STONE CHARLIE HAS CANCER

[7/4]

Sunday Mirror

STONE CHARLIE HAS CANCER BUT VOWS: I'LL BEAT IT

Aug 15 2004

By Ben Todd Showbusiness Editor

ROLLING STONES legend Charlie Watts has throat cancer, the Sunday Mirror can reveal. The 63-year-old drummer, "the quiet one" of the world's most famous rock and roll band, discovered a lump on his neck two months ago and consulted doctors immediately.

A biopsy confirmed the tumour was malignant and Charlie is now having intensive radiotherapy treatment.

A close friend said yesterday: "It's a very difficult time. Charlie is determined to keep strong but he wouldn't be human if he wasn't finding it hard.

"Even so, he's remaining upbeat. He's just getting on with things and insists he's fine."

Each morning, Charlie leaves his smart Chelsea address and takes the short walk to the Royal Marsden Hospital for radiotherapy.

Looking gaunt and frail, a bandage covering the left side of his neck, he strolls into the South-West London hospital, which specialises in cancer care.

He has completed about three-quarters of his six-week course of radiotherapy.

Throughout the ordeal, Charlie's wife Shirley - they married in 1964 - has been a constant source of support, helping him through the trying time.

The friend said: "Shirley has known for some time of Charlie's illness and has coped really well. She has been really positive.

"Even after all these years, they still adore each other and she provides the ultimate support system for him.

His beloved daughter Seraphina and her daughter Charlotte jetted in from their Bermuda home to visit Charlie three weeks ago.

The friend revealed: "That's really helped keep his spirits up."

Charlie is believed to have reacted well to the treatment and doctors are hopeful he will make a full recovery.

A Rolling Stones spokesman last night confirmed: "Charlie is reaching the end of radiotherapy treatment having been diagnosed with throat cancer following a minor operation in June.

"He is expected to make a full recovery and start work with the rest of the band later in the year."

Charlie, who is worth an estimated £80million, quit smoking more than 15 years ago.

But throughout his career, he has been a regular performer at jazz clubs -notorious for their smoky atmosphere - whenever he has had any free time from the Stones. And there are fears that, like the

late TV presenter Roy Castle, he has been the victim of passive smoking.

Last night, cancer expert Dr Muir Gray told the Sunday Mirror: "If a heavy smoker quit 10 to 15 years ago then the risks of contracting cancer usually drop to the same as if they had never picked up a cigarette.

"But if they continue to work in a smoky atmosphere, they are still inhaling the equivalent of three cigarettes a day."

Earlier this year, Charlie's bandmate Ronnie Wood said he had been ordered to quit smoking by doctors after traces of deadly lung disease emphysema were found during a routine scan.

Speaking to the Sunday Mirror, Wood confessed: "The doctors said that if I give up smoking now I can nip it in the bud - I still have powerful lungs.

"But they say if I smoke for another year, I could get emphysema and - boom - my lungs could collapse."

George Harrison died of throat cancer in November 2001 after a long battle with the disease which he blamed on his life-long addiction to smoking.Like the former Beatle, Inspector Morse star John Thaw tragically died from throat cancer in February 2002 after a short illness. Journalist and broadcaster John Diamond, 47, was another victim.

Last night a friend of the Stones revealed how Ronnie and the rest of the band - Sir Mick Jagger and Keith Richards - have stood by Charlie since he was diagnosed.

"They have been rallying around as well as offering their support - but they're all determined to remain positive." the friend added.

"They are definitely looking forward to seeing him back in the studio in the next few months."

If he continues to react

positively to treatment, the rest of the Stones are due to welcome Charlie back in October.

Then they will go back into the recording studio to begin work on a new album. The veteran rockers will also begin rehearsals for another world tour starting next year.

Rock critics have never been able to work out why shy, self- deprecating Charlie ever hooked up with one of the world's wildest rock bands.

Even he admits that falling in with the likes of Jagger and Richards was "a complete accident".

While the others were hell-raising, sleeping around and taking drugs, Watts was colour-coding his socks and ringing his family. His only fall from grace was brief and came in the 1980s when he found himself with a heroin and an amphetamine problem. But it didn't last and he hasn't touched drugs - or drink - since.

These days he spends most of his time breeding horses and dogs at the 17th Century Devon manor house he owns with Shirley.

He still joins the Stones on their tours from time to time, but spends most of his time with his band Tentet, which consists of 12 musicians drawn from the cream of the British jazz scene.

In recent years, he has continued to play at blues clubs with his "other" bands, including The Charlie Watts Quintet. He's also dabbled in big band jazz with The Charlie Watts Orchestra. They went on to huge success but still regularly play tiny venues like Ronnie Scott's in London's Soho, which is what Watts always wanted to do.

He once said: "I couldn't have made a career out of it. I wasn't good enough. But, God, I love it." Charlie got his name as "the quiet one" when horrified at the results of his first-ever interview in the 1960s, he refused to speak to another journalist for more than 20 years.

Instead, he preferred to leave the one-to-one interviews to his more talkative colleagues - Mick and Keith.

He explained recently: "It's not that there was anything wrong with the interview, I just hated reading about myself. I still do.

"I think if Ronnie Wood were asked what his favourite subject was, he'd say Ronnie Wood. But he's very good at it and I'm not."

Charlie was born in 1941, the son of a British Rail lorry driver. He studied graphic design at Harrow Art College, then took a job in a West End advertising agency.

Around this time, in the early 1960s, he began playing drums in various local groups until he played his first gig with the Stones at the Flamingo Club, Soho in 1963.

But ask him to sum up his career 40 years later, and Charlie Watts is characteristically modest. "I suppose I've seen 40 years of Mick's bum running around in front of me," he once said. "That's all I can see when I'm at the back of the stage. But I'm not complaining. One of the biggest compliments I can have as a drummer is that someone is dancing to you. The drums should dance and they should make you want to dance."

His Stones pals are more gushing about Watts's talent. The biggest cheer on a tour usually comes when Jagger coaxes him out from behind his kit and introduces him to the audience as "Charlie on drums".

And Keith Richards once said: "I couldn't do my stuff if I didn't have Charlie Watts. I don't always realise how blessed I've been to work with a drummer like that for 40 years."

ben.todd@sundaymirror.co.uk

MICK: QUIET ONE MADE US A BAND

THE books and fanzines say The Rolling Stones were officially born on July 12, 1962, at their first gig at London's Marquee Club.

But Mick Jagger has always said the Stones only came into being on January 14, 1963, when Watts joined on drums at Soho's Flamingo Club.

Named after a Muddy Waters song by school friends Mick and Keith, The Stones' best-known line up was Jagger, Richards, Brian Jones, bassist Bill Wyman and Charlie Watts. Together they produced eight No 1s in the 1960s.

They were inducted into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame in 1989 and have released more than 30 albums to date.

YOU DON'T HAVE TO BE A SMOKER

PASSIVE smokers are at as much risk of getting cancer as someone who smokes every day.

Dr Muir Gray, head of the Department of Health's National Cancer Screening, says people who sit in smoky atmospheres inhale the daily equivalent of around three cigarettes.

Dr Gray said: "It is relative - If you are in a smoky pub for three hours then you are 18 times more at risk of contracting cancer than someone who is in there for 10 minutes.'

He warned that passive smoking can be a major contributor to throat cancer, which strikes 7,200 people in Britain every year and is particularly deadly.

[BERIGAN]

Hope he can overcome it! He hasn't looked all that well the last few years....

[DTMX]

Good luck Charlie, but if I had to put money on the last Stone standing, it'd be this guy:

[7/4]

October 3, 2004

Stones Drummer Reportedly Beats Cancer

By THE ASSOCIATED PRESS

Filed at 6:21 p.m. ET

LONDON (AP) -- Rolling Stones drummer Charlie Watts has won a battle with throat cancer, lead singer Mick Jagger said.

Watts, 63, was diagnosed with cancer four months ago and recently finished a successful six-week chemotherapy treatment at a London hospital.

``Charlie has had all his treatments and he's now been cleared and is free of any illness,'' Jagger told the Daily Mirror for Saturday's editions.

The chemotherapy left Watts weak, and he will spend time recovering with his wife, Shirley, before going back to work, the Mirror reported.

The drummer has recently split his time between the Stones and his jazz band, Tentet. Jagger said he hoped to record new material and schedule a tour in the near future for the Stones.

``Keith Richards and I have been writing lots of songs for the new Rolling Stones album,'' Jagger said. ``We haven't booked the tour yet and when we do we'll let you know, but there will definitely be another one.''

[A Lark Ascending]

Great news!

Now go out and buy 'Watts at Scotts' to celebrate, his recent Tentet double CD. A hugely enjoyable disc with great playing by old codgers like Dave Green, Brian Lemon and Henry Lowther and young whippersnappers like Gerard Presencer and Mark Nightingale. With Evan Parker in there to throw things off beam every now and then.

And some of the most beautiful baritone playing I've heard in a while from Julian Arguelles.

[BERIGAN]

Great news!

In case any smokers missed this part of the first article...

Charlie, who is worth an estimated £80million, quit smoking more than 15 years ago.

But throughout his career, he has been a regular performer at jazz clubs -notorious for their smoky atmosphere - whenever he has had any free time from the Stones. And there are fears that, like the

late TV presenter Roy Castle, he has been the victim of passive smoking.

Last night, cancer expert Dr Muir Gray told the Sunday Mirror: "If a heavy smoker quit 10 to 15 years ago then the risks of contracting cancer usually drop to the same as if they had never picked up a cigarette.

"But if they continue to work in a smoky atmosphere, they are still inhaling the equivalent of three cigarettes a day."

Earlier this year, Charlie's bandmate Ronnie Wood said he had been ordered to quit smoking by doctors after traces of deadly lung disease emphysema were found during a routine scan.

Speaking to the Sunday Mirror, Wood confessed: "The doctors said that if I give up smoking now I can nip it in the bud - I still have powerful lungs.

"But they say if I smoke for another year, I could get emphysema and - boom - my lungs could collapse."

George Harrison died of throat cancer in November 2001 after a long battle with the disease which he blamed on his life-long addiction to smoking.Like the former Beatle, Inspector Morse star John Thaw tragically died from throat cancer in February 2002 after a short illness. Journalist and broadcaster John Diamond, 47, was another victim.

Edited October 5, 2004 by BERIGAN

[king ubu]

Won't be up for too long (until Oct. 12, I suppose):

Watts at Scott's

Charlie Watts and The Tentet : Charlie Watts, Dave Green, Luis Jardim, Brian Lemon, Anthony Kerr, Mark Nightingale, Gerald Presencer, Henry Lowther, Peter King, Evan Parker, Julian Argüelles (12.6.2001 - 14.6.2001) - Watts at Scott's

Main stem  (Duke Ellington)

Bemsha Swing  (Thelonious Monk)

Here's That Rainy Day  (Jimmy Van Heusen)

Little Willie Leaps  (Miles Davis)

Elvin's Song  (Charlie Watts, Jim Keltner, Blondie Chaplin, Peter King)

listen here

There are around three or four minutes of talking before it actually starts, so don't give up too fast.

Listening right now, looks interesting enough on Paper, Presencer, Parker and Watts, all in one band!

ubu

[king ubu]

Great news!

Now go out and buy 'Watts at Scotts' to celebrate, his recent Tentet double CD. A hugely enjoyable disc with great playing by old codgers like Dave Green, Brian Lemon and Henry Lowther and young whippersnappers like Gerard Presencer and Mark Nightingale. With Evan Parker in there to throw things off beam every now and then.

And some of the most beautiful baritone playing I've heard in a while from Julian Arguelles.

Hey wait, I didn't follow this thread lately, is the thing I linked to from that CD? Or is it more of the same gig(s)?

ubu

[king ubu]

I just found out. The above thing is a bit less than half of the two CD set, it seems. So go buy the CD!