Praise for Keith Richards

“Rock ‘n’ roll’s own god of druggy decadence is saluted in Keith Richards, a solid straight-ahead look at the Rolling Stones’ none-too-straight guitar genius.”

—Rolling Stone

 

“Rolling Stones fans and music enthusiasts alike will enjoy and respect Bockris’s comprehensive biography of a driving force in rock history.... This book can be regarded as an authoritative source.”

—Variety

 

“A subtle portrait providing insight into a wayward but honest existence. ... Fascinating reading.”

—Melody Maker

 

“[A] sympathetic biography.... Bockris doesn’t skimp on tales of his subject’s aggression and heroin addiction, yet he also chooses anecdotes that emphasize the sincerity and amiability behind the musician’s fierce stance. Richards emerges as more a tortured artist than a junkie, more a generous party-lover than a materialistic star.”

—Publishers Weekly

 

“Thorough and affectionate ... [Bockris] reveals a more complex and plausible character than the rough, tough and elegantly wasted rock ‘n’ roll outlaw of popular imagination.... [A] terrific read.”

—Q

 

“The year’s best book about rock music.”—The Independent

 

“[A] finely detailed portrait.... The book succeeds on a crucial level: it reduces to human scale a figure of near-mythic proportions. Bockris provides the reader with an understanding of the impact this legend has had on Richards the musician and Richards the man. Even hardcore followers of the Stones may be unnerved by the starkly described episodes detailing Richards’s nearly fatal drug addiction and repeated bouts with police.... [The story] is plainly told, making the horrors of addiction brutally real to the reader.”

—The Trenton Times (New Jersey)