LONDON — Keith Richards says the Rolling Stones almost imploded because Mick Jagger thought he was “bigger than the Stones.”

The pair’s stormy relationship is described in Richards’ memoir “Life,” published next week.

Richards told the BBC on Sunday that during the 1980s, Jagger took control of the band and would not relinquish it. He said Jagger’s behavior “started at first to annoy me and then slowly enraged me.”

But he said the pair are still friends, half a century after they bonded over a love of American blues music. He said that “nobody has the perfect marriage” but they had healed the wounds of the past.

The 66-year-old guitarist also said heroin and other drugs had helped him cope with fame. He said that “fame is probably a bigger killer than drugs in my game.”