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Charlie Watts was the rock of the Rolling Stones.
The Stones’ skinsman – who died “peacefully” at age 80 in a London hospital on Tuesday – was the founding of the British band that was the foundation of rock and roll as we know it today.
“The heartbeat – literally and figuratively – of this band came from Charlie Watts,” Alan Light, co-host of SiriusXM Volume’s “Debatable”, told The Post.
“And I think you could see it when you see them play live. It was when Keith [Richards, the Stones’ guitarist] rolled around, stepped on the drum riser occasionally, and he and Charlie locked. This was where the groove of this band could be found.
This groove was the very heart of the Stones from 1963 until Watts’ death. “That’s what got Mick to go do whatever he was going to do, become the leader that he’s become,” said Light.
Watts once joked that teaming up with Jagger had led to “decades of seeing Mick’s butt run in front of me.”
Watts’ stability keeping the Stones in his pocket came from a jazz sensibility that has always made the band swing as well as rock.
“I have a picture of Charlie with a saxophone around his neck with his orchestra, with his jazz band,” legendary rock photographer Bob Gruen told The Post, noting that Watts even played the Blue Note.
“He always saw himself as a jazz drummer,” added Light. “It’s always been his thing, ‘These boys can be a rock and roll band. What I’m doing here is listening to big band and Duke Ellington records and learning the power and nuance of rhythm. ‘ “
It was Watts’ ability to not just hammer that made him have the impact he had as a batsman.
“He wasn’t a flashy big player,” said Light. “It was not the thunder of [Led Zeppelin’s] John Bonham, he wasn’t the wild anarchy kind of [The Who’s] Keith Moon, but he kept the swing in this group in everything he did.
Watts’ low-key, understated style extended beyond music in his own way. He is said to have kept more than 200 costumes in his London apartment.
“I always thought of Charlie as a very classy guy and the perfect English gentleman,” said Gruen.
Gruen remembers Watts being the epitome of the class in 1997 when the band was at a Chicago hotel to open a tour.
“The security man came out, then Mick Jagger came out, and there was another security man behind him. And a few minutes later, when everything was back to normal and there was no fuss, Charlie Watts went out with his wife, looking absolutely classy, and came out of the hotel to walk around without noise, ”Gruen said.
Yet he had a period of life in which he struggled with alcohol and drugs, including heroin, which he reportedly gave up after a two-year stint in the ’80s. “That’s got so bad, “he later joked,” that even Keith Richards, bless him, told me to pull myself together. “
And Watts was famous when pushed to his limits by Jagger. In his autobiography “Life”, Richards wrote about an incident where a drunken Jagger upset Watts on the phone, telling him “Where’s my drummer?”
According to the book, Watts, who was in a hotel room just down the hall from Jagger, then began to shave, put on one of his Savile Row suits, and spray on cologne before shaving. knocking on his group mate’s door.
Then Watts walked past Richards, grabbed Jagger, gave him a right hook and said, “Never call me. your drummer again.
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