10 Times Keith Richards Almost Died
London Bombings
Bet you didn't expect to see Adolf
Hitler on the list of 10 Times Keith Richards Almost Died. Richards
almost didn't make it out of infancy, thanks to the 1944 Nazi bomb raids
over London. During the height of the raids, Richards and his mom
evacuated to a region that was out of the line of fire.
When things died down, they returned to find that some of their
neighbors had been killed and that baby Keith's cot had been blown up by
V-1 bomb. Richards would later offer this bit of revisionist history:
"Hitler dumped one of his V-1's on my bed! He was after my ass, you know
that!"
Nearly Electrocuted Onstage
Only a couple of years into the
Stones’ five-decade career, the band almost lost one of their prime
creative forces. While playing a gig in Sacramento, the group launched
into ‘The Last Time,’ and Richards approached the microphone to sing his
backing part. It was facing the wrong way, so he attempted to knock it
with the neck of his guitar – which resulted in a near-fatal shock. In a blue flash, Richards was knocked unconscious, his guitar strings
burned from the accident. Richards later called the incident his “most
spectacular” moment and credited his salvation to a new pair of boots
with thick rubber soles.
Altamont Anarchy
After watching 'Gimme Shelter,' the gripping Rolling Stones documentary, you'd be amazed that anyone made it out of Altamont alive. Upon arriving at this hastily organized free concert, Mick Jagger
was punched in the head. Violence erupted throughout the Stones' set,
forcing them to stop and restart songs. A fan in the audience died after
pulling a gun on a member of the Hells Angels, who were being used as
some semblance of a security force. Altercations continued to plague the
event, which is often contrasted with Woodstock's "peace and love"
vibe. After the show, the Stones got away in a helicopter, only to
learn later about the murder that had occurred. Three other accidental
deaths happened. Richards' immediate reaction to the event was, "on the
whole, a good concert."
Bed Fire at Nellcote
Richards and his girlfriend Anita
Pallenberg almost met an untimely end during the making of 1972's 'Exile
on Main St.' During sessions for the double LP, mostly recorded at
Richards's rented villa Nellcote in the south of France, Richards and
Pallenberg were deep in the throes of heroin addiction.
Richards had a penchant for passing out, sometimes with the needle
still in his arm or – on this occasion – a lit cigarette in his hand.
The bed went up in flames, and Richards and Pallenberg woke up just in
time to escape before being burned to a crisp. It wouldn't be the last
time that Richards played with fire.
Redlands Estate Fire
Given his habit of nodding off
while smoking, our list of 10 Times Keith Richards Almost Died could
include just fiery tales. Topping them is this incident, when a doped-up
Richards allegedly set his Redlands estate ablaze. Many people claim
that one of Richards' still-burning cigarettes was to blame again, but
in his autobiography 'Life,' Richards writes that the fire was caused by
a mouse that ate through the wiring. Regardless, the fire spread to the
home's thatched roof as Richards, Pallenberg and their kids ran to
safety, but then he returned to drag the most expensive possessions out
of the house. There are famous photos that document the aftermath,
including one of Richards sitting on the lawn on top of a stroller ...
smoking, of course.
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Strychnine in Switzerland
Richards has always maintained
that, despite his reputation, he was a relatively responsible drug
addict and that the only times he got in serious trouble was when he got
high with people he didn't trust. Richards later told NME about his
worst drug experience: "Someone put strychnine in my dope, it was in
Switzerland," he said. "I was totally comatose but I was totally awake. I
could listen to everyone, and they were like, 'He's dead, he's
dead!' waving their fingers and pushing me about, and I was thinking,
'I'm not dead!'"
Blood Change
One of rock's great myths is that
by 1973, Richards' blood had become so toxic that a specialist performed
an experimental procedure in which the rocker traded all of his dirty
blood for some clean pints. While the blood swap is probably untrue
(Richards has admitted he spun the rumor mill himself), there is some
evidence to support that he had his blood filtered in Switzerland in
1973. According to some sources, the guitarist underwent hemodialysis that allowed toxic substances to be removed from his body so
they wouldn't do further damage to his kidneys. Allegedly, Richards had
to be put to sleep for a couple days for the procedure. Hopefully, the
doctors reminded him to put his cigarette out first.
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Library Tumble
To think that after all the drugs
and careless living, Richards was almost undone by a bunch of heavy
books. He has recounted the tale many times: He was in his home library,
standing on a chair to reach a book about Leonardo da Vinci's study of
anatomy when he slipped. Many tomes came pouring down on top of him. The
accident resulted in three broken ribs for Richards and a tour
postponement for his band. "It was one of those moments where you have
to make a decision: take it in the ribs or take a shot in the temple on
the desk," he remembered. "All part of life's rich pageant."
Fiji Fall
In 2006 Richards took a tumble from a palm tree while he was on vacation with his and Ronnie Wood's
families on the island of Fiji. Although initial reports indicated that
he had taken a nasty knock after falling from a 40-foot tree, Richards
later revealed that he fell from no more than seven feet. In 'Life,' he
wrote that he had been swimming and his wet hands caused him to slip
from a branch, land on the ground and hit his head on the trunk.
Although Richards didn't think anything serious had occurred, a
"blinding headache" two days later forced him to seek medical attention.
As it turned out, Richards had fractured his skull and the accident
required brain surgery – along with another Rolling Stones tour delayed.
Snorting Dad
Of course, strychnine isn't the
strangest thing Richards has put in his system. As the guitarist
revealed in an interview, then confirmed in his autobiography 'Life,' he once snorted a bit of Dear Ol' Dad.
"The truth of the matter is that after having Dad’s ashes in a black
box for six years, because I really couldn’t bring myself to scatter him
to the winds, I finally planted a sturdy English oak to spread him
around," Richard wrote. "And as I took the lid off of the box, a fine
spray of his ashes blew out on to the table. I couldn’t just brush him
off so I wiped my finger over it and snorted the residue. Ashes to
ashes, father to son." Perhaps this isn't an incident that almost killed
Richards, but it's certainly a brush with death.
