Rolling Stones guitarist Keith Richards has lived a long, hard, and inarguably eventful life. Not only is he one of the longest-working rockstars in show business; but that decades-long gig also happened to be with one of the rowdiest, raucous bands of all time. He's the epitome of "live fast, die young," except for the fact that he's managed to evade that last "dying young" bit for over eight decades.
Still, that doesn't mean the hands of fate haven't tried over the years. Ever since his family narrowly avoided Adolf Hitler's infamous bombing of London in 1944, the Rolling Stones guitarist has defied the odds, surviving through countless injuries and just as many close calls with fire, crazed fans, and other dangerous near-misses.
Of all the close calls he's dealt with, these are some of the strangest.
Playing in an electric rock band might look like it's all fun and games from the audience's perspective. But there's a lot that goes into ensuring the musicians get through their performance safely. From the microphones to the guitars to the amplifiers, the electricity running through a live set-up can kill someone if it's not run or grounded properly. Such was the case for Keith Richards in December 1965, when the Rolling Stones were performing at Memorial Auditorium in Sacramento, California.
Richards bumped his guitar neck against an (ungrounded) metal microphone stand, creating a power surge so strong that some attendees thought someone had fired a gun. The guitarist fortunately survived the electrocution. But he left the venue unconscious.
Decades later, Keith Richards was attempting to reach a book high on the shelf of his home library when he hurt himself by falling off the ladder, tumbling to the ground as a pile of heavy hardback books fell on top of him. "It was one of those moments where you have to make a decision," Richards later recalled. "Take it in the ribs or take a shot in the temple on the desk. All part of life's rich pageant."
Richards opted for the former. He broke three ribs, almost punctured a lung, and suffered severe bruising on his chest. The injuries were so severe that the Rolling Stones had to postpone their 1998 European Tour. "I was looking for Leonardo da Vinci's book on anatomy," Richards explained. "I learned a lot about anatomy, but didn't find the book."
No, we're not talking about former Vice President Kamala Harris' viral remark about "falling out of a coconut tree" from 2024. This bizarre Keith Richards injury took place 18 years earlier while the guitarist was on vacation in Fiji. Richards decided to enjoy the beautiful island scenery from atop a coconut tree. But on his descent, he slipped and fell, landing on his head roughly seven feet below. Although the musician brushed it off, he went to a doctor days later for severe headaches. And it's a good thing he did.
Doctors discovered a skull fracture and massive brain bleed, which likely would have killed Richards had he not sought medical attention. Despite how badly he hurt himself, Keith Richards was back on stage two months later.
While one could argue that his rampant drug use was yet another way Keith Richards hurt himself physically and mentally over the years, he certainly didn't plan for the nearly fatal injury he suffered in Switzerland when he unknowingly ingested h***** that someone had laced with strychnine. The most common use of this highly toxic alkaloid is poisoning rats, so one can only imagine what it does to the human body when someone injects it intravenously.
"I was totally comatose, but I was totally awake," Richards recalled, per The Guardian. "I could listen to everyone, and they were like, 'He's dead! He's dead!,' waving their fingers and pushing me about. I was thinking, 'I'm not dead!'" And indeed, by some rock 'n' roll miracle, divine intervention, or Keith Richards' impressively long-lasting lucky streak, the Rolling Stones guitarist walked away from the incident relatively unscathed.