1. His grandfather, “Gus” Dupree, was a member of a jazz big band in England. It was Dupree who first cultivated Richards’ love for the guitar.
2. There are over 3,000 guitars in Keef’s collection, but there are a couple that are his go to instruments. Both are Fender Telecasters; a 1953 named, “Micawber,” and a 1954 which he calls, “Malcolm.”
3. Richards claims to have written the guitar riff for, “Satisfaction,” in his sleep. A pretty amazing feat considering that he very rarely slept at all. According to his 2010 autobiography, Life, he claims to have only slept, on average, two nights per week during the Stones’ heyday. 
4. Keith Richards has received a few punches in his life as well. His most memorable was from none other than Chuck Berry. The story goes that after a show, Berry had gone to collect the night’s pay. Richards was in the dressing room and Berry’s Gibson ES model guitar was laid out on its case. It seemed to call out to him, Richards has said, so he picked it up and strummed a E chord. Berry came in yelling, “Nobody touches my guitar,” and promptly slugged Richards in the face. Berry had never forgiven Richards, and other British rockers for allegedly stealing his licks and making millions.
5. You can’t kill Keith, he and his girlfriend, Anita Pallenberg, fell asleep, Richards with a lit cigarette, which caught the bed on fire; and another time when mice chewing through the wiring of his Redlands Estate set the home ablaze. He’s also been electrocuted on stage, fallen from a palm tree, had a pile of books fall on him at his home library, and was poisoned while on tour in Switzerland, when someone put strychnine in his heroin.

Axel Lowe