History was made there

Hard to avoid the clichés with the passing of Charlie Watts. He helped provide the soundtrack to my childhood and adulthood, like he must have done for millions. Played on some of the greatest singles and albums ever recorded. I played Let’s Spend The Night Together on my parent’s radiogram before going off to enjoy the fun of Hampstead Fair. Danced to Jumpin’ Jack Flash when I first met the love of my life. Split my trousers prancing to Brown Sugar. Lazed in a people-packed garage as a party wound down listening to Sticky Fingers. I attended the Roundhouse, Earls Court and Wembley Stadium to see him as part of the ‘greatest rock’n’roll band in the world’.

He was always the quiet one at the back. That’s how he always seemed to prefer it. I interviewed him for a newspaper after he’d played a jazz gig with the late piano player Ian Stewart’s band at Questors Theatre in west London. He said to me, over a pint of Fuller’s London Pride, “The pressure is off me, but I meant it to be like that.” Mick Donovan, via e-mail