He shaped the unmistakable beat of the Rolling Stones and brought humanity to the squabble: Drummer Charlie Watts died at the age of 80.
London - no one else could have said it shorter and better than himself.
When Charlie Watts announced a while ago that he would not sit on the drums at the Rolling Stones concerts for the first time in almost 60 years because of an illness, he simply said: "For the first time I had bad timing." knew that it was very bad for him, nobody knows.
But the sentence is even more true when it becomes known that his death is - the timing is not right.
Watts, of all people, the epitome of reliability, this man with an unmistakable feeling for the right beat, left the Stones ahead of time.
On Tuesday, it was announced yesterday evening, he fell asleep peacefully with his family in a London hospital.
Watts was 80 years old and apparently never recovered from unspecified medical treatment.
He shaped the beat of the Rolling Stones: Drummer Charlie Watts is dead
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Nothing could get Charlie Watts out of step: for almost sixty years he sat on drums for the Rolling Stones.
© imago
Unsuspecting people like to believe that in a band the singer and the composer are important, the others are ultimately interchangeable. Admittedly this is actually the case with many bands, but with the Stones Watts has always been more than just the man who sets the pace. He made sure that this monster that the Rolling Stones had become retained half-human features. Nothing could upset this artist. Neither the exorbitant egos of some band members, nor a temporary weakness for alcohol.
Watts drummed constantly and undeterred by the trials and tribulations of the "Glimmer Twins" Keith Richards and Mick Jagger * as he saw fit.
Jazz enthusiast Watts helped define the Stones sound with his distinctive, bone-dry drumming.
Any stroke that in his opinion was dispensable was simply not played.
The result was a driving, crystal clear beat.
Death of Stones drummer Charlie Watts: Unique and rock idol without any glaring antics
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Ron Wood (lr), Mick Jagger, Charlie Watts and Keith Richards stand on the stage in the city park.
© Carsten Rehder / dpa / archive image
Charlie Watts, who came from Kingsbury in the UK, was discovered early on as a drum talent and made a name for himself on the London blues scene. Nevertheless, he continued to work as a graphic designer - he distrusted the airy music business. He had been a professional musician since January 1963: The newly founded Rolling Stones brought him on as a drummer, from then on this band was his fate and he theirs. Watts became the gray eminence of the Stones, against whose veto Jagger and Richards dared not object.
The working-class son Watts, always dressed in a fine cloth and courteous in his demeanor, didn't seem to fit the other snotty spoons, but without him you can't really imagine this band either.
The fact that he was married to the same woman for decades without any glaring antics and rather avoided public appearances also made him a fascinating one-of-a-kind in this rowdy troupe.
He just likes to be at home, said Watts when he gave one of his rare interviews.
Think of this man as the only truly happy Rolling Stone.
Bass player Bill Wyman doesn't count in this case because he got out of this crazy store almost 30 years ago.
Charlie Watts: Legendary Incident With Mick Jagger "I'm Nobody's Drummer"
Of course, it's impossible to talk about Watts and the Stones without mentioning the legendary incident in which a drunk Mick Jagger rang the drummer in the middle of the night and slurred something like "Let my drummer join in" on the phone. A quarter of an hour later Watts appeared in the hotel bar and unceremoniously knocked the singer down, only to let the shocked rest of the gang know: "I'm nobody's drummer". Of course, in spite of the late hour, Watts had shaved and thrown himself into a suit, tie included.
Otherwise Watts was a lovely contemporary who did not dismantle hotel rooms, but drew between concerts or immersed himself in his jazz collection.
A satisfied man who never really seemed to understand the hype surrounding the band he was in.
Now Charlie Watts has died.
Unfortunately, you have to trust the Rolling Stones that they - the heretics they are - just hire some other drummer.
But then they're just some band - and no longer the Stones.
(Zoran Gojic) * tz.de is an offer from IPPEN.MEDIA
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