Happy Birthday to the Rolling Stones' drummer Charlie Watts, who turns 79 today (June 2nd)!!! Watts is the second-oldest Stone; co-founding bassist Bill Wyman is 83, Mick Jagger will turn 77 next month, Keith Richards is 76, and Ron Wood turned 73 yesterday (June 1st).
In April 2017, Watts released his latest big band album, called Charlie Watts Meets The Danish Radio Big Band. The set was captured back in 2010 in Copenhagen's Concert Hall of Denmark, following only four days of rehearsals between Watts and the musicians. The seven-song album features big band takes on such Stones classics as “You Can't Always Get What You Want” and “Paint It, Black” — along with a Bossa Nova-tinged take on “(I Can't Get No) Satisfaction.”
Back in early 1962, Watts played in Alexis Korner's Blues Incorporated, who performed a Saturday night residency at London's Ealing Jazz Club. It was there that Stones founder Brian Jones frequently sat in with the band. By April of 1962, Mick Jagger joined the band, but soon decided to form his own group with Jones and childhood friend Keith Richards, naming their new combo the “Rollin' Stones” after the Muddy Waters blues classic. By early 1963, Watts joined Jagger, Richards, Jones, Bill Wyman and keyboardist Ian Stewart to become the original lineup of the Rolling Stones.