Wednesday, March 12, 2014

Keith Richards becomes a children's author

Gus & Me: The Story of My Granddad and My First Guitar was inspired by the rock god's own introduction to music

Doing it for the kids … guitar hero and now children's author Keith Richards. Photograph: Max Nash/AFP/Getty Images

Legendary Rolling Stones guitarist Keith Richards is to publish a children's book, with illustrations by his daughter.

Gus & Me: The Story of My Granddad and My First Guitar is about Richards' grandfather, Theodore Augustus Dupree, who played in a jazz big band and introduced the young Keith to music.
"I have just become a grandfather for the fifth time, so I know what I'm talking about," Keith Richards said. "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. May I be as great a grandfather as Gus was to me."
Richards' daughter Theodora Dupree Richards, who is named after Gus, will be illustrating the book with pen and ink collages inspired by photographs of Richards' childhood.

Gus and Me by Keith Richards Detail from Theodora Richards' artwork for Gus and Me

"When I found out they wanted me to be a part of this project, my immediate instinct was to say yes, and I am so happy I did," commented Theodora. "To be able to explore my father's relationship with his grandfather was a gift in itself."
Gus & Me, written "with" Barnaby Harris and Bill Shapiro will also contain photos from the Richards family collection.

Richards is not the first ageing musician to mellow into children's literature; in recent years, Bob Dylan, Madonna, Paul McCartney and Ringo Starr have all released picture books with varying degrees of success.
Richards has dabbled with writing books before: the first 10 pages of his memoir, Life, reportedly netted him a US$7.3 million deal, and the book subsequently sold over 2m copies worldwide. One of the pivotal moments in Gus & Me, when Keith is handed his first guitar by his grandfather, also appears in Life.

Gus & Me will be published as a hardcover and an e-book by Orion Children's Books in September.

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