Rolling Stones saved me from suicide: Keith Richards

LONDON: Guitarist Keith Richards has credited his Rolling Stones bandmates with saving him from suicide following the death of his baby son.

The veteran rocker was on tour with the band in Paris, France, in June 1976 when he was told his 10-week-old son Tara - his third child with actress Anita Pallenberg - had died from sudden infant death syndrome (SIDS) in Geneva, Switzerland, reported Metro online.

Richards, 71, said the news sent him into a downward spiral, but he was brought back from the brink by going on stage with the group just hours after losing his son.

"It was such a shock at the time, especially (as) I'm getting a phone call in Paris and this happened in Geneva and I thought, 'I'm going to go mad unless I do this show tonight'," he said.

"Maybe it was a sense of self-preservation... It was a rough, rough thing. And I had a feeling... I must go on stage now and I'll worry and grieve and think about all this after the show. Because if didn't go on the stage I'd have probably shot myself."