Keith Richards’ opinion on Amy Winehouse

Since The Rolling Stones started their career in the early ’60s, Keith Richards has not mentioned many artists who emerged later, as he has always been more interested in Blues and Rock from the ’60s and earlier. But over the decades, he has given his opinion on some newer artists, including the late British singer and songwriter Amy Winehouse.

What is Keith Richards’ opinion on Amy Winehouse

Keith Richards rarely praised artists who appeared after the 60s and 70s and Amy Winehouse was one of them. During the Isle of Wight festival in 2007, The Rolling Stones invited her on stage and performed together “Ain’t Too Proud to Beg” and in the next year Keith was asked which modern artists he liked and he said: “There’s only one person, that girl Army”.

Almost two decades later, The Rolling Stones covered her song “You Know I’m No Good” on their 2026 album “Foreign Tongues”. Talking about why they chose that track, Keith said that she was one of the best to come out of England. “I loved the song anyway (despite the fact we played with her). I always thought that Amy was, you know, a sad story in many ways. She was one of the best to come out of England.”

He continued:

“(She) probably had so much more potential. I’m not sure who kicked the idea (of covering her), whether was Mick (Jagger) or Andrew (Watt – producer). We said ‘Well, (when) we started off we were a cover band basically. If there’s one that you wanted to cover now, what it would be?’ Amy came out on top. It’s a great song to play and I’m still sort of getting my chops around it. There’s potential there (laughs). Yeah (it’s got that sort of 60s soul in the song). There’s a sort of connection for us,” he told Billboard in 2026 (Transcribed by Rock and Roll Garage).

In a conversation with The Sunday Times, Keith lamented that he had the chance to play with her only once and regretted that they didn’t play together more. “I was always sort of ‘well, I’m bound to meet her down the road’. You expect things to happen, and unfortunately no.
I’m just very glad and honoured to have played with her at least once.”

Keith Richards tried to advise Amy to get sober

As someone who fought addiction for many years and got sober, Keith Richards knew that path well. When he had the chance to meet Amy and learned what she was going through, he tried to advise her on getting sober. He publicly said that in an interview with The Mail in 2008, three years before her death. “Amy’s got to get smart. That girl isn’t going to be around long unless she sorts herself out pretty quick. I’m not a preacher. But I’ve been there and you have to pass it on,” Keith Richards said, also noting that she was his favorite contemporary singer.

In 2011, after years of struggling with addiction, she passed away from the “unintended consequences of heavy drinking” at the age of 27. Due to her age, she became part of the infamous “27 Club,” a group of artists who died at that age. One of them was, coincidentally, former Rolling Stones guitarist Brian Jones, who is on the list alongside Jim Morrison (The Doors), Janis Joplin, Jimi Hendrix, and Kurt Cobain (Nirvana).

As Richards told The Quietus in 2015, he was quite disappointed when he heard the news of her death. “Amy Winehouse was a big disappointment. Because I was waiting for that girl to really bloom because she was really just starting. I thought she was fantastic. It was such a shame. But there’s a high rate of that sort of thing in this business,” Keith Richards said.

Mick Jagger said The Rolling Stones could have written “You Know I’m No Good”

When promoting the album “Foreign Tongues”, Mick Jagger talked about the Amy Winehouse song they covered. He said he felt the Stones could have written that track, since it is the kind of music they like.

“It was kind of a connection, we were recording in London, she’s English. You know, we did actually done something with her (playing live). But we were looking for a good song to cover from a female vocalist. We were thinking about early people. Then we said: ‘Let’s do something a bit more recent and we enlightened on that song. But I always liked that song, (we) could have written it. You know what I mean? I felt I could have written that song. Because it’s like a minor key, harmonica lead and I just copied the horn lead and played it harmonica. So it felt really organic in a way,” he told Billboard (Transcribed by Rock and Roll Garage).

Amy Winehouse started her career in 2002 and released only three albums. They are  “Frank” (2003), “Back To Black” (2006) and the posthumous compilation “Lioness: Hidden Treasures” (2011). Some of her most famous tracks are “Back to Black”, “You Know I’m No Good”, “Rehab” and “Tears Dry on Their Own”.