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• ROLLING STONES DRUMMER CHARLIE WATTS DRIVER

"Keith Richards taught me rock and roll," Watts said. He said the band could trace its roots to a brief period when he had lost his job and shared an apartment with Jagger and Richards because he could live there rent-free. Watts wasn't a rock music fan at first and remembered being guided by Richards and Brian Jones as he absorbed blues and rock records, notably the music of bluesman Jimmy Reed. Watts' career took off after he played with Alexis Korner's Blues Incorporated, for whom Jagger also performed, and was encouraged by Korner to join the Stones. London was home to a blues and jazz revival in the early 1960s, with Jagger, Richards and Eric Clapton among the future superstars getting their start. He worked for a London advertising firm after he attended Harrow Art College and played drums in his spare time. He fell in love with the drums after hearing Chico Hamilton and taught himself to play by listening to records by Johnny Dodds, Charlie Parker, Duke Ellington and other jazz giants. From childhood, he was passionate about music - jazz in particular.

ROLLING STONES DRUMMER CHARLIE WATTS DRIVER

But he did branch out far beyond "Satisfaction" and "Jumpin' Jack Flash" by assembling and performing with jazz bands in the second half of his career.Ĭharles Robert Watts, son of a lorry driver and a housewife, was born in Neasden, London, on June 2, 1941. He said little about playing the same songs for more than 40 years as the Stones recycled their classics. Jagger and Richards could only envy their bandmate's indifference to stardom and relative contentment in his private life, which included happily tending horses on a rural estate in Devon, England.Īuthor Philip Norman, who has written extensively about the Rolling Stones, said Watts lived "in constant hope of being allowed to catch the next plane home." On tour, he made a point of drawing each hotel room he stayed in, a way of marking time until he could return to his family. While other famous rock marriages crumbled, theirs held. Watts found refuge from the rock life, marrying Shirley Ann Shepherd in 1964 and having a daughter, Seraphina, soon after. In another interview, he described the drumming life as a "cross between being an athlete and a total nervous wreck." I hated it," he told The Guardian newspaper in an interview. "Girls chasing you down the street, screaming.horrible!. But Watts often said that the actual experience was draining and unpleasant, and even frightening. Watts thought that "Between the Buttons" was the actual name and included it in his artwork. When he asked Stones manager Andrew Oldham what the album would be called, Oldham responded "Between the buttons," meaning undecided. He also provided illustrations for the back cover of the acclaimed 1967 album "Between the Buttons" and inadvertently gave the record its title.

He worked with Jagger on the ever more spectacular stage designs for the group's tours. He also had an impact on the Rolling Stones that extended beyond drumming. Richards called Watts "the key" and often joked that their affinity was so strong that on stage he'd sometimes try to rattle Watts by suddenly changing the beat - only to have Watts change it right back. Jagger and Richards at times seemed to agree on little else besides their admiration of Watts, both as a man and a musician. Watts stayed on, and largely held himself apart, through the drug abuse, creative clashes and ego wars that helped kill founding member Brian Jones, drove bassist Bill Wyman and Jones' replacement Mick Taylor to quit and otherwise made being in the Stones the most exhausting of jobs.Ī classic Stones song like "Brown Sugar" and "Start Me Up" often began with a hard guitar riff from Richards, with Watts following closely behind, and Wyman, as the bassist liked to say, "fattening the sound." Watts' speed, power and time keeping were never better showcased than during the concert documentary, "Shine a Light," when director Martin Scorsese filmed "Jumpin' Jack Flash" from where he drummed toward the back of the stage. He joined the band early in 1963 and remained over the next 60 years, ranked just behind Mick Jagger and Keith Richards as the group's longest lasting and most essential member. The quiet, elegantly dressed Watts was often ranked with Keith Moon, Ginger Baker and a handful of others as a premier rock drummer, respected worldwide for his muscular, swinging style as the Stones rose from their scruffy beginnings to international superstardom. Watts had announced he would not tour with the Stones in 2021 because of an undefined health issue. "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.