seven things gleaned from the official biography of the Rolling Stones drummer by Paul Sexton

He was the master of the tempo of the Rolling Stones, the drummer with a unique feeling, as elegant in his clothing as in his playing, all with restraint. But who really was Charlie Watts? “A rock star who wasn’t one“, a man who cultivated discretion and for whom “the arrogance was just vulgar“. In this official biography prefaced by Mick Jagger and Keith Richards, Paul Sexton proposes not “yet another rehashing of the legend“Stones”but rather the story of the tribulations of a singular being which made him better.“

The author, an English journalist who has followed the Stones for thirty years, interviewed those close to him but also collaborators and some very recently, after the death of the Stones’ metronome in August 2021 at the age of 80. We read for you Charlie Watts, the anti rockstar, whose publication precedes the release of the new Rolling Stones album by a few hours, Hackney Diamonds. A book full of anecdotes and testimonies on the personality of the late drummer, of which here are some details, among others.

1 A melted jazz drummer

“We always describe him as a jazz enthusiast, but he didn’t just listen to that”, would like to highlight Mick Jagger in the foreword to this biography. Of course, Charlie Watts also listened to blues, classical music and reggae, but it’s no secret that his first love and his heartfelt music was jazz. That in particular of Miles Davis, Duke Ellington, Erroll Garner, Sonny Rollins and John Coltrane, whose drummer Elvin Jones was his model in his early days. On tour, in the United States and in Europe, Charlie Watts toured jazz clubs and published jazz albums under his name. Above all, he never listened to Stones albums, he says this several times in this book. He got his fantastic touch from jazz. “Charlie wasn’t into rock’n’roll but that didn’t matter because he knew how to shuffle.”, underlines the historic Stones bassist Bill Wyman with whom he formed quite a rhythm section. “He excelled at it because he was a jazz drummer, which put us ten steps ahead of anyone who wanted to imitate us. No one ever really got the sound we had.”

2 Passion for drawing

If he hadn’t been a musician in the biggest rock band in the world, he might have been a designer in an advertising agency, as he did before officially becoming the Stones’ drummer in 1963. Charlie Watts had studied graphic art and passionately loved drawing, which he practiced every day. In 1960, for his end-of-studies project, he produced a children’s book, which became cult, in the form of an ode to his hero Charlie Parker – An ode to a Highflying Bird. In 1966, the Stones’ tour program in North America included a Charlie comic strip. The following year, the album cover Between The Buttons was embellished with one of his comic strips in six panels. From 1968 until his death, he designed all the hotel rooms where he slept during the Stones’ world tours. “He was always drawing.”, confirms Keith Richards in this book. “I stayed for hours observing him. It was extraordinary to see.” What is less known is his influence behind the scenes as graphic and scenographic advisor to the Stones. His daughter Séraphina highlights his involvement in the aesthetics and visual choices of the megatours, starting in 1975, for which he was not credited. “With his background as a graphic designer, he did the merchandising, scene design, (…) artistic direction, whatever..”

3 His haven of peace in the Cévennes

We know: in trouble with the English tax authorities in the early 1970s, all the members of the group had gone into exile in France at the time of Exile on Main Street (1972), recorded in the famous Nellcote villa in Villefranche-sur-Mer rented by Keith Richards. But did you know that Charlie Watts and his wife Shirley bought a former goat farm in the Cévennes at the time? In 1971, the couple came to settle in this farm located in Massiès near Thoiras, a small village between Anduze and Saint-Jean-du-Gard, with their daughter Séraphina, then aged 3. The latter was educated in Saint-Jean-du-Gard and remained there until she was eight years old. “I had a wonderful, totally normal childhood.”, testifies Séraphina in this book. “I grew up in a small village in France. Literally in the middle of nowhere. It was very rural (…) and we were the only English.” For the Watts couple, who still owned this property when Charlie died, this property was from then on a much-loved retreat, a family refuge to disconnect between recordings and tours, to which they returned regularly throughout their lives.

4 A big maniac

Charlie Watts was so manic that his beloved granddaughter, Charlotte, suspected him of having OCD. He had a mania for tidying up. According to Mick Jagger, “At the end of the concerts, Charlie only got up to greet the audience – with Keith, Ronnie and me – after he had finished putting his drumsticks away, neatly aligned. On a walk in the countryside with her granddaughter, “he was tidying up at the side of the road. He chased the twigs, pushed the stones aside.”. Those close to him had fun messing with his socks, which were perfectly classified by color. And of course his record collection was meticulously organized. When he arrived at a hotel room, he had a ritual, remembers Bill Wyman. “He opened his suitcases, which were ordered to perfection, and he took out all his belongings one by one. (…) He laid out his shirts, folded squarely, and his ties, and his socks, then he lined up his shoes (laughs). It felt like a store.” According to Keith Richards, “Watching Charlie pack his bags was like watching a Buddhist ceremony.”

5 A model of elegance

Maniac perhaps, but in all circumstances, Charlie Watts was classy and dressed to the nines. He never compromised on style. Even alone at home, he liked to wear a three-piece suit. He loved clothes, which helped him “to create a more imposing silhouette than his modest corpulence. “Charlie was six feet tall and measured in elegance: a fashion winner, never a fashion victim.”, summarizes Paul Sexton. He had a wonderful sense of style and was often inspired by outfits admired on jazz record covers, such as those of Our Man in Paris of Dexter Gordon or Milestones by Miles Davis. On Savile Row, the Huntsman house where he had his suits made to measure, a fabric designed by Charlie, The Springfield Stripe, still appears in the catalogue. For his handmade shoes at 4,000 pounds a pair, he remained loyal for thirty years to a family business, GJCleverley, which Winston Churchill and the Prince of Wales frequented.

6 A crazy collector

“Charlie was an insatiable collector”, writes Paul Sexton. Curious about everything, he accumulated. Records, of course, but also memorabilia from the Civil War, first editions like those of Agatha Christie or effects that belonged to celebrities. “Old weapons, uniforms, newspapers: at his house, everything was on display like in a museum.”. Of course, he collected the drum sets of some of his heroes like Max Roach. But Charlie was also a car enthusiast, especially old American cars from the 1930s.”The jewel of his fleet was a superb 1937 Lagonda Rapide Cabriolet with a V12 engine, of which only twenty-five were made., Paul Sexton tells us. He also owned, among other things, a Bugatti Atlantic, a Lamborghini Miura and several Rolls Royces. However, he had never passed his license! “Since I don’t drive, I just sit in it and listen to the engine rev.”he explained, deadpan, to NME in 2018.I guess you could see it as a rich man’s whim.” A rich man of modest origins, who had grown up in a pre-fab.

7 Bad delayed habits

Calm, collected and well-mannered, Charlie Watts has long been considered the serious guy of the Stones, bordering on a nightcap. Happy in his marriage, he was the type to go to bed early with his accomplice Bill Wyman when the others were starting their crazy nights of partying. “We never saw him at my so-called debauchery evenings”, confirms Keith Richards in this book. Except that… “I’m not that reasonable. But I refused excesses until I was around forty-five (…), and then I tried everything”, recognized the drummer. “I was in a bad state, I was doing a lot of drugs and alcohol.”. This descent into hell, which occurred in the mid-1980s, a time Dirty Work, lasted two years. Then he stopped everything. Fortunately, because he completely changed his character under the influence of drugs, losing his legendary phlegm. During a legendary scene of which different versions exist, Charlie would have seen red one evening when Mick had dared to welcome him with a “Hey, here’s my drummer!” Charlie would have replied: “I’m not your drummer, dammit, you’re my singer!”, and bam! it would have sent the singer flying across the room. According to versions, Mick fell into a dish of salmon and almost fell through the window. Or not.

“Charlie Watts, the anti rockstar” by Paul Sexton (Harper Collins, 21.90 euros) was released on October 18, 2023