Charlie Watts Is Quitting the Stones!

[NashVegas]

EXCLUSIVE: Charlie Watts Quits The Rolling Stones

by Paul Cashmere - September 2 2009
photo by Ros O'Gorman

Undercover has learned that Charlie Watts has quit The Rolling Stones.

A source within the Stones inner-circle says, “Charlie Watts has quit the band. He will never record or tour with the band again”.

The news does not come as a surprise. It was common knowledge that Keith Richards had to talk Charlie into contributing to the A Bigger Bang tour but this time it seems there is no calling Charlie back to active duty.

“The Stones are looking to Keith's Expensive Winos drummer Charlie Drayton to fill the void in all future Stones' callings,” our source says.

http://undercover.com.au/News-Story.aspx?id=9154_EXCLUSIVE:_Charlie_Watts_Quits_The_Rolling_Stones

[Deep13]

1. Talent quit the Stones about thirty years ago. nt

[NashVegas]

2. Meow

[TZ]

3. I disagree.

They are still probably the best live act I've ever seen..That was back in 86. I'd go again in a heartbeat.

[Deep13]

4. So, 23 years ago, they were still a good live act.

okay then :shrug:

[NashVegas]

9. I Have to Disagree With That

I saw them in 89 or 90, with Living Colour opening. I thought Vernon & Co were the better act, or should we say, the more practiced act. The Stones were all spectacle, though I admit that's a personal preference kind of thing.

[Sebastian Doyle]

11. No it wasn't.

Stones didn't tour in 86. Or any time between 82 and 89. In fact the band was rumored to have split up by the time the Dirty Work album was released, because they wouldn't even play live at the Grammys that year.

[madrchsod]

13. "beggars" was their zenith....

saw the first tour concert in chicago...they went over like a lead ballon. by the third concert in chicago the crowd was into them.

[Wapsie B]

5. Maybe after all these years he wants to kick back and enjoy life.

He's earned it.

[peekaloo]

6. I think poor Charlie has an undiagnosed case of

rigor mortis.

[NashVegas]

7. Ooh. The Plot Thickens. Mick Says It Ain't So

From a trade mag: 'Rolling Stones' spokesperson is denying reports that Charlie Watts has left the band. A statement just issued by the Stones p-r person, Fran Curtis, says, "Contrary to a fabricated story that ran this morning on a small music website in Australia, drummer Charlie Watts has not left The Rolling Stones." '

[Amerigo Vespucci]

8. Charlie Watts not quitting Rolling Stones, despite rumors

Charlie Watts not quitting Rolling Stones, despite rumors
by Leah Greenblatt
Categories: News, Rolling Stones

Charlie Watts, the dapper silver-haired drummer for the Rolling Stones, was reported today by Australia’s Undercover entertainment website to have left the band, just three years short of their 50th anniversary.

The band’s spokesperson, Fran Curtis, tells EW there is no truth to the rumors: “Contrary to a fabricated story that ran this morning,” she says, “Charlie Watts has not left The Rolling Stones.’’

The 68-year old Watts has been with the band since 1963; In 2004, he was diagnosed with throat cancer, which has since gone into remission.

http://music-mix.ew.com/2009/09/02/charlie-watts-quits-rolling-stones/

[Sebastian Doyle]

10. Keith has said in the past that he would pull the plug on the Stones if Mick or Charlie left

So I doubt it would ever happen. Besides, the only other guy qualified to play drums for them would be Jimmy Miller (the band's producer during the Mick Taylor era, who actually played drums on some of the best songs of that era) and he died years ago.

[madrchsod]

12. who is going to laugh at jagger?

the stones would`t be the same with out charlie`s "smile"

[applegrove]

14. Apparently Mick and Keith run the show and everyone else has to drop

whatever projects they are doing to go to Stones meetings and tours and promotional stuff. Heard that on Canadian Broadcasting (CBC) radio.

[rug]

15. They're coming apart like Michael Jackson's face.

[kwassa]

16. The Stones are the greatest rock band in history.

When they are at their best, nobody can touch them.

They have always put out a lot of mediocre material, too. When they connect, though, they are fantastic.

None of them need to work anymore, they are all rich.

[NNadir]

17. When he was ten, my kid had to do a paper on the Rolling Stones.

It was an awful experience for me as a father, trying to explain that crap.

They should have all quit when they were ahead, somewhere in the very early 1970's.

[NashVegas]

18. WTF?

I'd have called the teacher up and either pleaded to reduce it to a short essay, or be prepared to read something she won't like :)