CHARLIE'S GOOD TONIGHT: The Authorised Biography

The authorised biography of the Rolling Stones' Charlie Watts, featuring forewords from bandmates Mick Jagger and Keith Richards, this is the official biography of the world's most revered and celebrated drummer who passed away fairly recently. In mid 1962 the newly formed Rolling Stones were on the hunt for a permanent drummer and set their sights on Charlie Watts, a jazz musician already well known within London's rhythm and blues clubs. Fortunately for future Stones fans the world over, they persuaded him to take on the job. Once installed on the drum seat, Charlie would not miss a beat for the rest of his life. He was there throughout the Swinging Sixties as the Stones reached superstardom and for the well-documented debauchery of the 1970s, typified by the iconic album Exile on Main St. Battling his own demons by the 1980s, Charlie emerged unscathed, cementing his reputation as the thoughtful, cultured, but no less compelling counterpoint to his more raucous bandmates. Known for his impeccable dress sense, here are tons of amusing anecdotes and tales of excess and the biographer has had unique access to Charlie's beloved wife, daughter and granddaughter as well as his lifetime friends and fellow musicians to give great insight into the love, life and eccentricities of this intensely private man who was the antithesis of the rock-star architype. 344pp, many colour plates, fairly large print.