Charlie Watts, Drummer for The Rolling Stones, Dies

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Category: Celebrity News, Interviews, Pictures

Published on Tuesday, 24 August 2021 11:27

Written by Janet Walker

Charlie Watts, the longtime drummer for the iconic rock band The Rolling Stones, who recently pulled out of the post covid United States No Filter tour, passed away surrounded by friends and family. He was 80.

Longtime publicist Bernard Doherty for the iconic drummer said, "Charlie was a cherished husband, father and grandfather and also as a member of The Rolling Stones one of the greatest drummers of his generation," reported The Associated Press.

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With the band since 1963, Watts, who was known to prefer the solitude of his home in Devon, England, as opposed to the full tilt life usually associated with The Rolling Stones tours. In early August, a spokesperson for the bands resident drummer explained, Watts needed additional recuperation time from a previous undisclosed medical procedure.

"For once my timing has been a little off. I am working hard to get fully fit but I have today accepted on the advice of the experts that this will take a while," Watts said," Yahoo.com reported.

Known to legions of fans as the elegant, well-dressed, steady hand, that drove a hard beat, Watts was a devoted jazz fan and artist, and ranked by Rolling Stone magazines as one of the greatest drummers in rock history.

Joining the band in the early 1960s Watts, left his first band Alexis Korner's Blues Incorporated, where then an unknown Mick Jagger also played. Korner was instrumental in encouraging Watts to join up with Jagger and the rest, they say, is rock history.

Watts attended college to study advertising and briefly worked in the industry. Coming of age during the late 1950s in London, he was among what is now known as Rocks Greatest Generation, including Eric Clapton, The Beatles, Cream, and The Who.

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"Keith Richards taught me rock and roll," Watts said. "We'd have nothing to do all day and we'd play these records over and over again. I learned to love Muddy Waters. Keith turned me on to how good Elvis Presley was, and I'd always hated Elvis up 'til then," The Associated Press reported.

Cashing in of the tumultuous 1960s the band moved from a jazz, blues mix to a harder sound with the punch beat from Watts' drumming, on such classics as "Start me Up," "Honky Tonk Woman," and "I can't get no Satisfaction."

During the 1980s the band slide into a substance abuse led depression which consumed each of the then five members, and the internal problems associated with long term relationships.

"One anecdote relates that in the mid-1980s, an intoxicated Jagger phoned Watts's hotel room in the middle of the night, asking, "Where's my drummer?" Watts reportedly got up, shaved, dressed in a suit, put on a tie and freshly shined shoes, descended the stairs, and punched Jagger in the face, saying: "Don't ever call me your drummer again. You're my fucking singer!," reported Wikipedia.

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Watts born June 2, 1941, the son of a lorry driver and a housewife, he seemed to retain, even with his vast wealth, a sensibility from his middle-class roots. An avid collector of automobiles, even though he did not drive, it has been said, that he would keep them in his garage. He remained passionate about jazz and blues and often called his gig with the stones as his day job.

Charlie Watts is survived by his wife of 56 years, Shirley Ann, and his daughter, Seraphina and two grandchildren.

Image: Courtesy of Siebbi - Charlie Watts, Opening of the 58th Berlin International Film Festival.

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