Keith Richards

Happy Birthday, Keith.

78 years old today.

You are on the short list of people I admire with every fiber of my being.

There is no better example of how to live a life in exact accordance with your essence.

You fought to make that happen early on until people figured it out. Now the respect that flows your way is a tsunami.

As a music lover, I stand in awe of your musical knowledge. You are and always will be a student of music - all genres, but particularly The Blues, which is where The Stones come from.

You guys championed the original blues masters; never forgetting about them, never letting them down.

I will never forget the story of when you guys toured Chess Records in 1964. Chess was a much revered blues label and you treated it like church. However, as you wandered around you came across Muddy Waters - painting the fucking ceiling. Leonard and Phil Chess, who owned the label, believed that artists had to work - especially if they weren't selling records. At that time blues was not selling.

The irony was that it took a bunch of white, British artists to introduce The Blues to an American audience. The Stones led the charge and included many blues masters (including Muddy Waters) on your concert tours and TV appearances. There were times when The Stones insisted that a blues master be allowed to play on a TV music show or The Stones would not appear.

That is ballsy and committed.

I always wish you a Happy Birthday, I rarely wish Mick a Happy Birthday. My relationship with Mick is similar to my relationship with Paul McCartney.

Mick is a Rolling Stone, Paul is a Beatle. I love them both. But there is an element of superficiality about them.

Superficial is a word that can never be used to describe you, Keith, in any way in any world in any galaxy.

Thank you for 60 years of music, insanity and inspiration. 60 fucking years.

You are a role model for how to live a life authentically.

Love you, man.