Veteran British rock journalist Kris Needs cuts through the image to find the man at the centre of the ‘Keef’ myth. Titled after a song about Richards’ persecution by law enforcement in the 1970s, Keith Richards: Before They Make Me Run enlists the man himself to detail the highs and lows in the life of rock ’n’ roll’s ultimate survivor.
With the help of an encyclopaedic knowledge of the Stones’ recorded catalogue and exclusive interviews with Keef himself, Needs charts a chaotically eventful life that found its salvation in the blues. Beginning with his suburban working-class upbringing in England, his fateful meeting with a young Mick Jagger, and the whirlwind career that saw Jagger/Richard(s) become the only songwriting credit to rival Lennon/McCartney, the author takes a close-up look at every stage of his subject’s life: The R&B fanatic kid, hellbent on spreading the gospel of the blues; the drug-sodden Satanic Majesty, swashbuckling his way through the establishment’s law courts; the relentless rhythm machine whose heroin addiction almost slowed his momentum for good; the wizened elder statesman expounding on his wry philosophy through a haze of cigarette smoke and vodka. Most integral of all is that more elusive character, Keith Richards the Man.