By the end of that first American tour, we thought we’d blown it in America. We’d been consigned to the status of medicine shows and circus freaks with long hair. When we got to Carnegie Hall in New York, we were suddenly back in England with screaming teenyboppers. America was coming around. We realized that it was just starting.
Mick and I hadn’t come all the way to New York in ’64 not to go to the Apollo. So I hooked up again with Ronnie Bennett. We went to Jones Beach with all the Ronettes in a red Cadillac. The desk rang up, “There’s a lady downstairs.” “Come on, let’s go.” And it was James Brown’s week at the Apollo. Maybe Ronnie should describe what nice English boys we were–contrary to popular belief:
Keith Richards: I never got into a serious relationship until I was 20. Then, before I knew it, I was on the road with the Stones and there’s chicks all over the place wanting to get in my pants. Well, I’m no bloody angel, know what I mean? So before I know it I’m in bed with Ronnie Spector. That’s when I found rock’n’roll. That’s also when I learned about jealousy, ‘cos I had Phil Spector chasing me around with a shotgun. That’s when I started ducking and diving. It was a question of survival.
Ronnie Spector: The first time Keith and Mick came to America, they weren’t successful, they slept on my mother’s living room floor up in Spanish Harlem. They had no money, and my mom would get up in the morning and make them bacon and eggs, and Keith would always say, “Thank you, Mrs. Bennett.” And then I took them to see James Brown at the Apollo, and that’s what made them so determined. Those guys went home and came back superstars. Because I showed them what I did, how I grew up, and how I went to the Apollo Theater when I was eleven years old. I took them backstage and they met all these rhythm and blues stars. I remember Mick standing there shaking when we passed James Brown’s room.
