Keith Richards was inspired by the late Chuck Berry’s music.
The 73-year-old guitarist has revealed the music legend, who tragically died earlier this month at the age of 90, largely influenced him and The Rolling Stones with the "crystal clear clarity" of his tracks, and although the band tried not to copy the star’s singles there is an underlying element of Berry on "every" record.
Speaking about the ‘Johnny B. Goode’ hitmaker, Richards said: "We deliberately tried not to ‘do a Chuck Berry,’ so to speak. But on every one, Chuck’s influence is there, for sure."
And Richards has revealed everything about the vocalist attracted him to Berry’s music.
He explained: "I guess it was the combination of all of those things. To me, it had sort of a crystal clear clarity of what I wanted to hear, and what I was aiming for … There was an exuberance and they were not too serious. What was serious was what was going down — they weren’t serious about it."
The ‘Satisfaction’ artist has revealed he loved Berry’s ability to "vary" his music on every release.
He explained: "And I love the fact that he could vary his music. When you listen to "[You] Never Can Tell," he had a handle, he was very interested in various kinds of music. He used country music….[and] he was a great admirer of Hank Williams. We used to sit around talking about country writers."
And Richards has admitted the first single of the Missouri-born star’s was his 1958 single ‘Sweet Little Sixteen’.
He told Los Angeles Times: "The first was probably ‘Sweet Little Sixteen,’ since I was about 16, or 15, at the time. There’s that lazy beat and a sweet little melody. After that the one that taught me was ‘Back in the USA.’"
Chuck Berry inspired Keith Richards and The Rolling Stones
