What would Keith Richards do_ - Jessica Pallington West [64]
1956 – His voice breaks, and he’s kicked out of the choir.
It’s his first taste of the heartlessness of show business. He doesn’t take it well. Keith quickly becomes a more impressively bad student. It is noted on the sidelines, however, that he has a talent for drawing.
1956 – With increasingly poor grades at school, Keith is sent to Dartford Technical College, “where underachievers learn manual trades.”
Resentful over being kicked out of the chorus, and beefing up his defiance of authority, he messes up more, is made to repeat a year, then tops it off by getting expelled. Neighbors plan on seeing him in the gutter in the future. The guitar playing at Grandpa’s, however, continues to go well.
1958 – Age fifteen. Gets his first guitar for his birthday. Soon after, his first record player.
The guitar is a Rosetti acoustic, which his mother buys for about seven pounds with money earned from her job at a bakery. He practices repeatedly from a spot at the top of the stairs. Grandpa starts him off by teaching him “Malaguena.” He develops a fascination with America and its music, and teaches himself Elvis’s “That’s All Right, Mama” and “Blue Moon of Kentucky.” The first record he buys is a Woolworth imitation of a Ricky Nelson song. Listens to all new artists from America, including Little Richard and Jerry Lee Lewis.
1959 or 1960 (accounts on year vary) – Thrown out of Dartford Tech for “insolence,” poor attendance, and questionable fashion style; he’s sent to Sidcup Art College,
so unimpressive a school that it is eventually demolished and replaced by a supermarket. It’s a “last chance” for students headed nowhere, similar to Hope Street in Liverpool, where John Lennon was sent in 1958. Other art-school losers from 1959–1962: Pete Townshend, Ray Davies, Jimmy Page, David Bowie, and Ron Wood. During this time Keith meets Dick Taylor—who will become one of the original Rolling Stones.
1959 – Discovers Chuck Berry
and realizes music is what he wants to devote his life to. He develops a troubled relationship with his father. Within a year, the two stop speaking almost entirely.
1960 – Performs for the first time in public, at a sports dance at Eltham.
Most of the audience has walked out before he gets to finish. After the show, he misses the last train home and spends the night freezing at a bus shelter.
October 1961 (accounts vary: some say 1960) – Keith meets soon-to-be evil twin Mike Jagger on train to London.
It’s the first time Keith has seen Mike since he bought an ice cream off of him a few years earlier. What really interests him are the records Mike is carrying—rare American imports, including Chuck Berry and Muddy Waters. “Just sitting in that train carriage in Dartford, it was almost like we made a deal without knowing it, like Robert Johnson at the crossroads. There was a band made there, that despite everything else, goes on and on. Like a solid deal.” Keith invites Mike over to his house, they begin hanging out more, and then Mike invites Keith to join his band, Little Boy Blue and the Blue Boys.
April 7, 1962 – Keith and Mike/Mick meet Brian Jones (aka Elmo Lewis).
Jones is the real bad boy—complete with a posse of illegitimate children and a rotation of jobs he’s been fired from for stealing.
May 1962 – Brian Jones advertises for bandmates.
First one to answer ad is Ian Stewart, a shipping clerk at a chemical factory.
June 1962 – Keith and Mick join Brian Jones’s band.
Their aim is to become the greatest blues band in England.
July 12, 1962 – Brian names the band the Rollin’ Stones.
They debut at the Marquee in London. Other members include bassist Dick Taylor—the friend of Keith’s from Sidcup—and drummer Mike Avery.
August 1962 – Keith moves in with Mick and Brian at 102 Edith Grove,
a filthy flat with barely any heat. They live at near-starvation level, and take turns stealing food and money-back bottles from parties.
September