Charlie Watts, 2 June 1941 – 24 August 2021, was an English drummer who achieved international fame as the drummer for the Rolling Stones. He was one of the band’s longest-serving members, joining in January 1963 and remaining a member until his death in 2021.

Rolling Stones Drummer Charlie Watts Dies At 80

Charlie Watts, the unshakeable drummer for The Rolling Stones, died this morning. According to a publicist, he died in a hospital in London, surrounded by family. No cause of death was given. He was 80 years old.

Where most rock bands take their cues from the drummer, Watts was the type to hang back. He told NPR in 2012 that in the early days, he’d have to sit close to guitarist Keith Richards’ amplifier during a live set. “And they weren’t very big amplifiers. So with an audience shouting, I needed that to know where the changes came,” Watts said.

Charlie Watts Biography, Wiki

• Charlie Watts was born on June 2, 1941, at the University College Hospital, London, to Charles Richard Watts and Lillian Charlotte (née Eaves). His father served the London Midland & Scottish Railway as a lorry driver.He and his sister Linda were brought up in Kingsbury.

• At the age of ten, Charlie Watts came across jazz and blues music; his early influences include John Coltrane and Miles Davis. By the age of thirteen, he became more interested in drumming and would emulate his jazz drumming heroes by playing a banjo that he had converted into a snare drum.

• Charlie Watts and one of his childhood neighbours cum friend Dave Green, who became a jazz bass player and remained his friend till Charlie’s death, would listen to music together that included 78 RPM records of American jazz musicians like Charlie Parker and Jelly Roll Morton.

• In 1952, he joined the Tylers Croft Secondary Modern School, where he studied till 1956. During his school days he was a sports enthusiast and played football and cricket and also displayed a flair for art.He got his first drum kit from his parents in 1955.

• After leaving his secondary school he joined Harrow Art School (at present ‘University of Westminster’) and studied there till 1960.

Charlie Watts Career

• Charlie Watts started his musical career along with his friend Dave Green around 1958-59, playing in a Middlesex Jazz band Jo Jones All-Stars.

• In 1960, Charlie Watts joined Charlie Daniels Studios, an advertising company, as a graphic designer. During this time he got associated with a few local bands that saw him perform occasionally as a drummer in various clubs and coffee shops in London.

• In 1961, he penned down a children’s book, Ode to a High-Flying Bird, a tribute to the jazz legend Charlie Parker, which was later published in 1965. His illustrations and writings in the book reflect his love for art, literature, and jazz.

• While working as a graphic designer, he accepted the proposal of Alexis Korner and joined the latter’s band, Blues Incorporated, in early 1962. Later, he worked with the advertising firm of Charles, Hobson, and Grey, while playing regularly as a drummer with Blues Incorporated.

• Brian Jones, Keith Richards, Mick Jagger, and Ian “Stu” Stewart would often visit the rhythm and blues clubs in London and during one such visit in the mid-1962, they met Watts. They were all members of the newly established English rock band the Rolling Stones.

• Though he turned down the proposal of the Rolling Stones at that time, in January 1963 he finally gave his nod and officially joined the band. On January 12, 1963, he played for the first time for the band at the Eagles Blue Club.

• He remained a part of the Rolling Stones, a band that emerged as the most enduring and popular classic rock ‘n’ roll band of all times, till his death in 2021. Its cover of Bobby Womack’s It’s All Over Now zoomed up at the number 3 position on the British pop charts in 1964. The following year they scored (I Can’t Get No) Satisfaction and that became the number one hit in the US.

• Over the years, the Rolling Stones released several hit albums, including Beggars Banquet (1968), Sticky Fingers (1971), Exile on Main St. (1972), It’s Only Rock ‘n Roll (1974), Tattoo You (1981), and A Bigger Bang (2005).

• The album liner of Between the Buttons (1967) and some of the early records of the band were designed by him.

• He was behind the creative entry of the Rolling Stones during their 1975 New York City press conference that saw the band playing their hit song Brown Sugar while driving on the back of a flatbed truck. This act not only awestruck the reporters but was later emulated by other rock bands across the globe like AC/DC and U2.

• He and Mick Jagger also contributed as designers in many of the group’s tour stages like the Tour of the Americas (1975), Steel Wheels/Urban Jungle Tour (1989-90), Bridges to Babylon Tour (1997), Licks Tour (2002-03), and A Bigger Bang Tour (2005-07).

• He always had an inclination towards jazz, and by the late 1970s, he became associated with Ian Stewart in Rocket 88, a retro boogie-woogie party band. Many noted English rock, jazz, and R&B musicians performed for the band.

• His Charlie Watts Orchestra, a 32-piece band, performed live at the Fulham Town Hall in 1986.

• His own jazz group, Charlie Watts Quintet, released several albums like From One Charlie (1991), A Tribute to Charlie Parker with Strings (1992), Warm and Tender (1993), and Long Ago and Far Away (1996).

• In 2000, he collaborated with American drummer and percussionist Jim Keltner and released the album Charlie Watts/Jim Keltner Project.

• The group The Charlie Watts Tentet released an album Watts at Scott’s, in 2004.

• In the new millennia, he gained popularity for performing with ABC&D of Boogie Woogie, a swing band that includes his childhood friend and bassist Dave Green along with pianists Ben Waters and Axel Zwingenberger. He started performing for the band around April 2009.

• On March 25, 2016, the Rolling Stones created history when the group performed a free concert in front of a crowd of around 500,000 in Havana, Cuba, where the music of the band was earlier banned by the Communist regime of the country.

Charlie Watts Personal Life

In 1964, Charlie Watts married Shirley Ann Shepherd. While other members of The Rolling Stones were making their reputation as the rock and roll’s bad boys, Watts was interested in settling down. In 1968, the couple had a daughter Serafina. Watts has one grandchild, Charlotte.

He has been faithful to his wife all his life, and on many occasions has refused sexual encounters with groupies. Even when the band was invited to Hugh Hefner’s Playboy Mansion, he spent his time in Hefner’s game room, instead of spending time with the women.

In the mid-1980s he developed major issues with alcohol and drug abuse. His behavior almost led to his divorce, but in 1986, Watts got his act back together.

In 2006, Watts was named one of the World’s Best Dressed Men. He was also added to the International Best Dressed Hall of Fame.

Charlie Watts Outside Of The Rolling Stones

Besides his work with the band, Charlie Watts has taken up many other activities. In 1964 he published a cartoon Ode to High Flying Bird – a tribute to Charlie Parker. He also organized a tribute jazz quintet in his honor, in 1991. Watts made his fame with one of the greatest rock bands of all time, but he still has a love for jazz.

The Charlie Watts Quintet released an album in 1993, and another one in 1996. The records are included in the collection of Great American Songbook standards.

The Rolling Stones were introduced into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame in 1989. In 2006, Watts joined the Modern Drummer Hall of Fame. Watts has often been named the rock’s most celebrated drummer.

In addition to his work with the Rolling Stones, Watts released the following albums:

• The Charlie Watts Orchestra – Live at Fulham Town Hall (1986, Columbia Records)

• The Charlie Watts Quintet – From One Charlie (1991, Continuum Records)

• The Charlie Watts Quintet – A Tribute to Charlie Parker with Strings (1992, Continuum Records)

• The Charlie Watts Quintet – Warm and Tender (1993, Continuum Records)

• The Charlie Watts Quintet – Long Ago and Far Away (1996, Virgin Records)

• The Charlie Watts-Jim Keltner Project (2000, Cyber Octave Records)

• The Charlie Watts Tentet – Watts at Scott’s (2004, Sanctuary Records)

• The ABC&D of Boogie Woogie – The Magic of Boogie Woogie (2010, Vagabond Records)

• The ABC&D of Boogie Woogie – Live in Paris (2012, Eagle Records)

• Charlie Watts meets the Danish Radio Big Band (Live at the Danish Radio Concert Hall, Copenhagen 2010) (2017, Impulse! Records)

Charlie Watts Net Worth

Charlie Watts was an English musician, composer, producer, and horseman. Charlie Watts had a net worth of $250 million dollars at the time of his death. Charlie Watts was best known for being the longtime drummer for The Rolling Stones.

Charlie Watts Family Business Nationality Net Worth and Biography Charlie Watts Family Business Nationality Net Worth and Biography Charlie Watts Family Business Nationality Net Worth and Biography