The world s blackest white man ; the world s most elegantly wasted human being ; the human riff all these descriptions have been applied to Keith Richards, legendary songwriter and rhythm guitarist of the Rolling Stones. In Before They Make Me Run, veteran rock journalist Kris Needs cuts through the layers of image to find the man at the centre of the myth. With the help of archive reports and interviews, an encyclopaedic knowledge of the Stones recorded catalogue and not least exclusive interviews with Keef himself, Needs charts a chaotically eventful life that found its salvation in the blues.