Rolling Stones saved me from suicide: Keith Richards

Richards, 71, said the news sent him into a downward spiral, but he was brought back from the brink by going on stage with the group just hours after losing his son.

“It was such a shock at the time, especially (as) I’m getting a phone call in Paris and this happened in Geneva and I thought, ‘I’m going to go mad unless I do this show tonight’,” he said.

“Maybe it was a sense of self-preservation… It was a rough, rough thing. And I had a feeling… I must go on stage now and I’ll worry and grieve and think about all this after the show. Because if didn’t go on the stage I’d have probably shot myself.”