He’s been guitarist for The Rolling Stones for more than six decades, and now Keith Richards is taking on a new role: great-grandfather.
“It’s been a couple of weeks. It’s a new thing for me. But I’m a fantastic grandad,” the 82-year-old rocker explained in a recent interview with The Guardian.
“Great-grandadding is … I try to let them hang with me for as long as humanly possible, then I hand ’em back,” the rock icon added. “I’ve been doing a lot of grandfathering in the last year or so. I’ve got three or four new ones, you know. When I say new, I mean … two or three years old. Or four. Or one, or maybe five.”
Given that his offspring’s offspring are now having babies, Richards can be forgiven for not being completely up to date on all those kids. “I lose track, you know,” he admitted.
Keith Richards’ Granddaughter Ella is a New Mom
The infant responsible for Richards’ new status is Luna Richards-von Bismarck. The tot’s mother is Ella Richards, daughter of Richards’ son Marlon, while her father is photographer Sascha von Bismarck.
Shortly after the baby’s birth, Ella took to Instagram to jointly celebrate her new arrival and mark her 30th birthday.
“30!! best birthday yet with our baby girl Luna,” she wrote in the caption, accompanying a photo of herself and her newborn daughter.
Richards and the Stones Keep Rolling with a New Album
Meanwhile, Richards has been hard at work with Stones frontman Mick Jagger and guitarist Ronnie Wood, preparing their new album for release. That album, “Foreign Tongues,” comes less than three years after their critically acclaimed 2023 album “Hackney Diamonds,” which represented the band’s first original music in nearly 20 years.
Like “Hackney Diamonds,” “Foreign Tongues” was produced by Andrew Watt, the white-hot producer who’s coaxed brilliant albums out of veteran rockers such as Ozzy Osbourne, Iggy Pop and Paul McCartney in recent years.
He credits Mick Jagger for the impetus to ‘keep pushing’
As for why the new album is arriving so soon after “Hackey Diamonds,” Richards is happy to give the credit to Jagger. “Mick’s been very prolific lately, which is one reason this album has come out so quick, because he won’t bloody stop,” Richards explained.
“And the momentum from ‘Hackney Diamonds’ was such that this is basically carrying on in the same breath. I was just letting it roll — we had enough stuff if we wanted to keep pushing, and so Mick and I gave each other the usual wry look and said: ‘Yeah, let’s keep pushing.’”
Producer Andrew Watt Has Been a ‘Breath of Fresh Air
While handing out accolades, Richards also recognizes the contribution of Watt. As he told The Guardian, he described Watt as “being a breath of fresh air and a kick up the ass. He knows his stuff musically and technically, and he doesn’t put up with any bull**** – he just gets on with it. So I found him very easy to work with. He’s a bit impetuous at times, but then so what?”
When Does The Rolling Stones’ New Album Come Out?
The Rolling Stones’ new album, “Foreign Tongues,” will drop on July 10.
