Rolling Stones drummer Charlie Watts dies at age 80

Charlie Watts, the drummer for The Rolling Stones, died on Tuesday morning at his home in Surrey. He was 80 years old.

The charlie watts is an English drummer who has played with the Rolling Stones since 1962. Watts died at age 80 after a battle with cancer.

Charlie Watts, the drummer for the Rolling Stones, has died at age 80.

The charlie watts is a drummer who has been in the Rolling Stones since 1962. He died at age 80.

According to his publicist, Charlie Watts, the self-effacing and unshakable drummer for the Rolling Stones who helped anchor one of rock’s finest rhythm sections and utilized his “day job” to fund his lifelong love of jazz, has died. He was 80 years old.

Watts “died away quietly in a London hospital early today accompanied by his family,” according to Bernard Doherty.

“Charlie was a beloved husband, father, and grandpa, as well as one of the finest drummers of his age as a member of The Rolling Stones,” Doherty added.

Watts has previously said that he will not be touring with the Stones in 2021 due to an unspecified health problem. In June, when Watts turned 80, Jagger tweeted a birthday greeting and a video montage of the drummer.

Charlie, happy 80th birthday! I really like Mick’s photo. twitter.com/tlk8ea6oE3

2 June 2021 — Mick Jagger (@MickJagger)

Watts was regarded as a top rock drummer, alongside Keith Moon, Ginger Baker, and a select few others, as the Stones climbed from their grungy origins to international superstardom, because to his powerful, swinging technique. He joined the band in early 1963 and stayed for the following 60 years, coming in third after Mick Jagger and Keith Richards as the band’s longest-serving and most important member.

Watts remained on and generally kept himself separate, despite the drug addiction, artistic disputes, and ego battles that contributed to the death of founding member Brian Jones, pushed bassist Bill Wyman and Jones’ successor Mick Taylor to leave, and made being in the Stones the most grueling of professions.

Richards’ aggressive guitar riffs frequently opened classic Stones songs like “Brown Sugar” and “Start Me Up,” with Watts close behind and Wyman “fattening the sound,” as the bassist liked to remark. When filmmaker Martin Scorsese shot “Jumpin’ Jack Flash” from where he drummed near the back of the stage for the concert documentary “Shine a Light,” Watts’ speed, strength, and time keeping were never more displayed.

On September 6, 2018, Ronnie Wood (left) and Charlie Watts of the Rolling Stones performed at the Murrayfield Stadium in Edinburgh, Scotland. AP Photo/Jane Barlow

The Stones started “as white guys from England performing Black American music,” according to Watts, but soon developed their own sound. Watts began his career as a jazz drummer and never lost his passion for the genre, leading his own jazz band and working on a variety of side projects.

Watts had his eccentricities: he loved to collect automobiles and would sit in them in his garage even though he didn’t drive. On stage and off, he was a steadying influence as the Stones defied all predictions by rocking well into their 70s, decades longer than their old rivals the Beatles.

Watts was uninterested in showy solos or attention of any sort, but created some of rock’s darkest rhythms with Wyman and Richards on songs like “Honky Tonk Women,” “Brown Sugar,” and others. From the disco of “Miss You” to the jazzy “Can’t You Hear Me Knocking” to the dreamy ballad “Moonlight Mile,” the drummer was a natural fit.

At times, it appeared as though Jagger and Richards agreed on nothing else but their love for Watts as a man and a musician. Richards referred to Watts as “the key,” and he joked that their bond was so deep that he’d attempt to scare him on stage by abruptly altering the rhythm, only to have Watts adjust it back.

He had an influence on the Rolling Stones that was not limited to drumming. He collaborated with Mick Jagger on the group’s increasingly elaborate stage designs during their tours. He also contributed drawings to the back cover of the critically acclaimed 1967 album “Between the Buttons,” which he named accidentally. When asked what the album’s title might be, Stones manager Andrew Oldham replied, “Between the buttons,” which means “undecided.” Watts believed “Between the Buttons” was the correct title and included it in his artwork.

Brian Jones, Charlie Watts, and Mick Jagger of The Rolling Stones perform on the NBC teen music program “Hullabaloo” in New York on November 11, 1965, according to a picture provided by the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame and Museum. The Associated Press/Rock & Roll Hall of Fame and Museum

He was a rock star to the rest of the world. Watts, on the other hand, often said that the experience was exhausting, unpleasant, and even scary. “Screaming girls pursuing you down the street…horrible! I despised it, “In an interview with The Guardian, he said. He characterized drumming as a “cross between being an athlete and a complete nervous mess” in another interview.

Watts married Shirley Ann Shepherd in 1964 and had a daughter, Seraphina, shortly thereafter, as a way to get away from the rock life. While other well-known rock marriages have fallen apart, theirs has remained together. The indifference to fame and relative happiness in his private life, which included contentedly keeping horses on a remote farm in Devon, England, could only be envied by Jagger and Richards.

Watts lived “in continuous anticipation of being permitted to take the next aircraft home,” according to author Philip Norman, who has written extensively about the Rolling Stones. He made a point of sketching each hotel room he stayed in while on tour as a means of passing the time until he could see his family again. He didn’t say anything about the Stones performing the same songs over and over again for more than 40 years. In the second part of his career, he assembled and performed with jazz ensembles, going well beyond “Satisfaction” and “Jumpin’ Jack Flash.”

On social media, Paul McCartney and Ringo Starr expressed their condolences for Watts’ passing, with Starr writing: “God bless Charlie Watts we’re going to miss you guy peace and love to the family.”

#God bless Charlie Watts, we’ll miss you, man. Peace and love to the Watts family, Ringo pic.twitter.com/3tSFg7EMQG

August 24, 2021 — #RingoStarr (@ringostarrmusic)

Watts has been dubbed “the Stones’ beat” by Lenny Kravitz and “the greatest drummer” by Elton John.

Today is a really sad day. Charlie Watts was the king of the drum kit. He’s one of the most elegant guys I’ve ever met, and he’s in great company. Shirley, Seraphina, and Charlotte, please accept my heartfelt sympathies. The Rolling Stones, of course.

@theRollingStones #CharlieWatts #RIP pic.twitter.com/9rjSSgioZL @theRollingStones #CharlieWatts #RIP pic.twitter.com/9rjSSgioZL

August 24, 2021 — Elton John (@eltonofficial)

On June 2, 1941, Charles Robert Watts, the son of a truck driver and a housewife, was born in Neasden, London. He has always loved music, especially jazz, since he was a kid. After hearing Chico Hamilton, he fell in love with the drums and trained himself to play by listening to Johnny Dodds, Charlie Parker, Duke Ellington, and other jazz greats.

After graduating from Harrow Art College, he worked for a London advertising agency and played drums in his free time. In the early 1960s, London saw a blues and jazz resurgence, with future superstars like Mick Jagger, Keith Richards, and Eric Clapton getting their start. Watts’ career took off when he joined the Stones after playing with Alexis Korner’s Blues Incorporated, with whom Jagger also participated.

Watts wasn’t a big lover of rock music at first, but he recalls being led by Richards and Brian Jones as he absorbed blues and rock albums, particularly Jimmy Reed’s. He said the band’s origins could be traced back to a time when he had lost his job and was forced to share an apartment with Jagger and Richards since he was able to live there rent-free.

Watts stated, “Keith Richards taught me rock & roll.” “We’d have nothing better to do all day but listen to these albums over and again. Muddy Waters became a favorite of mine. Keith introduced me to the greatness of Elvis Presley, who I had previously despised.”

Watts was the Stones’ last addition; the band had been looking for a permanent drummer for months and thought Watts was too talented for them. The band wanted him so badly to join, Richards said, that members cut down on expenditures so they could afford to give Watts a fair wage. Watts said that he first thought the band would only survive a year.

He stated, “Every band I’d ever been in had lasted a week.” “I always assumed the Stones would be around for a week, then a fortnight, and then 30 years.”

Watts withstood his bandmates’ excesses for most of his career, but in the mid-1980s, he succumbed to heroin addiction. He attributes his abstinence from narcotics to his solid connection with his wife.

“At the moment, I was at odds with myself,” he told Rolling Stone magazine.

Watts was able to indulge his love for jazz by assembling some of the most brilliant musicians in Britain for a series of albums and concerts, thanks to the Stones’ reputation as one of the world’s most successful live bands. They usually performed during the Stones’ lengthy gaps between tours.

The Charlie Watts Orchestra released his debut jazz album, “Live at Fulham Town Hall,” in 1986. Others from the Charlie Watts Quintet followed, and he formed the Charlie Watts and the Tentet from them.

When Watts was diagnosed with throat cancer in 2004, he was a well-known jazz conductor. He had intensive therapy and recovered completely. He was able to continue traveling with both the Stones and his jazz band after regaining his health.

The young guy who had worn his brown hair down to his shoulders in the late 1960s had grown into a craggy, white-haired, immaculately dressed senior statesman of rock by then. It was almost difficult to get Watts to speak about his position in rock history, but he appeared to love talking about clothes. His bandmates wore jeans and T-shirts, while he donned a custom-made suit and polka dot tie on a regular basis.

Watts seemed to have few enemies in the turbulent, fiercely competitive world of rock & roll.

“It all seems to come down to a characteristic that is as scarce as hen’s teeth in the music industry, but which Charlie Watts is said to possess in spades. In a nutshell, decency “After interviewing Watts in 2000, columnist Barbara Ellen wrote. “You have to admire a…man who has performed with the world’s most renowned rock ‘n’ roll band…while being happily married to his wife, Shirley…. A guy who, on top of that, is adamant about not taking his lofty position too seriously.”

66 pictures of the Rolling Stones over the years

Frequently Asked Questions

What did charlie Watts die of?

Did Charlie Watts pass away?

Charlie Watts passed away on December 5th, 2018.

Which Rolling Stones member died?

Mick Jagger

Related Tags

• charlie watts net worth
• the rolling stones members
• the rolling stones songs

Frequently Asked Questions

What did charlie Watts die of?

Charlie Watts died of a stroke.

Did Charlie Watts pass away?

Which Rolling Stones member died?

Mick Jagger

Related Tags

• charlie watts net worth
• the rolling stones members
• the rolling stones songs