The Rolling Stones guitarist Ronnie Wood offered a touching remembrance of Charlie Watts following the Stones drummer’s death at age 80 on Tuesday (Aug. 24), as did the other surviving band members, singer Mick Jagger and guitarist Keith Richards.
All three shared distinct photo representations of Watts on their respective social media outposts after Watts’ publicist on Tuesday confirmed that the legendary English musician had “passed away peacefully in a London hospital earlier today surrounded by his family.”
See the Stones’ separate tributes to Watts down toward the bottom of this post.
Wood, who turned 74 on June 1, said in a message adjoining a photo of him and Watts, “I love you my fellow Gemini.” The drummer shared a June birthday with the guitarist.
“I will dearly miss you,” Wood added in the Wednesday (Aug. 25) tribute, “you are the best.”
The 78-year-old Jagger on Tuesday shared a glowing portrait of Watts behind the drum kit. The same day, Richards, 77, posted a photo of just Watts’ kit — as it appeared onstage but sans the drummer — with a “Closed” sign hanging off one of the cymbal stands.
Plenty of other rock and metal musicians have joined the Stones in paying their respects to the musician.
Tuesday’s announcement of Watts’ death on the band’s sites said, “Charlie was a cherished husband, father and grandfather, and also, as a member of The Rolling Stones, one of the greatest drummers of his generation. We kindly request that the privacy of his family, band members and close friends … at this difficult time.”
Watts joined The Rolling Stones in 1963 and remained their drummer for over five decades. He was the only member besides Jagger and Richards to have played on all of the band’s studio albums. He was inducted into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame with the group in 1989.
Ronnie Wood
Mick Jagger
Keith Richards
Rockers We’ve Lost in 2021
R.I.P. to the rockers who died in 2021.
