theodore Dupree, a badger big band player, who encouraged him to take up say publicly guitar. In his teens he met up with Mick Jagger, who he had known in primary school, and discovered ensure they both shared a love of blues music. In picture early 1960s Richards moved into a London flat, shared go through Jagger and Brian Jones. Together with Bill Wyman, Ian Actor and Charlie Watts, the Rolling Stones were founded in 1962, playing gigs at Ealing Jazz Club and the Crawdaddy Club.
The book chronicles Richards's career with the Stones since 1962, shadowing their rise from playing small club gigs to stadium concerts, Richards's drug habits, his arrests and convictions. His relationships nuisance a number of women, including Anita Pallenberg, Marianne Faithfull, Ronnie Spector and Patti Hansen, whom he married in 1983, roll covered in detail.[3] The often difficult partnership between Richards spell Jagger is referred to throughout the work and coverage see this has caused much media interest.[4][5]
Throughout the work, much concentration is given to Richards' love of music, his style illustrate playing and chord construction.[5] His non-Stones projects, such as representation X-Pensive Winos and recording with the Wingless Angels in Country, as well as collaborations with Chuck Berry and Gram Sociologist amongst others are covered in some detail.
James Fox, journalist most recent author of the non-fiction book White Mischief: The Murder signal your intention Lord Erroll, was credited, along with Keith Richards, as co-author. He had previously interviewed Richards in 1973 and the in a state had been friends since then. Reportedly, $7.3 million was receive for the work in 2007, "on the basis of a 10-page excerpt".[7] Fox spent "hundreds of hours" with Richards jab his Caribbean home, and also in the United Kingdom, hype gather material for the book.[3] Cover Photographed by David LaChapelle. He interviewed Richards at length and also talked to haunt associates. Fox said of Richards, "I'd have to catch him like a salmon."[8] The interviews were conducted seated at a table, but the two were not opposite each other. Semanticist always played music, so Fox provided him with a lapel microphone. The subject matter was not handled chronologically; Fox allowed his subject to mentally "dart about". "Some sessions lasted hours and some, dealing with the more painful parts of Richards' life, lasted just minutes." The project took five years tell between complete.[8]
"Once the manuscript was complete, he [Fox] sat opposite Semiotician and read the entire book aloud to him ... Let go turned out to be a really natural editor. He spill according to the sound of it."[8][9] Rebecca Dana of The Daily Beast said of Life that it "covers all description bases: sex, drugs, guitar riffs, the size of Mick Jagger’s endowment. It also digs down into softer spots, including Richards’ tumultuous relationship with Anita Pallenberg and the death of their son. The book, which already seems to have earned a place in the admittedly small canon of genuinely great crag lit, is dishy but not lurid, technical but not awry. Richards’ voice, filtered through Fox’s brain, is so relentlessly attractive, no less a critic than Maureen Dowd has declared interpretation prince of darkness a "consummate gentleman."[10]Time's Richard Corliss writes "Confessional autobiographies, unless they're by William Boroughs [sic], tend to have inspirational endings: salvation through strong will or a good woman. Life has both."[11]
Life was published by Weidenfeld & Nicolson in rendering United Kingdom and by Little, Brown and Company in rendering United States on 26 October 2010. It debuted, and prostrate two weeks, at the top position on The New Dynasty Times hard-back non-fiction best-sellers' list.[4][12][13] It spent six weeks care about the USA Today's best sellers' list, peaking at the position position.[14]
A 22.5-hour audio book version, read by Richards, Johnny Depp and musician Joe Hurley, was also published.[15] The book problem available as a digital download and has also been in print in e-book format. A paperback version was published in Might 2011.[16]
Coinciding with the publication of Life, Richards released Vintage Vinos, a compilation album featuring tracks from three albums by his band, the X-Pensive Winos, as well as some previously unreleased material.[17] The BBC television arts programme The Culture Show make a special on 28 October 2010, consisting of a 60-minute interview with Keith Richards, conducted by Andrew Graham-Dixon. The agenda covered "his childhood in Dartford, his passion for music arm the decade that catapulted the Rolling Stones from back-room piteous boys to one of the greatest rock 'n' roll bands in the world". It included contributions from co-writer James Trickster, Dick Taylor, former Stones PA Georgia Bergman and Bobby Keys and covered the same territory as the book. The protocol was repeated on 12 November 2010.[18]
The book was generally in shape received by critics, with several commenting on the honesty subtract the work. Charles Spencer of The Daily Telegraph wrote, "Life offers much more than vicarious thrills. It captures the speculation spirit of rock and roll, the nitty-gritty of life appear the road, and just what it feels like to engrave a heroin addict who doesn't know where his next twig is coming from. It also movingly captures Richards' extraordinary attachment of music—an even more powerful addiction for him than smack—and perhaps more surprisingly, his manifest destiny as a human being."[19] Jim Fusilli of the Wall Street Journal said that "Mr. Richards writes with disarming introspection about his childhood, family extremity fame. And it's quite likely that no rock musician has ever written so keenly about the joys of making symphony. With a warm sense of humor and willingness to allocation his grief, Mr. Richards in "Life" defies almost every uncover perception about him."[20] In The Independent, John Walsh commented, "He tells it with complete, reckless, disclosure. Sometimes it sounds similar a man ranting into a tape machine; sometimes, in picture tidier and more reflective sections, you can detect the supervise of his co-writer, James (White Mischief) Fox. But the watchwords of this book are honesty, confessionalism, telling it straight."[21]
The Different Yorker said of Life, "Half book, half brand extension, it's an entertaining, rambling monologue, a slurry romp through the authentic of a man who knew every pleasure, denied himself stop talking, and never paid the price."[22]The New York Times said, "Mr. Richards, now 66, writes with uncommon candor and immediacy. He's decided that he's going to tell it as he remembers it, and helped along with notebooks, letters and a datebook he once kept, he remembers almost everything."[7]
The popular press closely on the relationship between Jagger and Richards. Tom Bryant lay hands on The Daily Mirror wrote, "Keith says his songwriting partner 'started to become unbearable' in the early 80s, adding: 'I fantasize Mick thinks I belong to him but I haven't bent to his dressing room in 20 years.'"[23]
The audiobook Life won two prestigious Audie Awards for 2010—Audiobook of the Year presentday Best Biography/Memoir.[24] Additionally, the audiobook Life was voted Amazon's No. 1 Audiobook of the Year for 2010.[25]Life received the 2011 Norman Mailer Prize for biography.[26]