Rolling Stones drummer Charlie Watts dies at age 80

By PTI

LONDON: Charlie Watts, the self-effacing and unshakeable Rolling Stones drummer who helped anchor considered one of rock’s biggest rhythms sections and used his “day job” to help his enduring love of jazz, has died, in accordance with his publicist.

He was 80.

Bernard Doherty stated Tuesday that Watts “passed away peacefully in a London hospital earlier today 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 stated.

Watts had introduced he wouldn’t tour with the Stones in 2021 due to an undefined well being problem.

The quiet, elegantly dressed Watts was typically ranked with Keith Moon, Ginger Baker and a handful of others as a premier rock drummer, revered worldwide for his muscular, swinging model because the band rose from its scruffy beginnings to worldwide superstardom.

He joined the Stones early in 1963 and remained over the following 60 years, ranked simply behind Mick Jagger and Keith Richards because the group’s longest enduring and most important member.

The Stones started, Watts stated, “as white blokes from England playing Black American music” however shortly advanced their very own distinctive sound.

Watts was a jazz drummer in his early years and by no means misplaced his affinity for the music he first beloved, heading his personal jazz band and taking up quite a few different facet initiatives.

A traditional Stones music like “Brown Sugar” and “Start Me Up” typically started with a tough guitar riff from Richards, with Watts following carefully behind, and Wyman, because the bassist favored 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 the place he drummed towards the again of the stage.