STATEN ISLAND, N.Y. – It was a rock and roll marriage ceremony nearly made on Staten Island.
But it surely wasn’t to be. And now the church the place the occasion was purported to happen is not any extra.
It was December of 1982, and the borough was abuzz with rumors that legendary Rolling Stones guitarist Keith Richards would quickly wed his fiancée, high trend mannequin and Tottenville native Patti Hansen, at century-old Eltingville Lutheran Church.
Richards and Hansen met on a blind date in 1979, due to Rolling Stones entrance man Mick Jagger’s then-girlfriend and Hansen’s fellow high mannequin, Jerry Corridor, who invited Hansen to a celebration being held for Richards.
In true Hollywood trend, Hansen had been found when she was 16 years outdated and promoting scorching canine from her father’s cart on Staten Island.
After courting for 3 years, it was rumored that Richards and Hansen would tie the know at Eltingville Lutheran, her household’s church, on Sunday, Dec. 12.
Hansen’s mother, Beatrice, initially advised the Advance on the time that she knew nothing about it. However then she mentioned that her daughter had known as from France in regards to the marriage ceremony. She mentioned she advised Patti that the ceremony couldn’t be organized that rapidly.
Phrase then got here that the marriage would happen on the church on Sunday, Dec. 19, 1982, the day after groom-to-be Richards’ thirty ninth birthday.
Followers, photographers and reporters swarmed the world across the church all that weekend, hoping to get a glimpse of the couple and any rock-and-roll royalty attending the ceremony. That included Jagger, who was set to function his longtime bandmate’s greatest man.
However the weekend handed with out the marriage happening. The occasion was postponed one other two occasions within the following weeks for unknown causes. Beatrice Hansen advised the Advance that the marriage would happen in January of 1983.
However the marriage ceremony didn’t occur then both due to unhappy circumstances: The demise of Patti Hansen’s dad, Alfred Hansen.
Richards in his 2010 autobiography “Life” tells of his rocky introduction to the Hansen household in Tottenville on Thanksgiving Day, 1980.
Richards, who was nonetheless coming off his longtime dependancy to heroin on the time, mentioned that he’d been up for days and introduced a bottle of vodka or Jack Daniel’s to the Hansen house.
Although his well-earned popularity as a rock-and-roll reprobate and hard-core substance abuser preceded him, Richards broke the ice by taking part in guitar for the Hansen household.
However whereas others had been being well mannered at dinner, Richards writes, “to Massive Al, Patti’s father, I used to be simply sort of bizarre. He was a Staten Island bus driver and I used to be an ‘worldwide pop star.’”
Feeling more and more “underneath the grill” on the dinner, Richards mentioned, “I went berserk” and smashed the guitar on the desk.
However the household wasn’t offended, although Patti Hansen was mortified. Richards apologized profusely and had a cry with Patti on the entrance steps of the Hansen house because the household seemed on. He later took his future father-in-law to his favourite bar for some pool.
“And I let him suppose that he’d drunk me underneath the desk,” Richards mentioned.
He mentioned, “But it surely was Beatrice, Patti’s mum, who was the important thing to my acceptance. She was all the time there for me and I had nice occasions along with her in a while.”
Richards and Patti Hansen ultimately wed on Saturday, Dec. 18, 1983 within the Mexican resort city of Cabo San Lucas. It was the groom’s fortieth birthday.
The marriage plans had been stored so secret that Jagger didn’t know in regards to the ceremony till the day earlier than, in accordance with information studies on the time. He chartered a non-public jet and flew to the marriage from Barbados, the place he’d been vacationing.
A lot of the bride’s kin had been advised of the date the prior week however had been sworn to secrecy. Hansen’s mother, three brothers and a sister of the bride attended the ceremony.
The positioning of the close to nuptials in Eltingville was just lately demolished so as to make room for 20 two-family houses. The church had a historical past of monetary difficulties. An accompanying college additionally fell to the wrecking ball.
Richards and Hansen stay married and have two youngsters collectively. The Rolling Stones, first fashioned in 1962, just lately issued their acclaimed “Hackney Diamonds” album, their twenty sixth studio LP in america.
