Keith Richards as Backing Vocalist: Gravelly Harmonies That Grounded Jagger's Flash

Keith Richards’ voice is basically a vintage amp that’s been kicked down a flight of stairs—cracked, warm, and impossible to polish. On songs like “Happy” and “Before They Make Me Run,” he takes lead vocals, but his real genius shows in the backing harmonies. He doesn’t sweeten Mick Jagger’s lines; he roughs them up, singing in a lower, bluesier register that adds a kind of tavern-rawl counterpoint. While Jagger glides between a snarl and a croon, Keith stays fixed in a gravelly pocket, like the rhythm guitar of the vocal arrangement.

That contrast is everything. Jagger’s voice has range and theatricality—he can coo, bark, or wail. Keith’s is limited but loaded with character. When they double a line, Jagger takes the melody and Keith scrapes the bottom of it, creating a texture that’s thicker than any single voice could manage. On “Tumbling Dice,” his “keep on, keep on” in the chorus is almost a grunt, but it’s the glue that keeps Jagger’s swagger from floating away. It’s not about singing pretty; it’s about singing mean.