This famous drummer is a part of one of the best known rock’n’roll bands of all time.
Rolling Stones drummer, Charlie Watts, has a rich career behind him and is one of the most famous musicians in the world.
In today’s text, we are going to talk about his personal life, career and all the other interesting things you would like to know about him.
So, stick with us to find out more.
Early life
Charlie Watts was born on June 2nd 1941 in Kingsbury in England. The son of a British Railways employee, Charlie Watts, drummer of the Rolling Stones, was born in Wembley and spent his childhood in Islington where he studied graphic arts at Tyler’s Croft Secondary Modern School before becoming a letter writer at Harrow School of art.
Early on, he participated in jazz concerts at the Marquee alongside David Green at sessions called Rhythm and Blues.
Then, in 1961, he joined Blues Incorporated by Alexis Korner and Cyril Davies, a small amateur group that saw a number of visiting musicians and singers come and go, including a certain Mick Jagger…
In 1963, he moved instead of drummer to replace Mick Avory: the Rolling Stones adventure begins. The resounding successes fuse and the tours are linked: of a discreet naturalness, the turpitudes of the life of rock star leave Charlie of marble.
Far from drugs and groupies, he devotes himself to his hobbies after concerts, especially drawing and music. In 1965, he married Shirley Shieffield; three years later, his daughter Seraphina is born of this union.
His artistic universe is rich and recognized by his peers: his jazzy style and his original musical approach give the Stones this tone that is so special to them.
He also recorded some opuses and participated in the London Sessions of Howlin ‘Wolf where also play Eric Clapton and Steve Winwood, and published a collection of drawings devoted to saxophonist Charlie Parker.
His incomparable talent owes him at each concert Stones, long and warm standing ovations: including 1969 concert Altamont, during which he reaped a thunderous applause that records the record of 32 minutes and 9 seconds.
Today a horse breeder, he feeds his wife’s passion for Arab thoroughbreds in his home in Devon.
Career Path
His musical entry began Charles Robert “Charlie” Watts with a banjo, which he bought at the age of 13 years. When he lost his appetite, it turned into a drum, after which his parents gave him a drum set for Christmas the following year.
In 1960, Watts had improved his drumming skills so much that he played in the band “Blues by Five”. During this time, Watts attended an art school and wrote in 1961 a children’s book called “Ode to A High Flying Bird”.
Torn between a career and a passion for drums, Watts played in various bands until he finally joined the band Blues Incorporated. The band around Alexis Korner already had a name and a little later also joined Brian Jones and Mick Jagger.
They played at Blues Incorporated until they left the band in 1962 to form the Rolling Stones with Keith Richards, Dick Tayloer, Ian Steward and Mick Avory.
Watts, who considered himself not good enough to continue playing with Blues Incorporated, left the band and joined the Rolling Stones. In 1963, the Stones appeared for the first time with Watts as a drummer.
Meanwhile, Dick Taylor had left the band and was replaced by Bill Wyman. In the 70s and 80s, Watts became addicted to alcoholism. But he could overcome these by his own efforts. And then toured the country with a big band. For his performances with the band was added in 1989 in the “Rock and Roll Hall of Fame”.
Compared to Mick Jagger and Keith Richards, Rolling Stones drummer Charlie Watts is usually discreetly in the background. But the Brit is responsible not only for the tight rhythm of the band, but also by the way an excellent jazz drummer. He proves this in the form of “Charlie Watts meets the Danish Radio Big
Band”, a swinging big band recording with a Watts, who obviously feels at least as comfortable on the drums of such a large ensemble as with his “main band”.
Recorded the Stone has his swing album in the far north with the excellent band, which also recorded in 2016 an excellent live album with Curtis Stigers. The result is Watts’ most successful fling to jazz.
In addition to well-known jazz standards and a suite from the Watts’ spring, the three Stones classics “Satisfaction”, “You Cannot Always Get What You Want” and “Paint It Black” have been made to swing.
When Charlie Watts was asked by his new bandmates to play some Rhythm’n’Blues at the very beginning of the Stones’ career, he was initially on the tube.
“I did not know what that was,” he recalled decades later. “I thought I should play some Charlie Parker-moderate … only with the handbrake on.” Since then many stones have rolled down the mountain and Watts has long since entered the annals of rock music as one of the greatest drummers.
Back then, at the very beginning, he was still a bit stubborn, blinkered “Jazzhead.” He’d grown up with the music of Jelly Roll Morton, Charlie Parker, and Thelonious Monk, and was inspired to record himself by recording with Chico Hamilton to add a drum kit.
His love for jazz has always been preserved by Charlie Watts. Mid-1980s, he founded his own big band with prominent jazz musicians such as u.a. Stan Tracy, Evan Parker and Courtney Pine, who toured all over the world.
Then he formed, in the early 1990s, a quintet with bassist and childhood friend David Green, alto saxophonist Peter King, pianist Brian Lemon and trumpeter Gerard Presencer.
The latter, otherwise known for his collaboration with Us3, The Brand New Heavies, Matt Bianco, Zero 7, Incognito, Ray Charles, Joni Mitchell and Chick Corea, also initiated the joint project with the Danish Radio Big Band. Charlie Watts has a net worth of 200$ million.
Most of the money comes from royalties and his rich career within the band, so it is no wonder his net worth is so high.
Personal life
Charlie Watts is a member of the legendary rock band The Rolling Stones. It was born June 2, 1941 under the name of Charles Robert Watts in the city of Wembley, England.
This drummer integrated the formation in 1963. Since then, he has become an emblematic and inseparable figure of the band.
Charlie Watts spent his childhood in a suburb of London. At that time, he is already passionate about the art world, but not about the music world in particular. He is fascinated by the graphic arts.
In the mid-1950s, when he was 14, he began to take a close interest in music. The discovery of his favorite instrument will then be done in an unusual way. Not managing to control the banjo, he decides to disassemble it completely. Finally, he keeps only the box and makes a percussion instrument or more precisely a drum.
From the beginning, it’s jazz that interests Charlie Watts. When he joined the Rolling Stones, he did not know exactly the musical style of the group, but did not hesitate to impose his musical ideas.
In 1961, Charlie Watts made his first steps into the world of music. As an amateur, he joined Blues Incorporated, a group formed by Alexis Korner. This most original formation sees musicians who will become true legends of rock including Cyril Davies, Jack Bruce, Ginger Baker or the very famous Mick Jagger.
On July 12, 1962, they make their first legendary appearance under a new name in the London Marquee Club. For Dick Taylor, Bill Wyman takes over the bass a few weeks later, and after Mick Avory (later on the Kinks) drops the drums to Tony Chapman, who does not convince the boys, jazz drummer and commercial designer Charlie Watts joins the Blues by five added.
By 1963, the Rolling Stones has been helping Craw daddy Club with a steady job for eight months to increase their fan base. There they draw the attention of Andrew Loog Oldham, soon as their manager, to themselves.
While this guy does not understand much about music, he has a gifted sense of promotion and marketing. He is guided by the idea of using the Stones to create a kind of bad boy alternative to mom’s favorite mushroom heads.
Oldham is later even Mick Jagger the marriage with his girlfriend Chrissie Shrimpton prohibited, because this does not belong to the Hallodri image. At his direction, the Stones disgusted Ian Stewart on the piano because he does not fit into the rocker image.
Stewart leaves, but remains in close contact with the group. Until his death in 1985, he is considered one of the main roadshows of the Stones and acts as a guest musician on some albums. Parallel to the music, Charlie Watts exploits his drawing skills in a box specialized in advertising.
In 1963, Charlie Watts finally leaves his place in the Blues Incorporated where he is replaced by Ginger Baker. It’s this year that he joins the Rolling Stones as drummer taking the place of Mick Avory.
Despite the group’s reputation, Charlie Watts keeps his natural temper calm. It remains away from the effervescence characteristic of the Rolling Stones without being invisible to the public eye.
According to Bill Wyman, a famous columnist of the group, Charlie Watts would be the “wisest” of all the members who had never belonged to the formation.
In his opinion, the drummer of the Rolling Stones would not have succumbed to drugs and the destructive passion that can arouse women. The only and unique women of his life are his wife Shirley and his daughter Seraphina, born in 1968.
During group tours, the drummer would remain confined to hotel rooms when he is not on stage. He spends his “lost” moments sketching his room.
His attitude within the group earned him the respect of other members of the Rolling Stones as well as the public. After each concert, the fans always reserve him always a particular reception.
In early September 2009, a rumor announced that Charlie Watts would leave the Rolling Stones. It was a poison immediately denied.
In 2004, Charlie was diagnosed with a throat cancer. The doctors said that the cause was nicotine, even though he gave up on cigarettes in the 80s. To cure cancer, he went under radiotherapy and the cancer has gone away.
He has been healthy ever since and continued performing with the band. He is currently living in Devon, a small village in England.
His wife and him own a farm with horses and are very proud of that. Due to his ownership in various entities within the band, he is one of the richest musicians out there.
Quick summary
Full name: Charlie Robert Watts
Date of birth: June 2nd 1941
Birthplace: Kingsbury, England
Age: 78
Profession: Drummer, Producer, Musician
Height: 1.73 m
Weight: 80 kg
Net Worth: 200$ million