SiriusXM honours the life & legacy of drummer Charlie Watts with Rolling Stones Radio
Charlie Watts, the drummer for the Rolling Stones, has died at age 80. Bernard Doherty, Watts’ publicist, confirmed that Watts “passed away peacefully in a London hospital [August 24] surrounded by his family.” SiriusXM has brought back Rolling Stones Radio (Ch. 27) to honour Watts’ drumming legacy and history in the band.
Rolling Stones Radio is giving Stones fans a journey through the band’s almost six-decade career — including the 2020 track “Living In a Ghost Town,” previously unheard tracks from Goats Head Soup, and a previously unheard track from the forthcoming 40th-anniversary release of Tattoo You.
Born in London in 1941, Charlie Watts became a founding member of the Rolling Stones in 1963 along with Brian Jones, Mick Jagger, and Keith Richards. Watts was also a skilled graphic artist, designing many of the Stones’ album sleeves as well as cartoons and comic strips. As part of the Stones, Watts won three GRAMMY Awards and a GRAMMY Lifetime Achievement Award. They were inducted into the Rock & Rock Hall of Fame in 1989. Watts himself was also inducted into the Modern Drummer Hall of Fame in 2006. He had recently undergone surgery and was slated to miss the band’s upcoming No Filter Tour.
Join SiriusXM in paying tribute to the legendary drummer and revisit this 2019 conversation between Watts and Steve Jordan on Layin’ It Down below.
