Rolling Stones drummer Charlie Watts died today, age 80. Just three weeks ago he had pulled out of the band’s upcoming tour after undergoing surgery. Watts joined the Rolling Stones in 1963.
While Charlie Watts may be a rock legend, he and his wife, Shirley (whom he married in 1964), were also very respected Arabian horse breeders, at their farm in Devon, Halsdon Arabians. A lifelong equestrian, Shirley wanted to try her hand at small time breeding.
The original intent was to have 20 horses. They ended up with nearly 300. “I’m not good with math,” she said.
One reason Watts wasn’t always thrilled with touring is he did not like leaving the farm for long periods of time.
Looking at the video below, I can see why.
I toured with The Rolling Stones back on the late 1980’s, on the Steel Wheels tour. As one of dozens of technicians on the tour I rarely interacted with the band members, but Charlie Watts was the exception.
Turns out that I had to focus stage lights that we’re right above his drum kit. Often times he would be at the kit while I was working- he always had a sweet smile and a kind word. We would sometimes talk about dogs- my Ridgebacks and his- and I swear I recall that he and his wife had Corgis, at least back then.
Anyway, as a female technician I always regarded Charlie as a “gentleman amongst ruffians”, at least on the tour, and he made a lasting impression on me.
RIP Gentle Man
What an amazing experience. Thank you for sharing. In the articles I read, it looks like they also adopted greyhounds.
Shirley was good at Horse math. Horses count like this: One Horse, Two Horses, One Herd (of Many horses)
Hah! you make a good point. That’s why I’ve never dared to have more than two.
Oh, I’m sorry, but I hate it when film makers/video makers/ do the speed up/slow down stuff. That’s just stupid. While in the military I was a member of a film making team as well as staff in a television station and the idea of any use of a camera was STEADY. No close ups so you can see someone’s nose hairs. and no gimmicks.