Keith Richards is an English musician and songwriter, with an estimated net worth of $500 Million. He achieved international fame as the co-founder, guitarist, secondary vocalist, and co-principal songwriter of the Rolling Stones. His career spans over six decades, and his guitar playing style has been a trademark of the Rolling Stones throughout the band’s career.

Bio Data

Read More:

• Mick Jagger’s Net Worth and Biography
• Paul McCartney’s Net Worth and Biography
• Elton John Net Worth & Biography

Biography

Keith Richards was born on 18 December 1943 at Livingston Hospital, in Dartford, Kent, England. He is the only child of Doris Maud Lydia and Herbert William Richards. He attended Wentworth Primary School with Mick Jagger until 1954 when the Richards and Jagger families both moved.

From 1955 to 1959, He attended Dartford Technical High School for Boys, where he was expelled for truancy and was transferred to Sidcup Art College, where he met Dick Taylor. At Sidcup, he was diverted from his studies proper and devoted more time to playing guitar with other students in the boys’ room.

Richards met Jagger again by chance on a train platform when Jagger was heading for classes at the London School of Economics. The duo renewed their friendship and began a musical partnership shortly afterward.  At the time of the reunion, Jagger was singing in an amateur band, Little Boy Blue and the Blue Boys, which Richards soon joined.

The Blue Boys folded when Brian Jones, after sharing thoughts on their joint interest in blues music, invited Mick and Keith to form Rolling Stones. By mid-1962 Richards had left Sidcup Art College to devote himself to music, and moved into a London flat with Jagger and Jones.

Career

Richards plays both lead and rhythm guitar parts, often in the same song. His guitar playing style has been a trademark of the Rolling Stones throughout the band’s career. He is also a vocalist, singing backing vocals on many Rolling Stones songs as well as occasional lead vocals, such as on the Rolling Stones’ 1972 single “Happy”, as well as with his side project, the X-Pensive Winos.

Following the departure of Brian Jones, Richards and Mick Jagger have shared primary songwriting and production duties (credited as the Glimmer Twins) for the Stones. Former keyboardist Ian Stewart once said that Richards was the Rolling Stones’ bandleader; however, Richards has said that his job is merely “oiling the machinery”.

Unlike many bands where the drummer sets the pace and acts as a time setter for a song, Richards fills that role for the Rolling Stones. Both former bassist Bill Wyman and current guitarist Ronnie Wood have said that the Stones do not follow the band’s long-time drummer, Charlie Watts, but rather follow Richards, as there was “no way of ‘not’ following” him.

Outside of his career with the Rolling Stones, Richards has also played with his own side-project, The X-Pensive Winos. He also appeared in three Pirates of the Caribbean films as Captain Teague, father of Jack Sparrow, whose look and characterization were inspired by Richards himself.

Honors and Accolades

In 1989, Richards was inducted into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame and in 2004 into the UK Music Hall of Fame with the Rolling Stones. In 2011, Rolling Stone magazine referred to Richards as the creator of “rock’s greatest single body of riffs” on guitar, ranking him fourth on its list of the top 100 best guitarists. The magazine also listed fourteen songs he co-wrote with Jagger on its “500 Greatest Songs of All Time” list.

Keith Richards’s Net Worth

Keith Richards is one of the richest musicians in the United Kingdom, with an estimated net worth of around $500 Million. He made the majority of his fortune as a member of rolling stones. According to Fortune, Rolling Stones generated more than US$1.5 billion in total gross revenue, from 1989 to 2001, exceeding that of U2, Bruce Springsteen, or Michael Jackson.

The group’s Voodoo Lounge Tour grossed $320 million, becoming the world’s highest-grossing tour at the time. In 2007, the band grossed US$437 million on their A Bigger Bang Tour, which earned them an entry in the 2007 edition of Guinness World Records for the most lucrative music tour.

The group has sold over 200 million records worldwide and made over $117million from performing 14 shows in 2018. Aside from his own musical performances, Richards is known to produce records and has worked with the likes of Aretha Franklin and Ronnie Spector.