Keith Richard (NOT Richards)

Would you legally change your name because nobody could "get it right"? Well, that's what Keith Richard of the Rolling Stones apparently felt he had to do. People (morons) insisted on calling him "Keith Richards" and Keith finally got tired of correcting them so he legally changed it to "Richards". Talk about a world full of morons! I still call him Keith Richard, I can't bring myelf to say "Richards" because it reminds me of how moronic people can be. I wish he'd stuck to his guns and kept his original name. Don't you?

 

If he sang a duet with Cliff, they could be the RICHARDS

 

Sorry, doesn't really bother me one way or another.

 

His original name is "Richards". Andrew Oldham made him change it to "Richard" to sound more cool. So in a sense he did "stick to his guns" by adding the s back on.

I thought he added the s back on due to his '77 drug bust, but I could be wrong about that. I know his name started showing up as "Richards" about that time.

 

NAh - it was originally Richards and then he changed it to Richard at the suggestion of Andrew Loog Oldham to sound more star-lso people would get confused (not likely) with the bigger star (at the time) Cliff Richard and then sometime in the 70's he changed it back to the original Richards (Maybe after one of those visits to Switzerland!!

 

It really is Richards

I can't remember exactly where I read it, but I do remember back in the 60's when we first heard of the Stones, that Keith's name IS actually Richards. He dropped the "S" for some reason and went back to it years later.

 

Found this:

http://groups.google.com/group/alt....ichard"+surname&rnum=4&hl=en#24f14c1a1be21638

"OK, I'll take a stab at it. He was born as Keith Richards. When
Andrew Oldham started managing, the 's' was dropped for (pick 1 or more)
this reason: 1) Artistic pretensions 2) To separate himself from his father's
name, since he wasn't talking to his dad anymore 3) To sound like Cliff
Richard, a popular artist at the time. 1 & 2 are actual reasons I've
heard, #3 is just a rumor that I'm starting right now.
He was Keith Richard right up until the late 70's. The 's' came back
because: 1) As a result of his big arrest in Canada, the press was
referring to him as his birth surname of Richards. Keith took it as
an opportunity to abandon his prior junkie past, and took it back.
2) He made up with his dad, and didn't mind being a Richards again.
Just call him Keith!"

 

Stuff like this drives the geneologists absolutely nuts!

 

I can never remember which is which!

 

But I thought it was Keef!

 

And then there was Charlie Watt, Brian Jone and Mike Jagger.

 

What makes you so sure there's not more than one of him?

 

What Luke posted has been common knowledge for years. How do you feel about this now, after learning the correct reason for Keith's name change?