Keith Richards claims Rolling Stones frontman Mick Jagger is ‘jealous’ of his solo albums

While their best work may be the songs they released together, Keith Richards clearly has the upper hand on Mick Jagger when it comes to solo albums. The veteran guitarist clearly thinks so too, once saying that The Rolling Stones‘ frontman is “jealous” of his three-album discography outside of the Ronnie Wood and Charlie Watts-featuring band.

Speaking before the release of his third studio album, Crosseyed Heart, Richards claimed that his longtime collaborator was spurred into action by the 2015 record. Jagger, who has released several solo albums, as well as an album under the SuperHeavy supergroup name, revived The Rolling Stones around the time Richards announced his third album. It would be the first solo album Richards had released since 1992’s Main Offender and, as of today, is the last of his solo album efforts.

While The Rolling Stones may have returned to the studio for Blue and Lonesome just a year after Richards’ third solo album released, the band has since recorded two albums of new studio material. Hackney Diamonds and the upcoming Foreign Tongues saw Jagger and Richards return to to the studio together. This, Richards believes, is because Jagger is “jealous” of his successes as a solo artist.

He told MOJO Magazine back in 2015: “With this record, I started it when we were in hibernation, in 2007-8, so there’s been no time pressure. All that’s important is when it comes out, it comes out right. I have a feeling that when Mick found out about it, he said, ‘Let’s get The Stones working again!”

Richards was then asked whether Jagger approves of his solo album, to which Richards replied: “Oh, I don’t know. I’ll never know the truth – that’s all I know. He doesn’t particularly like to work with me all the time, but he doesn’t want me to work with anyone else, either. He’s a bit jealous in that way.”

While the pair, as well as Wood and Watts, would release solo albums over the years, Richards revealed there is a golden rule that the band tried their best to follow. “If you did [record solo],” he said, “you tried to choose places where it didn’t interfere with what the Stones are doing.”

Richards would release Talk is Cheap in 1988, Main Offender in 1992, and Crosseyed Heart in 2015. He would top the Austrian music charts with his Crosseyed Heart release, and peaked at seven in the UK charts.

Richards’ most recent studio appearances outside of The Rolling Stones have been on the Sheryl Crow album Threads as well as a compilation tribute album dedicated to Lou Reed. The Power of the Heart: A Tribute to Lou Reed featured Richards’ cover of I’m Waiting for the Man.