CHARLIE WATTS June 2, 1941 – August 24, 2021
He was the most stylish man in rock’n’roll, with his easy, laconic, manner, bone-dry sense of humour, matchless wardrobe of bespoke Savile Row suits and deadpan, Buster Keaton stone face. He’d far rather talk about the cricket than about his illustrious 58-year career as the ever-reliable driving force behind the greatest rock’n’roll band in the world.
Charlie Watts was the Rolling Stone that even people who had no time for the Rolling Stones couldn’t help but like. There was never any old flannel with Charlie Watts. He spoke as he found. There was no diplomacy, no filter, no swagger and no pretensions to being in any way ‘cool’. And as a direct consequence Charlie Watts was invariably, and effortlessly, the coolest man in the room.
Even as the nascent Rolling Stones were being described as Neanderthals, Charlie stood apart. He didn’t say much. He didn’t have to. His aloof demeanour of wry detachment and dismayed indifference spoke volumes.
In October 1964, as hordes of nubile, compliant young women threw themselves screaming at the band’s feet, Charlie quietly slipped away to get married to his sculpture-student girlfriend, Shirley. And their marriage lasted the course. Rather than wile away on-road downtime with serial infidelity, the former graphic designer would assiduously sketch every hotel bed he ever slept in.
As his bandmates collected convictions and notoriety, Charlie collected American Civil War memorabilia, signed first editions and classic cars. Meticulously stylish to a fault,
