For decades, Keith Richards has been the raw nerve of The Rolling Stones—the swagger, the riffs, the chaos. With a cigarette in one hand and a Telecaster in the other, he embodied everything dangerous and electrifying about rock and roll. Fans saw him as the soul of the band, the riff-machine behind their greatest anthems. But behind the scenes, Richards always knew the truth. Despite the headlines, the fights, and the mythology surrounding his role, Keith never saw himself as the captain of the ship. In a rare moment of vulnerability, the guitar icon laid it bare—“This was never my band.” Because in the shadows of the stage lights and the glamour, there was always one man Richards believed truly steered the Stones’ destiny—and it wasn’t him.

Introduction

Every legendary band faces the same question at some point: who’s really at the helm? On paper, it may look like a democracy, but sooner or later someone steps up—sometimes by sheer will, other times simply by being there first. In the case of The Rolling Stones, you might guess Mick Jagger’s magnetic stage presence or Keith Richards’s iconic riffs hold the reins. Yet, ask those who were there, and they’ll point to the unsung hero working quietly behind the scenes: Ian Stewart.

Back in the early 1960s, long before Jagger and Richards perfected their songwriting craft, Stewart had already set the stage. He wasn’t content to stay on the sidelines—he was the linchpin. Stewart booked the early shows, recruited musicians like drummer Charlie Watts, and taught the group the professional polish they would need to conquer the world.

“The first rehearsal I went to that became The Rolling Stones was above an old pub in Soho,” Richards once reminisced. “I climbed those creaky stairs and heard a piano pounding like I’d been teleported to Chicago. Ian Stewart was the only person there. He’d arranged the whole thing, saying, ‘Come on lads, play this.’ In truth, that was his band from the start.”

Long before Andrew Loog Oldham sculpted the band’s public image, Stewart was the steady hand guiding them. He never yearned for recognition; in fact, he shunned the limelight. Yet his fingerprints are all over the Stones’ sound—he played piano on countless tracks, toured with them for years, and even lent his boogie-woogie flair to Led Zeppelin’s “Boogie With Stu.”

To Richards, Stewart was more than a skilled sideman—he was the mastermind. “This is his creation,” Richards asserted, not as a sentimental tribute but as an undeniable truth.

While the world celebrates Jagger’s electrifying swagger and Richards’s unforgettable riffs, Stewart provided the bedrock. There were no theatrics, no grandstanding—just a man who knew precisely how a great band should look, sound, and move.

He never needed the spotlight. He had already built the stage.

The Rolling Stones – As Tears Go By (Shine a Light 2008)