Keith Richards, role model
Rolling Stones guitarist Keith Richards, famous for surviving years of rock-and-roll excess, will release a children's picture book with illustrations by his daughter Theodora Richards, his publisher said Tuesday.
/arc-anglerfish-arc2-prod-pmn.s3.amazonaws.com/public/O75MY4JCKFCOFEBPZSR62KWPGM.jpg)
NEW YORK - Rolling Stones guitarist Keith Richards, famous for surviving years of rock-and-roll excess, will release a children's picture book with illustrations by his daughter Theodora Richards, his publisher said Tuesday.
The book, Gus & Me: The Story of My Granddad and My First Guitar, tells the story of how Richards was first introduced to music by his grandfather and given his first guitar. The hardcover and ebook will be released Sept. 9.
"Gus & Me invites readers to be in the room at the electrifying moment that Keith holds a guitar in his hands for the first time," Megan Tingley, executive vice president and publisher of Little, Brown Books for Young Readers, said in a statement.
In his memoir, Life, Richards, 70, also recounts the role his grandfather, jazz big band musician Theodore Augustus (Gus) Dupree, played in his life. He details his transition from shy only child to co-founding the Rolling Stones in 1962 and becoming a rock-and-roll survivor after years of substance abuse.
"I have just become a grandfather for the fifth time, so I know what I'm talking about," Richards said in a statement about the children's book. "The bond, the special bond, between kids and grandparents is unique and should be treasured. This is a story of one of those magical moments."
Gus & Me, written with Barnaby Harris and Bill Shapiro, will include pen-and-ink collages by Theodora, who was named after her grandfather, and photographs from the Richards family collection.