Charlie Watts

‘People took so many drugs, they forgot they played on it’ – stars on Exile on Main St, the Rolling Stones’ sprawling masterpiece

Recorded during several hedonistic months in a fabulous Cote d’Azur villa, Exile on Main St is seen as the Stones’ epic, creative peak. As the classic album turns 50, stars tell us how it got their rocks off

Interviews by Dave Simpson

09, May, 2022 @5:00 AM

BBC to mark the Rolling Stones’ 60th anniversary with new documentaries

The series My Life as a Rolling Stone will feature an hour-long film on each member, including the late Charlie Watts

Ben Beaumont-Thomas

31, Mar, 2022 @10:55 AM

Charlie Watts remembered by Dave Green

The Rolling Stones drummer’s childhood friend and fellow musician recalls a home-loving connoisseur and collector of ephemera

Dave Green

11, Dec, 2021 @2:00 PM

Rolling Stones review – a funky, heavy first show without Charlie Watts

The Dome at America’s Center, St Louis, Missouri
The veteran rockers return to the road with an emotional tribute to their longtime drummer and a reinvigorated sense of purpose

Edward Helmore

27, Sep, 2021 @4:23 PM

Charlie Watts showed us how a man could be – cool, modest and always classy | Barbara Ellen

In the ego-riddled world of rock’n’roll, the Rolling Stones drummer was the model of a grown-up

Barbara Ellen

29, Aug, 2021 @7:30 AM

It’s never boring at the barber’s when aliens and cryptocurrency are involved | Tim Adams

One was abducted and never fancied football afterwards, while the latest waxes eloquently about bitcoin and Elon Musk

Tim Adams

28, Aug, 2021 @4:30 PM

‘Not just a drummer – a genre’: Stewart Copeland and Max Weinberg on Charlie Watts

The Police and Bruce Springsteen drummers share memories of their late Rolling Stones counterpart, explaining his technical brilliance, his verve – and his clothes-folding skills

As told to Ben Beaumont-Thomas

26, Aug, 2021 @12:00 PM

Charlie Watts: a rock’n’roll legend whose true love was jazz

He may have backed the world’s most successful rock band, but the late drummer worshipped his jazz heroes through big bands and other projects

Richard Williams

25, Aug, 2021 @11:05 AM

Charlie Watts: the calm, brilliant eye of the Rolling Stones’ rock’n’roll storm

Unruffled amid excess, personality clashes and musical disputes, the Rolling Stones’ exceptional drummer used technique to deepen the meaning and power of their songs

Alexis Petridis

24, Aug, 2021 @7:49 PM

Charlie Watts obituary

Dapper and elegant drummer who was the rock-steady heartbeat of the Rolling Stones

Adam Sweeting

24, Aug, 2021 @7:39 PM

The Rolling Stones: Living in a Ghost Town review – their best new song in years

Referencing the coronavirus crisis over sleazy dub-influenced backing, this is a light, trim and relevant sound for the Stones