Stones drummer Watts dead at 80
THE Rolling Stones drummer Charlie Watts has died at the age of 80, his publicist has said.
The musician, who marked his 80th birthday in June, had been a member of the rock group since 1963.
A statement from his London publicist Bernard Doherty read: “It is with immense sadness that we announce the death of our beloved Charlie Watts. He passed away peacefully in a London hospital earlier today surrounded by his family.
“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.
“We kindly request that the privacy of his family, band members and close friends is respected at this difficult time.”
Earlier this month, it was announced that Watts was to miss the band’s forthcoming US tour.
A spokesman for him said at the time he was ‘unlikely to be available for the resumption of the Rolling Stones USA No Filter Tour this fall’ as he recovered from an unspecified medical procedure.
The band are due to resume the tour Stateside in September, following its postponement
last year amid the coronavirus pandemic.
Session and touring musician Steve Jordan was previously announced as Watts’ temporary replacement on drums.
Watts said at the time: “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.” A spokesperson said then that Watts’ procedure had been ‘completely successful’ but that he needed time to recuperate.
Alongside frontman Sir Mick Jagger and guitarist Keith Richards, Watts was among the longest-standing members of the Stones, which has seen a shifting line-up of musicians including Mick Taylor, Ronnie Wood and Bill Wyman.
In 2004, Watts was treated for throat cancer at London’s Royal Marsden Hospital and he was given the all-clear after a fourmonth battle with the disease, involving six weeks of intensive radiotherapy treatment.
The talented musician grew up in Wembley, north London.
As a teenager, he was invited to join Alexis Korner’s Blues Incorporated, where he would meet a young Mick Jagger who occasionally sang with the band.
In 1989, alongside the rest of The Rolling Stones he was inducted into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame, and in 2006 was voted into the Modern Drummer Hall of Fame by Modern Drummer magazine.
Watts, a lover of cricket, married his girlfriend Shirley – who was a sculpture student at the Royal College of Art – in 1964 and the pair had one daughter, Seraphina.