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Related: Editorials & Other Articles, Issue Forums, Alliance Forums, Region ForumsRolling Stones drummer Charlie Watts has died
Last edited Wed Aug 25, 2021, 08:59 AM - Edit history (4)
Link to tweet
The Rolling Stones drummer Charlie Watts has died, his publicist has said.
The musician, who marked his 80th birthday in June, had been a member of the rock group since 1963.
A statement from his London publicist, Bernard Doherty, to the PA news agency said: It is with immense sadness that we announce the death of our beloved Charlie Watts.
He passed away peacefully in a London hospital earlier today surrounded by his family.
https://www.theguardian.com/music/2021/aug/24/rolling-stones-drummer-charlie-watts-dies-aged-80
I saw the Rolling Stones once in 1975 at Kansas City's Arrowhead Stadium. It was the inflatable penis tour, lol. I and a couple of my friends were only 14 and my parents made an older girl go with us as an escort. My first big concert and there was a guy a couple rows behind us who threw up all over everybody sitting around him . Had a good time , though. One of my uncles saw them on the Stones first American tour in the early sixties in a small club that was only half full. RIP
Haven't seen a cause of death but he did have surgery for an unspecified medical condition recently and had to cancel going on tour.
Link to tweet
?s=20
dchill
(38,532 posts)senseandsensibility
(17,130 posts)malaise
(269,157 posts)A generation is checking out
Walleye
(31,047 posts)pwb
(11,287 posts)Later Charlie....
brush
(53,862 posts)The Stones are a favorite of mine. I wonder if they'll keep on? Won't seem the same.
Botany
(70,581 posts)IrishAfricanAmerican
(3,818 posts)AZSkiffyGeek
(11,068 posts)hlthe2b
(102,359 posts)Thank you, Charlie for being the soundtrack to so many lives. And yours was a life well-lived.
to you and all the music you left behind.
skylucy
(3,743 posts)luvs2sing
(2,220 posts)Eliot Rosewater
(31,121 posts)pandr32
(11,612 posts)He literally rocked the world.
Klaralven
(7,510 posts)Klaralven
(7,510 posts)bahboo
(16,355 posts)jazz drummer as well....
TexasBushwhacker
(20,214 posts)chowder66
(9,080 posts)Moostache
(9,897 posts)1989 Indianapolis Hoosier Dome (a affront to musical performances due to its horrific acoustics and echoes)...
That was the second "farewell tour" for the Stones I think...LOL, they had many through the years, in support of the "Steel Wheels" record.
In Living Color was the opening act, hot off of their hit "Cult of Personality".
It was an event, much like the handful of Dead shows I saw in that period, but I thought Charlie Watts looked bad then...he kind of looked like a rail thin Jerry Garcia without the beard, which is to say he looked to me like someone who had been at a party a lot longer than anyone should stay.
Fond recollections of that show in particular and attending it with my future wife (despite an enormous amount of drama for us after that show - getting abandoned y my friends - and our ride home - in Indy, and having to get help from her father to get back to Bloomington was just part of that whole scene), rest in peace Charlie and thanks for the music and the memories.
LisaM
(27,830 posts)I knew he wasn't going on tour. RIP.
librechik
(30,676 posts)I was fearing this due to news reports. What a great life he had! (presumably)
yonder
(9,674 posts)mountain grammy
(26,648 posts)CaptainTruth
(6,601 posts)Vinca
(50,303 posts)jalan48
(13,883 posts)Zambero
(8,965 posts)ms liberty
(8,597 posts)Picaro
(1,525 posts)When I saw that he was 80 years old and had to cancel going on tour that seemed so incongruous.
Our favorite rock and rollers from the 60s and 70s are reaching their expiration date. That the Rolling Stones are still touring just blows me away.
my wife and I have tickets to see the Eagles in September. The original date was either late 2019 or very early 2020. But it is not lost on me that one of the key members of the Eagles has already passed away.
in 2017 we went up to WinStar in Oklahoma and saw Joe Walsh. I was unable to get tickets to the Joe Walsh and Tom Petty show in Dallas that occurred the following week. Not sure whether my memory serves me well but I think Tom Petty was dead just a little while after that. And he was only 66.
We are going to see a lot of this in the coming days. It is sad. But it is also natural and inevitable.
I never got to see the Rolling Stones because even back in the early 70s the tickets were pretty hard to get. You had to camp out in front of the local TickeTron location and hope they didnt run out by the time you got to the front of the line.
Rest in peace Mr. Watts
You had a good long run.
JoanofArgh
(14,971 posts)SergeStorms
(19,204 posts)that unusual age of 27, which took some of the greats. Janice, Morrison, Mr. Jimi...there were a few more as well who didn't shine quite as brightly as the others mentioned.
Considering the zoo these performers were subjected to, day in and day out, it's amazing they made it to 27, let alone 80 years of age.
JoanofArgh
(14,971 posts)It's hard to find a video of him where he doesn't look fucked up on drugs.
SergeStorms
(19,204 posts)you just knew wasn't going to make old bones. He was a disaster from the beginning. There was a movie made about his "mysterious" death. I cant remember the name of it, but I believe Paddy Considine was in it. I'll have to look it up on IMDb when I get home later today.
SergeStorms
(19,204 posts)It came to me in a flash. Not too bad, if I remember correctly. It had to do with the time Jones spent at his estate after he was fired from the band. I think Considine played the caretaker. Give it a look if you haven't seen it already.
JoanofArgh
(14,971 posts)Kid Berwyn
(14,954 posts)Play on, Drummer.
AllyCat
(16,222 posts)FakeNoose
(32,748 posts)I don't think he has toured with the Stones for the last several years. He was still recording with the band, but he couldn't do much traveling for health reasons.
Treefrog
(4,170 posts)Leghorn21
(13,526 posts)Smooth travels, good sir, and so many thanks
youll be surrounded by old mates where youre going, the jams will be OFF THE CHART!!
Celerity
(43,499 posts)The Rolling Stones - Sympathy For The Devil (Official Video) [4K]
From The Rolling Stones Rock and Roll Circus
Recorded before a live audience in London in 1968, The Rolling Stones Rock and Roll Circus was originally conceived as a BBC-TV special. Directed by Michael Lindsay-Hogg, it centres on the original line up of The Rolling Stones -- Mick Jagger, Keith Richards, Brian Jones, Charlie Watts, Bill Wyman (with Nicky Hopkins and Rocky Dijon) -- who serves as both the shows hosts and featured attraction. For the first time in front of an audience, The Worlds Greatest Rock and Roll Band performs six Stones classics.
The program also includes extraordinary performances by The Who, Jethro Tull, Taj Mahal, Marianne Faithfull, Yoko Ono, and The Dirty Mac. A supergroup before the term had even been coined, the band was comprised of Eric Clapton (lead guitar), Keith Richards (bass), Mitch Mitchell of The Jimi Hendrix Experience (drums), and John Lennon on guitar and vocals.
wendyb-NC
(3,330 posts)R.I.P. Charlie.
VGNonly
(7,505 posts)I saw the Stones in 78 and 81.
50 Shades Of Blue
(10,043 posts)cate94
(2,813 posts)Paladin
(28,272 posts)ProudMNDemocrat
(16,789 posts)Charlie Watts....R.I.P
Elwood P Dowd
(11,443 posts)He was a sharp dresser and often looked more like a businessman than a rock and roll drummer. He also loved jazz and had his own jazz band at one time. I've got one of the jazz albums by his band titled "Long Ago and Far Away". RIP Charlie. You will be missed.
https://www.gq.com/gallery/charlie-watts-style-photos-rolling-stones-drummer
ms liberty
(8,597 posts)My husband loved Charlie. He's going to be affected by this one. And so soon after Neil...
Response to ms liberty (Reply #52)
shanti This message was self-deleted by its author.
Mr.Bill
(24,319 posts)refered to Charlie Watts as "The bed on which I lie."
One of the greats, for sure. Put on a headset and listen to Can't You Hear Me Knockin', and maybe he's the best of them all.
Ohio Joe
(21,761 posts)turbinetree
(24,720 posts)BlancheSplanchnik
(20,219 posts)Iggo
(47,565 posts)Way to go, Mr Watts!
crickets
(25,983 posts)SunSeeker
(51,698 posts)At least he lasted until 80. Many of my rock and roll heroes didn't.
Mr. Evil
(2,856 posts)We'll all miss you. Thanx for all the great tunes!
Ligyron
(7,639 posts)Charlie was the one who always thought being famous wasnt gonna be all that wonderful.
RIP Charlie, your beat was the rhythm of my life.
ancianita
(36,133 posts)for your life, and for my favorite song...
yeah, I'm comin' home 'cause I'm just about a moonlight mile on down the road...
whathehell
(29,090 posts)ancianita
(36,133 posts)whathehell
(29,090 posts)SergeStorms
(19,204 posts)as being the first of the Stones to die. Charlie led a pretty clean life compared to the rest of them, but I guess you never know, do you.
That's a terrible shame. He wasn't the flashiest drummer, but he could light up the skins when he wanted to. I always respected him the most of all the original Stones.
Now I'll be thinking about my own mortality the rest of the day.
Rest in peace, Mr. Watts.
JoanofArgh
(14,971 posts)He seems indestructible.
SergeStorms
(19,204 posts)COVID took one look at Keef and fled, screaming.
jmowreader
(50,562 posts)The only two things that can survive a nuclear war are cockroaches and Keith Richards.
Strelnikov_
(7,772 posts)anamnua
(1,119 posts)Brian Jones???
SergeStorms
(19,204 posts)at the time of his demise. He'd been fired for lack of........ everything.
Yes, he was a founding member of the Stones, and if you count that, he was the first to go.
Myrddin
(327 posts)When Keith Richards dies, they'd better not cremate him - it'll take a month for the fire brigade to put the fire out!
RIP Charlie Watts - heartbeat of The Stones!
bif
(22,746 posts)The Stones were in town (Detroit) and the band's sax player who's from Michigan was performing the night before the Stones concert. Charlie sat in on a couple numbers. He was an amazingly tasteful jazz drummer. He only played rock to pay the bills. Jazz was his first love.
ElementaryPenguin
(7,800 posts)Whenever Charlie stops playing - that's the end of the Stones.
Sad. But Charlie had a wonderful life - and his understated greatness was widely recognized.
sarchasm
(1,012 posts)NBachers
(17,136 posts)VGNonly
(7,505 posts)[link:
|EYESORE 9001
(25,977 posts)Perhaps the best concert Ive ever seen.
bullwinkle428
(20,630 posts)first death of a member since Brian Jones in 1969!!
shanti
(21,675 posts)RIP, Charlie
Piratedog
(256 posts)Jon King
(1,910 posts)Remember it like yesterday. We took a family vacation and went up to a concession booth at the shore. Some teenagers working in the booth had it playing. Been a Stones fan since.
BlueTsunami2018
(3,503 posts)I was fortunate to see him play with the Stones over twenty times since the Tattoo You tour. Charlie was the backbone, the absolute rock of the band since its inception and he will be greatly missed.
R.I.P. sir, and thanks. 🤘🏽🤘🏽
Hekate
(90,793 posts)Back in the day, who among us all could have imagined rockers at 80?
RIP Charlie Watts
Towlie
(5,328 posts)
?
She tells me that Steve Jordan will continue as their touring drummer.
RANDYWILDMAN
(2,675 posts)Almost hear you sigh, I can you see you sitting whacking that drum
nolabear
(41,991 posts)moondust
(20,006 posts)Friend and I arrived in London and headed for a hotel across from the Earls Court Exhibition Centre. Walking up the sidewalk we saw a huge Stones advertisement on the front of the arena. Later found out they had finished their 5-night stand there the night before we arrived. We wouldn't have gotten in anyway as they had over a million requests for tickets.
electric_blue68
(14,933 posts)I got a chance to see them for free (!!!) even on their '75
tour because the lighting company my dad worked for supplied some very big, bright lights for the stage! 👍
My dad got 2 sets of 2 seats. My sis, and I sat up in the ?second tier, but we were flush with the stage. 👍
We gave the other set to one of my closest friends - who took her then boyfriend.
She was/is a Super fan and was *totally thrilled* to be sitting by the front petal of The Lotus Stage! 🙂
I was 💖 happy that we could give her that gift!
.And we (as friends from college)
will celebrate our 🎉50th 💖 Anniversary🎉
in Sept this year (or Jan '22 - I'm pretty sure though we met in the 1st semester Sept '71 in Etching class).
panader0
(25,816 posts)"Now I'm in my car
I got the radio down
Now me yelling at the kids in the back
'cause they're banging like Charlie Watts"
from 'Slow Turning' by John Hiatt
denbot
(9,901 posts)Not a musician, but after listening to Keith Richard's auto biography, they thought he was such a good drummer they could not afford to get Charlie to play in the band.
BigmanPigman
(51,627 posts)and his odd death YESTERDAY. This keeps happening to me. Coincidence or synchronicity?
Norbert
(6,041 posts)That is a lot of talent lost this week.
RIP Charlie. It was a fun ride.
geardaddy
(24,931 posts)RIP Charlie
Yo_Mama_Been_Loggin
(108,192 posts)kimbutgar
(21,188 posts)I was so sad reading this. Charlie was the ones who drummed and never seemed to be a druggie, womanizer or partier. married to the same wife. Kind of the dull stone. But a great drummer.
Rip Charlie the stones wont be the same without you!
TallJohn
(27 posts)I was 16.
Some friends and I were out on Lake Minnetonka,Mn. in my Old Man's 27' Owens cabin cruiser when we decided to check out girls at Big Reggie's Danceland on the lake.
It had become a bit of a weekend ritual that summer.
We cruised over to the dancehall and waited until 10 pm when Reggie would usually drop the price to .75 or a dollar to get in.
This night he had been charging $6 to get in which was unheard of in the day, but there were only 2 or 300 kids that night because nobody had heard of the band. We got in for $1.50 which felt like a rip!
It was the Rolling Stones! They were on their 1st trip to the States and really weren't well known at all. We had never heard of them, just figured them for another Brit Beatles ripoff.
They were awful, mostly uninspired Chuck Berry covers.
We found what we had been looking for and returned to the boat to party.
It's been a tough few weeks for my workout playlist with the death of Dusty Hill, Don Everly, and now Charlie Watts.
Maybe I'm getting old.
JoanofArgh
(14,971 posts)My uncle said the same thing about their music at the time when he saw them in the half-filled club. Nothing to get excited about.
winstars
(4,220 posts)mahatmakanejeeves
(57,602 posts)Charlie Watts was a gentleman in the worlds most dangerous band
By Chris Richards
Pop music critic
Today at 5:31 p.m. EDT
If you really want to understand the eloquence, generosity and impossible grace of Charlie Watts just listen for the first time he touches his drums on any Rolling Stones song.
Two thumps at the top of Gimme Shelter.
Three whacks to start Jumpin Jack Flash.
Three thumps, three whacks and its Street Fighting Man.
Watts is totally fine with letting the maniac over there play the curtain-raising guitar riff, but when its time for the song to really get up and get moving, the drummer doesnt launch into a fireworks show or somersault down the stairwell. He just pats his snare a few times, as if hes patting us on the back, bringing us into the music with him. Cmon. Lets go.
Watts who died in London on Tuesday at 80 was a misfit among misfits, a gentleman lost at sea with hungry pirates, a cool jazz mind in the worlds most insatiable rock-and-roll troupe. He dressed nicely, he performed with excellent posture, and he struck his drums with a politesse that somehow made the music of the Rolling Stones feel exponentially rude. He knew what was essential to his bands singular surge-and-swing, so thats what he did. No grand gestures, no wasted strokes. When youre playing rock-and-roll, you know, the challenge is .?.?. the regularity of it, Watts said in 2008, inadvertently explaining the riddle of his magnificence.
His drumming was designed to be felt more than noticed, and the world seemed to do it in that order. Charlies good tonight, inne? Mick Jagger asks before the penultimate cut of Get Yer Ya-Yas Out! The Rolling Stones in Concert, a throbbing 1970 live album that features Watts on the record jacket, big smile, seemingly walking on air. He usually played it so cool for the camera. Whats with the glee? Maybe he knew Jagger could have popped that question in the middle of any Rolling Stones concert and the answer would have always been yes.
{snip}
By Chris Richards
Chris Richards has been The Washington Post's pop music critic since 2009. Before joining The Post, he freelanced for various music publications. Twitter https://twitter.com/Chris__Richards
TNNurse
(6,929 posts)that the musicians of my youth and later years might be leaving us.
It just seems it is someone every day.
Pinback
(12,165 posts)A jazz aficionado, Watts vied with Bill Wyman for the title of least charismatic member of the band; he eschewed the limelight and rarely gave interviews.
And he famously described life with the Stones as five years of playing, 20 years of hanging around.
(SNIP)
At school he developed an interest in and a talent for art, and he went on to study at Harrow Art School before finding a job as a graphic designer with a local advertising agency.
But his love of music continued to be the dominating force in his life. His parents bought him a drum kit when he was 13 and he played along to his collection of jazz records.
He began drumming in local clubs and pubs and, in 1961 was heard by Alexis Korner, who offered him a job in his band, Blues Incorporated, an outfit that became a vital part of the development of British rock music.
Also playing with Blues Incorporated was a guitarist named Brian Jones, who introduced Watts to the fledgling Rolling Stones - whose original drummer, Tony Chapman, had quit the band.
More at link: https://www.bbc.com/news/entertainment-arts-22200496
RIP to one of the greats.
Rhiagel
(1,677 posts)R.I.P., Charlie. Your beat will still live on.
bdamomma
(63,922 posts)Rock n Roll Heaven
TheDemsshouldhireme
(172 posts)A full life, well lived and a core part of the greatest rock band in history.
MissMillie
(38,580 posts)Not a huge fan, but I don't recall that I ever switched the channel on the radio when they came on.
Bobstandard
(1,328 posts)I saw Stones in Honolulu in July of 1966 when I was 16. Changed my life. I saw them again in Honolulu (many times), in San Francisco, Oakland, San Jose, Chicago, Las Vegas, Amsterdam and London. Imagine how much money I spent. Every cent worth it. I even saw them for free when I sneaked into a show on the island of Hawaii where they were playing for a convention of Ford dealers and salesmen (can you imagine what that cost?).
One of the times I remember Charlie Watts being at his best was when he held it together as the shit went down at Altamont. Mick was clearly scared. Brian and Kieth were more or less cowering, but Charlie was rock solid. And you know what? Watch the movie. The music was good!
Scarlet Begalas
(25 posts)Brian wasn't cowering; he had been dead for 5 months. You're thinking of Mick Taylor.
MustLoveBeagles
(11,634 posts)DFW
(54,437 posts)I only saw them twice, once in the 1990s, and once about 2 years ago in Stuttgart.
He was a legend, deservedly so, and will be remembered as such.