Keith Richards, co-founder and guitarist of The Rolling Stones, was born on 18 December 1943 in Dartford, Kent, England, and grew up in an English working-class family with London roots on both sides. He is, by any documented account, English, not Welsh — and famouswelsh.com states that plainly rather than stretching a thin claim into a settled fact.
The "Welsh connection" occasionally attached to Richards' name rests entirely on his surname. "Richards" is indeed a patronymic surname of Welsh origin, deriving from "ap Rhisiart" ("son of Richard"), and it is extremely common throughout Wales today. But a Welsh-origin surname carried by millions of people across Britain is not, on its own, evidence of Welsh ancestry for any individual who happens to bear it — and no genealogical research has surfaced a documented Welsh birthplace, parent, grandparent, residence or career tie specific to Keith Richards himself.
As one of rock and roll's most influential guitarists, co-writer of the Rolling Stones' vast songbook and a defining figure of British rock since the 1960s, Richards' career achievements are beyond question. His inclusion here reflects the surname-origin claim that has circulated about him, presented honestly: unverified and, on the current evidence, unlikely to be more than coincidence of naming.