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Charlie Watts, the self-effacing and unshakeable Rolling stones The drummer who helped anchor one of rock’s biggest rhythm sections and used his “day job” to support his enduring love of jazz, has passed away, according to his publicist. He was 80 years old.
Bernard doherty said Tuesday that Watts “passed away peacefully in a London hospital earlier in the day 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,” Doherty said.
Watts had announced earlier this month he wouldn’t tour with the Stones in 2021 because of an undefined health issue. When Watts turned 80 in June, Jagger posted a birthday post and a video montage of the drummer on Twitter.
The calm and elegantly dressed Watts was often ranked with Keith Moon, Ginger Baker and a handful of others as a leading rock drummer, respected around the world for his muscular, swinging style as the Stones moved on from their scruffy debut. to an international superstar. He joined the group in early 1963 and stayed for the next 60 years, ranking just behind Mick Jagger and Keith Richards as the group’s oldest and most essential member.
Watts has stayed and largely kept away, through the drug abuse, creative clashes and ego wars that helped kill founding member Brian Jones, drove bassist Bill Wyman and the Jones’ replacement Mick Taylor to step down and made being in the Stones the most exhausting job.
A classic Stones song like “Brown Sugar” and “Start Me Up” often began with a harsh guitar riff from Richards, followed closely by Watts and Wyman, as the bassist liked to say, “fattening the sound.” Watts ‘speed, power and timing have never been better showcased than in the concert documentary, “Shine a Light”, when director Martin Scorsese filmed “Jumpin’ Jack Flash” from where he shot. drummed towards the back of the stage.
Jane Barlow / AP
The Stones started out, Watts said, “as white dudes from England playing black American music,” but quickly developed their own distinctive sound. Watts was a jazz drummer in his early days and never lost his affinity for the music he first loved, leading his own jazz band and undertaking many other side projects.
He had his eccentricities – Watts loved to collect cars even though he didn’t drive and just sat on them in his garage. But he’s had a steady influence on and off stage as the Stones defied all expectations by rocking well into their ’70s, decades older than their former rivals the Beatles.
Watts didn’t care for flashy solos or attention of any kind, but with Wyman and Richards he forged some of rock’s deepest grooves on “Honky Tonk Women”, “Brown Sugar” and ‘other songs. The drummer has adapted well to everything from the disco of “Miss You” to the jazzy “Can’t You Hear Me Knocking” and the dreamy ballad “Moonlight Mile”.
Jagger and Richards seemed at times to agree only on their admiration for Watts, both as a man and as a musician. Richards called Watts “the key” and often joked that their affinity was so strong that on stage he would sometimes try to shake Watts by suddenly changing the pace – only to have Watts change him right away.
He also had an impact on the Rolling Stones that extended beyond drums. He works with Jagger on the ever more spectacular scenographies of the group’s tours. He also provided illustrations for the back cover of the acclaimed 1967 album “Between the Buttons” and inadvertently gave the record its title. When asked Stones manager Andrew Oldham what the name of the album would be, Oldham replied “Between the Buttons”, which means undecided. Watts thought “Between the Buttons” was the real name and included it in his work.
AP / Rock and Roll Hall of Fame and Museum
To the world he was a rock star. But Watts has often said that the real experience was exhausting and unpleasant, and even frightening. “Girls chasing you down the street, screaming… horrible!… I hated it,” he told The Guardian newspaper in an interview. In another interview, he described life as a drummer as a “cross between being an athlete and a total nervous wreck.”
Watts took refuge from the rock life, marrying Shirley Ann Shepherd in 1964 and having a daughter, Seraphina, soon after. While other famous rock weddings fell apart, theirs stuck. Jagger and Richards could not help but envy their groupmate’s indifference to fame and the relative contentment in his private life, which included happily tending the horses in a rural estate in Devon, England.
Author Philip Norman, who has written extensively on the Rolling Stones, said Watts lived “in the constant hope that he would be allowed to catch the next plane home.” While on tour, he made a point of drawing every hotel room he stayed in, a way to mark time until he could return to his family. He said little about playing the same songs for over 40 years as the Stones recycled their classics. But he branched out far beyond “Satisfaction” and “Jumpin ‘Jack Flash” by coming together and playing with jazz bands in the latter half of his career.
Paul McCartney and Ringo Starr were among the notable musicians responding to Watts’ death on social media, with Starr writing, “God bless Charlie Watts, we will miss you man, peace and love for the family.”
Lenny Kravitz called Watts “the beat of the Stones” while Elton John called him “the ultimate drummer”.
Charles Robert Watts, son of a truck driver and a housewife, was born in Neasden, London, on June 2, 1941. From childhood, he was passionate about music, especially jazz. He fell in love with the drums after hearing Chico Hamilton and learned to play by listening to records by Johnny Dodds, Charlie Parker, Duke Ellington and other jazz giants.
He worked for a London advertising agency after attending Harrow Art College and playing drums in his spare time. London experienced a revival of blues and jazz in the early 1960s, with Jagger, Richards and Eric Clapton among future superstars making their debut. Watts’ career took off after playing with Alexis Korner’s Blues Incorporated, for whom Jagger also played, and was encouraged by Korner to join the Stones.
At first, Watts was not a fan of rock music and remembered being guided by Richards and Brian Jones as he absorbed blues and rock records, most notably the music of bluesman Jimmy Reed. He said the group could trace their roots back to a brief time when he lost his job and shared an apartment with Jagger and Richards because he could live there without rent.
“Keith Richards taught me rock and roll,” Watts said. “We had nothing to do all day and would play these records over and over again. I grew to love Muddy Waters. Keith made me realize how good Elvis Presley was, and I had always hated Elvis. until then. “
Watts was the last man to join the Stones; the band had searched for months for a permanent drummer and feared Watts was too accomplished for them. Richards recalled that the group wanted him to join so badly that the members cut their expenses so they could afford to pay Watts an appropriate salary. Watts said he initially believed the band would be lucky to last for a year.
“Each group I had been in had lasted a week,” he said. “I always thought the Stones would last a week, then a fortnight, and then all of a sudden it would be 30 years.”
For much of his career, Watts resisted the excesses of his bandmates, but he fell into heroin addiction in the mid-1980s. He would credit his stable relationship with his wife for bringing it to an end. to take drugs.
“I was fighting against myself at the time,” he told Rolling Stone magazine.
With their financial future secured thanks to the Stones’ status as one of the world’s most popular live bands, Watts has been able to satisfy his passion for jazz by bringing together some of Britain’s most talented musicians for a series of recordings. and performance. They usually played during the long breaks between the Stones tours.
His first jazz record, “Live at Fulham Town Hall” in 1986, was recorded by the Charlie Watts Orchestra. Others by the Charlie Watts Quintet followed, and he expanded this group into the Charlie Watts and Tentet.
Watts was an acclaimed jazz conductor when he was suffering from throat cancer in 2004. He received intensive treatment and made a full recovery. His return to health allowed him to resume touring with the Stones and his jazz group.
By then, the young man who had worn his shoulder length brown hair in the late 1960s had become a white-haired, impeccably dressed rock statesman. Getting Watts to talk about his place in rock history was almost impossible, but he seemed to like talking about fashion. It was not uncommon to see him wearing a tailored suit and polka dot tie while his group mates wore jeans and T-shirts.
In the tumultuous and extremely competitive world of rock and roll, Watts seemed to make few enemies.
“It all seems to come down to a certain quality which is as rare as houndstooth in the music business, but which Charlie Watts is seen to be in abundance. In a nutshell, decency,” wrote columnist Barbara Ellen after interviewing Watts in 2000. “You have to hand it over to a … man who played with the most influential rock’n’roll band in the world … and who remained married to his wife, Shirley .. . A man who, moreover, remains resolutely determined not to take his high position too seriously. “
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