JEFF BECK - BECK: 'I WOULD HAVE DIED AS A ROLLING STONE'

BECK: 'I WOULD HAVE DIED AS A ROLLING STONE'

Guitar legend JEFF BECK is grateful he turned down an invitation to join THE ROLLING STONES - because he would have died an early death if he had partied alongside SIR MICK JAGGER.
The rocker auditioned to become part of the band after former Stone Mick Taylor bowed out in the 1970s.
Beck insists he was tempted to join the Satisfaction group - but he was turned off by their rock 'n' roll lifestyle of excess.
And he believes the decision to turn away from drinking and sex to concentrate on his music saved his life.
He explains, "I had this flash that said, 'Don't do it, you'll never get on with Mick and Keith musically because you're heading in a different direction'. There's the thing. There's the crossroads.
"If I'd turned left I'd have been a multi-millionaire Rolling Stone - and dead. On the right I'm here, thank you. Not that I wouldn't want to experience some of the things that went on with them but I was into speed and detail and gung-ho playing - and the way they were drinking I just don't think it would have worked.
"I thought, 'This is a life of booze and women. Who needs that?' So I caught the next plane out."