(CelebrityAccess) — Charlie Watts, the Rolling Stones’ longtime drummer is dropping out of the band’s No Filter tour for health reasons and is unlikely to return.
According to Rolling Stone, Watts, who is 80, underwent an unspecified but successful medical procedure and needs time to recover.
“Charlie has had a procedure which was completely successful, but I gather his doctors this week concluded that he now needs proper rest and recuperation. With rehearsals starting in a couple of weeks it’s very disappointing to say the least, but it’s also fair to say no one saw this coming,” rep for the band said in a statement.
While he wasn’t the original drummer for the Stones, Watts joined the Stones in 1963 and is the only member of the group, apart from Mick Jagger, to appear on all of the band’s studio albums.
Steve Jordan, a longtime associate of the band who also performs with Keith Richards’ side project X-Pensive Winos, will step in for Watts for the remainder of the tour.
“For once my timing has been a little off. I am working hard to get fully fit but I have today accepted on the advice of the experts that this will take a while. After all the fans’ suffering caused by Covid I really do not want the many RS fans who have been holding tickets for this Tour to be disappointed by another postponement or cancellation. I have therefore asked my great friend Steve Jordan to stand in for me,” Watts added.
