Jumpin’ Jack Cash...Stones’ Charlie Watts leaves £30m
ROLLING Stones drummer Charlie Watts left almost £30million to his family in his will.
Probate records released yesterday confirm Charlie – who died last year aged 80 – left British assets of £29,622,739 net.
The sum does not include property in France and any other worldwide assets, thought to be worth millions more.
Charlie made his fortune playing drums with the Stones for 58 years.
He joined Mick Jagger, Keith Richards, Brian Jones and Bill Wyman in 1963. The fledgling band went on to become a global brand, with hits such as Jumpin’ Jack Flash and (I Can’t Get No) Satisfaction.
Charlie left his entire UK estate in trust, with the income going to wife Shirley, 83, for the rest of her life after funeral and legal expenses.
The couple, who were married for 57 years, lived quietly in Devon where they reared Arabian horses and sheepdogs.
Charlie’s will also gave his trustees power to use some of the money to support his daughter Seraphina, 54.
Other relatives to benefit include his sister Linda, sister-in-laws Jackie Fenwick and Jill Minder and brotherin-law Stephen Shepherd.
Designer
The trust will remain in place for 125 years and any money left at the end of that period will be split between his living descendants.
In the 14-page will, drawn up in May 2017, Charlie also requested that his personal chattels “including cars and accessories used for business purposes” be left to his trustees.
He asked for the items, believed to include a collection of classic cars, to be distributed according to any instructions he made in his lifetime.
Charlie, a London-born lorry driver’s son, trained as a graphic designer and worked for an advertising agency after school. He later used his skills to help design some of the Stones’ album covers and stage sets.
But because his first love was jazz, Charlie – famed for his deadpan manner – referred to his rock ’n’ roll life with the Stones as his “day job” and played in jazz bands in between tours.
Along with the
Stones, he was inducted into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame in 1989.
And in 2006 snappy dresser
Charlie was voted into Vanity Fair’s Best Dressed List Hall Of Fame. In 2004 he had surgery and radiotherapy for throat cancer, which later went into remission. Last year he announced he would not be touring with the Stones in America because of an unspecified health issue. He developed complications following emergency surgery and died in August at a London hospital, ºsurrounded by his family,
The Stones hailed their beloved bandmate Charlie as “a cherished husband, father and grandfather” and “one of the greatest drummers of his generation”.
In his tribute, former Beatle Sir Paul McCartney described him as “a lovely guy”.