Keith Richards Quit Smoking After 55 Years
In a shocking turn of events, Keith Richards is no longer a smoker. 78-year-old Keith revealed the news in a recent interview with CBS Sunday Morning. Keith says that he quietly quit two years ago, after 55 straight years of ciggie-suckin’. A reminder that, back in 2018, he announced he’d essentially given up drinking (save for the occasional glass of wine or pint of beer). He also quit cocaine in 2006 and heroin in 1978. Which means Keith Richards is… straight edge?! Great, yet another sign of the Apocalypse.
Keith told CBS that “it’s funny,” but he doesn’t even think about smoking much anymore. He says that he basically quit cold turkey, but he used “a few patches for a few weeks”, via Yahoo!:
“Sometimes, you know, a bell rings and something inside says, ‘Hey, pal, enough.’ And so, yeah, I just put the hammer on it,” he explained.
Joking that he was “probably getting on a bit,” Richards added. “Luckily, I just don’t miss it, and that makes me feel good.”
The Keith Richards & the X-Pensive Winos frontman added that since he quit smoking, he’s “realized that I had 10 times more wind!”
The interviewer asked X-Pensive Winos drummer Steve Jordan if he’d noticed any difference in Keith’s vocals since quitting, and Steve joked, “Well, he’s singing more in the original keys.” Steve also took over drums for the Rolling Stones last summer when Charlie Watts got sick and passed away two weeks later. Keith said Charlie’s death came as “quite a shock,” because he had been keeping his illness under wraps. Keith adds that the group considered canceling their 2021 tour, but decided the show must go on:
“I think Charlie wanted us to go on the road; he wanted the tour to happen. That’s my feeling, the last time I spoke to him,” he said.
However, it was still a bit odd to look back onstage and not see Watts there. “Yeah, that is strange, yes, to turn suddenly and you know, after all these years, you expect that face there!”
Another interesting tidbit from the interview: Keith says that he and Mick Jagger have not “broached the subject” about selling their music catalog like many older musicians are doing (Bob Dylan sold his songs for $400 million in 2020). He says he doesn’t know if they’re ready to let go of their catalog, adding that they “might drag it out a bit! Put some more stuff in it!”
Here’s Keith’s CBS interview:
Wait, does this mean that Keith’s “spiritual son” Johnny Depp will follow suit and quit smoking after 46 years (he began when he was 12)? What about Joni Mitchell? Is she still hackin’ darts like a 9-year-old recovering from polio? God, I hope not. Either way, this announcement has the potential to change the face of Hollywood as we know it.
Pic: INSTAR