Charlie Watts, the British drummer for the legendary pop group The Rolling Stones, has died at the age of 80. He had been struggling with serious health problems for some time and recently had surgery. He therefore also had to give up for a new tour.
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“It is with immense sadness that we announce the passing of our beloved Charlie Watts,” his manager said in a statement. He died earlier today in a hospital in London, surrounded by his family.
Watts was a “beloved husband, father and grandfather” and “one of the greatest drummers of all time”. Finally, the message asks to respect the privacy of the family, group members and close friends.
Charlie Watts, who had a background as a jazz drummer, had been part of The Rolling Stones since 1963, after replacing Tony Chapman on the drums.
He has been struggling with his health lately. This summer he had emergency surgery and had to give up for a new tour with The Stones. What exactly he had, management would not say. But the operation was successful, it sounded. And a long rehabilitation awaited him. So now he is dead.
Charles Robert Watts was born on 2 June 1941 at University College Hospital in London and grew up in Kingsbury, now part of the London Borough of Brent.
– Photo: app
He came from a working-class family. His father was a truck driver, mother was a housewife. Watts grew up in a poorer neighborhood, in a prefabricated house that the family was forced to move to after German bombs destroyed hundreds of houses in the area.
After training in art at the Harrow Art School, he found a job as a graphic designer at a local advertising agency.
But his love for music remained the dominant factor in his life. His parents bought him a drum set when he was 13 and he played along with his collection of jazz records. Because even though he played pop music with the Stones, jazz was actually his great love.
He started playing drums in local clubs and pubs and was heard in 1961 by Alexis Korner, who offered him a job in his band, Blues Incorporated.
Blues Incorporated also featured guitarist Brian Jones who introduced Watts to the young Rolling Stones, then a band like a dime a dozen. But that quickly changed and Mick Jagger and his gang had one hit after another.
The band became synonymous with rock and roll excess, but for Watts, playing with the Stones didn’t become the ego trip that drove Mick Jagger and Keith Richards.
Rarely interviews
A jazz aficionado, Watts competed with Bill Wyman for the title of least charismatic member of the band. He shunned the limelight and rarely gave interviews. And he resisted the temptation of drink and drugs better than the other band members. The reason why he didn’t have to use the oxygen bottle during live performances between songs, which Jagger and Richards had to do in order not to fall down on stage.
Rolling Stone magazine ranked Charlie Watts at number 12 in its list of the best 100 drummers of all time. He not only shaped the drums on classics like ‘Sympathy for the devil’ and ‘Satisfaction’, but also released several jazz records. He was also a gifted artist, who drew the back cover of the Stones albums ‘Between the buttons’.
Outside of his music, Watts was a real family man and invested in purebred horses. Because unlike many pop stars, he lived a fairly normal life and did not allow himself to be tempted into great decadence.
Charlie Watts, who was treated for throat cancer in 2004, leaves behind a wife, daughter and granddaughter.
Of the original Rolling Stones, only vocalist Mick Jagger and guitarist Keith Richards remain.
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