Keith Richards 'should have died in 1996'

ananova ^ | 2-27-04

[Dan from Michigan]

Keith Richards 'should have died in 1996'

Keith Richards should have died eight years ago, according to a health expert.

The 60-year-old Rolling Stone has outlived all expectations and "eluded death" after years of hard living, claims an American gerontologist.

David Demko investigated the lifestyles of music's biggest names and predicted their death dates in a survey entitled When will Your Favourite Rock star die? for US music magazine Blender.

Speaking about Richards, Demko: "He should have passed away at 52. I'm not sure how he does it but he defies all conventional wisdom. Eighty per cent of the factors that control how long you live are related to your lifestyle not genes."

The guitarist admitted on his 60th birthday last year: "There are a lot of people who never thought I'd make it this far."

Among his other predictions, Demko concluded that Ozzy Osborne will die in 2013 aged 65, Whitney Houston, 40, will only make it to 59 and Michael Jackson, 45, will die at the age of 76.

But Sting fares rather better in the life expectancy list. According to Demko's calculation, he should live to the age of 93.

[Dan from Michigan]

Richards will probably outlive me...LOL.

[KentTrappedInLiberalSeattle]

Whitney Houston, 40, will only make it to 59

Less than that, even, if Bobby Brown doesn't stop smacking her upside the head... :)

[Focault's Pendulum]

Keith Richards 'should have died in 1996'

Proof that home pickling works.

[Viking2002]

Keith Richards 'should have died in 1996'

You mean, he didn't? LOL

[BlackVeil]

No, in 1966, or at a stretch 1976. That would have been more properly romantic and memorable. I am surprised he didn't see it for himself.

[Senator Pardek]

He's been dead since '77 - his brain is just too burnt to realize it.

[Mears]

Michael Jackson will never make it to 76,ever. He will disappear under the knife of plastic surgery,one little piece at a time.

[Viking2002]

But Sting fares rather better in the life expectancy list. According to Demko's calculation, he should live to the age of 93.

Oh, God spare us from this arrogant snot....

[nickcarraway]

He got the reaper to take Brian Jones instead.

[presidio9]

Say, that reminds me.

Have you heard that Ozzie Osborn says that pot smoking led his son Jack to experiment with harder drugs? He ought to know, right?

[Focault's Pendulum]

He's been dead since '77 - his brain is just too burnt to realize it.

Something tells me he's not fretting all that much about it.

OK...I'll go away now.

[FormerACLUmember]

I actually spent an evening with Keith Richards at a now defunct blues club in New York, with my high school friend who is a producer. Richards is a pleasant, gracious, genial end-stage alcoholic who drank and smoked (cigarettes) non-stop all night.

I sat next to Keith and we ended up discussing his dead dad and how he hoped to join him one day. Since Keith looked like death warmed opver, I saw this as soon happening.

[ainsley]

And in '86, '76, '66..

[dts32041]

Do you think he will actually make any music worth listing to by that time.

BTW wonder how long they figure Eric Burdon will be around, saw him last year still can't carry a tune, but you can still tell he enjoys what he is doing, unlike the stones who are still trying to pay off all the lawyers and drug bills.

[Senator Pardek]

You're a nut.

[dead]

I also met Keith Richards in NYC. My brother and I sat next to him at a Tom Waits show at The Beacon. (Elvis Costello and Joe Strummer sat behind us - these were some pretty good seats.)

Richards was sitting there a half hour before the show, with the house lights on. I was never a Stones fan, so I had no desire to bother him. But dozens of other people walked up to him and shook his hand and took pictures with him. I chatted with him a little about Waits' band that night. He was really into seeing him, and his rythm section.

He really was incredibly gracious, thanking everybody for the kind words and joking with them.

I was shocked. I just assumed he'd be a surly jerk.

[NYC GOP Chick]

Proof that home pickling works.

Yeah, but that story about him having his blood replaced at a Swiss clinic is just an urban legend! ;D

http://www.snopes.com/music/artists/richards.htm.

[HAL9000]

My brother and I sat next to him at a Tom Waits show at The Beacon.

That is too cool.

I just assumed he'd be a surly jerk.

You might have gotten the expected behavior if you'd introduced yourself as "Sir Dead, OBE".

[FormerACLUmember]

He really was incredibly gracious, thanking everybody for the kind words and joking with them. I was shocked. I just assumed he'd be a surly jerk.

Yes, he was gracious and generous. Not in the slightest surly...not narcissistic, not arrogant, just a very nice, kind humble person. And beneath his booze befuddled exterior, he is highly intelligent and deep, at least based upon our conversations of the evening.

[RedMonqey]

He been dead since 77.

All the chemicals he has ingested, he has self-EMBALMED.