“Keith woke up in another hotel room in another country without having stirred”: The time Keith Richards got so wasted they had to put his bed on a plane
Keith Richards no longer drinks excessively, and gave up drugs many years ago.
Image: Kevin Mazur / Getty
A very drunk Keith Richards was once placed on a plane and flown to another country, all whilst in the same bed.
According to celebrity publicist Alan Edwards, The Rolling Stones guitarist couldn’t be woken, and was loaded right onto a plane to fly to the next country while the band were out on tour.
Richards is now clean of drugs and no longer excessively drinks, but in Edwards’ new memoir, I Was There, he recalls the wild incident (via 1 News): “The tour manager couldn’t wake Keith up in a hotel room to fly to the next country. So roadies carried the bed, with Keith sleeping in it, out of the hotel, loaded it onto the plane then hauled it off when the plane touched down again.”
He adds, “Keith woke up in another hotel room in another country without having stirred. There were none of the normal constraints in terms of when or where the plane departed – the Stones were travelling on their own 747 jet.”
In September last year, Richards spoke to The Telegraph of his clean lifestyle: “The cigarettes I gave up in 2019, I haven’t touched them since,” he said. “I gave up heroin in 1978. I gave up cocaine in 2006. I still like a drink occasionally – because I’m not going to heaven any time soon – but apart from that, I’m trying to enjoy being straight. It’s a unique experience for me.”
The Stones released their latest album Hackney Diamonds in October last year. Most tracks on the record were recorded with Steve Jordan on percussion after drummer Charlie Watts passed away in 2021. However, two songs recorded with Watts back in 2019 feature on the record. On one of those two tracks, Live By The Sword, the band’s former bassist Bill Wyman is also featured.
Catch The Rolling Stones on tour. I Was There by Alan Edwards is out now.