Bon Jovi, Rolling Stones mourn losses

Keith Richards' mother, Doris Richards, died on Saturday (April 21st) after a long bout with cancer, at age 91. Reuters reported that Keith, who was the only child of his parents Doris and Bert Richards, kept a bedside vigil by his mother, which prevented him from attending a memorial service for Atlantic Records co-founder Ahmet Ertegun last week.

In 1958, Doris bought Keith his first guitar when he was 15, and her father, musician Gus Dupree, taught Keith his first chords. In 1962 Doris and Bert split, resulting in Keith hardly speaking to his father until the late 1970s. Doris later raised Keith's daughter Angela from his relationship with Anita Pallenberg.

The New York Post reported that Doris had once described Keith as, "a very artistic child. He didn't like (soccer). If a ball came near him, he'd run away. We'd come to watch him play. He hated being tackled. He didn't like to be hurt. Keith didn't want to be on the rough side of life; just drawing and painting."

Keith recently made news by stating that he had snorted his late father's ashes after mixing it in with a pile of cocaine in 2002. Soon after, Richards recanted the story, insisting that he was joking and admitting that he had actually planted the ashes beside a tree. He also claimed that he no longer uses cocaine.

Meanwhile, Bon Jovi guitarist Richie Sambora's father died of cancer last week. Canada.com reports that 70-year old Adam Sambora died Friday of lung cancer, after having been diagnosed last summer.

The guitarist's girlfriend, Denise Richards, is currently coping with her mother's kidney cancer.

Sambora's divorce from actress Heather Locklear was made final only two weeks ago (April 11th).
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