Charlie Robert Watts , drummer for the Rolling Stones , died this Tuesday, the 24th, at the age of 80. The cause of death has not yet been released.
According to G1 , the sad news was initially confirmed by agent Bernard Doherty in a statement sent to the British press. In a statement, a representative of the band confirmed the death. “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. Charlie was a cherished husband, father and grandfather and, as a member of The Rolling Stones, one of the finest drummers of his generation. We kindly ask that the privacy of his family, band members and close friends be respected at this difficult time.”
In early August, Watts stepped away from the Rolling Stones tour for medical reasons to recover from an unspecified "completely successful procedure." "I'm working hard to get back in shape, but I've heeded the advice of the experts that it will take time," the drummer commented when announcing his absence.
Charlie Watts dedicated most of his life to his career with the Rolling Stones. When the musician turned 80 on July 2nd of this year, he had spent 58 of those years playing drums for the band , a position he has held since January 1963, a year after the group's formation, and from which he has never left.
“Charlie is always there, but he doesn’t want everyone to notice. There are few drummers like that. Everyone thinks Mick [Jagger] and Keith are the Rolling Stones. If Charlie wasn’t doing what he does on the drums, that wouldn’t be true. You’d find out that Charlie Watts IS the Rolling Stones,” Keith Richards about his colleague in 1979 (via Open Culture ).
Rest in peace, Charlie Watts!
