Keith Richards Born: Rock's Indestructible Riff Master

Keith Richards co-founded The Rolling Stones and forged the guitar riffs behind "(I Can't Get No) Satisfaction," "Jumpin' Jack Flash," and "Start Me Up," defining the sound of rock and roll for six decades. Born in Dartford, Kent, in 1943, he reconnected with childhood friend Mick Jagger on a train platform in 1961, bonding over a shared love of Muddy Waters and Chuck Berry. They formed the Rolling Stones with Brian Jones, Bill Wyman, and Charlie Watts, and by 1965 the band was rivaling the Beatles as the biggest act in popular music. Richards's contribution was foundational: he developed the open-G tuning that produced the Stones' signature guitar sound, a raw, rhythmic attack built on power chords and blues riffs that distinguished their music from every other band of the era. His partnership with Jagger produced one of the most prolific songwriting catalogs in popular music history, credited to "Glimmer Twins" and spanning everything from blues to ballads to punk-influenced rock. His public persona as rock's most indestructible outlaw was built on decades of drug use, arrests, and near-death experiences that would have killed most people several times over. He was convicted of drug offenses in both England and Canada, narrowly avoided prison on multiple occasions, and continued performing through it all. His autobiography, Life, published in 2010, became a bestseller for its candid accounts of heroin addiction, creative process, and his complicated relationship with Jagger. The Rolling Stones continued touring into their eighties, and Richards remained the band's rhythmic and spiritual foundation.