OPENS UP ABOUT HIS WILD PAST
help I am glad.” Drummer Charlie Watts, 78, said: “Mick never gave up on him.” Keith Richards, 75, added: “He has a great immune system.
“In fact he is very like me with a great pain threshold.”
Ronnie, who started his rock career in band The Birds told how he first turned to booze as a teenager, after his childhood sweetheart died in a car crash. He added: “When I was about 15 my first girlfriend Stephanie came to see The Birds in an early gig.
“Her and three of her lovely girlfriends from school were wiped out in a Mini. I had to go see the tyre tracks and my friends [took me] down the pub and drowned my sorrows.
“I was in love, she was my first love. My dad, subtle btle as a flying mallet, he said, ‘ Ron, , the man downstairs, tairs, something g to do with Stephanie phanie being killed,’ ed,’ and he left the room.
“I thought ught I better brace race myself, and d go downstairs, rs, that’s when n
I knew it was serious. You’ve got to live with this kind of thing.”
In the film, which was premiered pr as part of the Lon London Film Festival last nig night, Ronnie speaks of the heartbreaking he loss and tells h how he was woken in the night by a visit from his girlfriend’s dad deliv delivering the devastating dev news. ne
De s p i t e his battles w i th drugs, Ronnie said he never regrets taking them. He added: “I had some really good spiritual awakenings during my using years and although I wouldn’t recommend it as lot of it was the ritual associated with the presentation of the different drugs, the rolling of the joint, the filling of the pipe or the chopping of the coke.
“There was a lot of ritual involved and that would be set against the ritual of the way the music was structured… that gave you the feeling of invincibility, you can tackle anything. The brandy Rod and I had before we went on with The Faces and with The J Jeff Beck Group, the drink was very important.
“It got rid of the butterflies and it gave you the power to go on and handle anything, tackle anything.”
Ronnie will be releasing his live album Ronnie Wood with his wild five Mad Lad – a live tribute to Chuck Berry in November and playing UK shows. His art is for sale through his official Ronnie Wood online art shop.
RONNIE ON BUNSEN BURNER HE USED FOR DRUG HIGHS