Mick Jagger has spoken about how he still misses late Rolling Stones bandmate and pal Charlie Watts two years after the drummer’s tragic death.
Charlie sadly passed away in August 2021 aged 80, following complications from emergency heart surgery.
Speaking to SiriusXM’s CBC Sir Mick, 80, opened up about the loss and their long-standing friendship after first meeting in their teens.
Saying: ‘I knew him since I was 19, and I hung out a lot with Charlie. He was one of my close friends’.
Rock and Roll frontman went on to reveal how the pair had a shared unlikely interest in antiques as well as cricket.
Candid: Mick Jagger, 80, has spoken about how he still misses late Rolling Stones bandmate and pal Charlie Watts two years after the drummer’s tragic death
Friends: Sir Mick (right) opened up about the loss and his friendship with Charlie (left) who he first met as a teen (pictured in 1964)
‘Charlie and I had a lot of interests outside of just playing in a band. We loved football and cricket. Charlie and I used to go to cricket together a lot’.
He also said how while he supported Arsenal, Charlie was a fan of rival football team Tottenham which proved competition between the pair.
‘Charlie’s very knowledgeable about [football] He used to play football hen he was a kid. He was pretty good. Much better than me’.
Before going on to say: ‘Charlie loved beautiful objects. He liked antiques, he liked furniture. So we talked a lot about things like that.’
Mick also recalled how he and his close friend were listening to reggae music ‘before it was mainstream’ with their shared love of different musical genres.
It comes after the band sent fans wild when they confirmed they will be returning to the music scene with their first album of new material in 18 years.
Sir Mick, Keith Richards and Ronnie Wood reunited at a special live event for their new album Hackney Diamonds, their first since drummer Charlie’s death.
The rock band confirmed that a string of huge stars have collaborated on their album, including the likes of Lady Gaga and Stevie Wonder.
RIP: The drummer sadly passed away in August 2021 aged 80, f ollowing complications from emergency heart surgery (L-R) Charlie Watts, Mick Jagger, Ronnie Wood and Keith Richards in 2003)
Close: He went on to reveal how the pair had a shared unlikely interest in antiques as well as cricket (pictured together in 1981)
Low key: Rock and Roll frontman went on to reveal how the pair had a shared unlikely interest in antiques as well as cricket (Charlie pictured in 2016)
And Sir Mick also revealed exactly how their decision to work with Lady Gaga, 37, came about, sharing that it was a rather spontaneous collaboration.
He told how Lady Gaga was recording her own music in a studio next-door to them while they were in Los Angeles and had simply popped in to say hello.
But the singer then ended up featuring on their new track Sweet Sound of Heaven when she spontaneously started singing with Sir Mick.
‘She walked in next to me and we started singing together,’ Jagger told AP backstage. ‘She sang it live and then we went in and tidied it up a bit.’
Recorded in December and January at studios around the world, the new album sees the Stones team up with Grammy-winning producer Andrew Watt, who helped assemble the starry guest list, which also includes former Stone Bill Wyman.
Big news: It comes after the band sent fans wild when they confirmed they will be returning to the music scene with their first album of new material in 18 years
Guests: The rock band confirmed that a string of huge stars have collaborated on their album, including the likes of Lady Gaga (pictured) and Stevie Wonder
Bill was part of the band’s first stable line-up and performed on their first 19 albums, and is now returning for Hackney Diamonds.
Sir Mick said of Bill’s involvement: ‘We asked Bill to come in and do one track so we have the original line-up on one track.’
Among the star-studded guest list, The Rolling Stones also enlisted actress Sydney Sweeney to star in the music video for the album’s lead single Angry.
In the video, the Euphoria star, 25, put on a sizzling display as she slipped into a leather crop top and matching skimpy shorts.
The video, directed by Francois Rousselet, sees Sydney miming the lyrics to the single as she strikes a series of dance moves in the back of a car driving through Los Angeles.
