Mick Jagger has spoken about how he still misses Rolling Stones bandmate and friend Charlie Watts, two years after the drummer’s tragic death.
Charlie sadly passed away in August 2021 at the age of 80, following complications from emergency heart surgery.
Speaking to SiriusXM’s CBC, Sir Mick, 80, opened up about the loss and their long-lasting friendship after first meeting in their teens.
He said: ‘I knew him since I was 19 and I used to hang out with Charlie a lot. He was one of my good friends.’
Rock and Roll frontman further revealed how the pair shared an unlikely interest in both antiques and cricket.
Candid: Mick Jagger, 80, has spoken about how he still misses late Rolling Stones bandmate and friend Charlie Watts two years after the drummer’s tragic death
Friends: Sir Mick (right) spoke about the loss and his friendship with Charlie (left), who he first met as a teenager (pictured in 1964)
‘Charlie and I had a lot of interests besides playing in a band. We loved football and cricket. Charlie and I often went to cricket together.’
He also said that although Charlie supported Arsenal, he was a fan of rival football club Tottenham, proving the competition between the pair.
‘Charlie has a lot of knowledge of football. He played football when he was a child. He was pretty good. Much better than me’.
And then say, ‘Charlie loved beautiful objects. He loved antiques, he loved furniture. So we talked about that stuff a lot.”
Mick also recalled how he and his good friend listened to reggae music “before it was mainstream” with their shared love of different music genres.
It comes after the band sent fans wild when they confirmed they will return 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 the death of drummer Charlie.
The rock band confirmed that a series of big stars have collaborated on their album, including Lady Gaga and Stevie Wonder.
RIP: The drummer sadly passed away in August 2021 at the age of 80, following complications from emergency heart surgery (LR) (Charlie Watts, Mick Jagger, Ronnie Wood and Keith Richards in 2003)
Close: He further revealed how the pair shared an unlikely interest in both antiques and cricket (pictured together in 1981)
And Sir Mick also revealed exactly how their decision to work with Lady Gaga, 37, came about, saying it was a fairly spontaneous collaboration.
He talked about how Lady Gaga was recording her own music in a studio next door while they were in Los Angeles and just stopped by to say hello.
But the singer then ended up on their new song 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 to clean it up a bit.”
The new album, recorded in December and January in studios around the world, sees the Stones team up with Grammy-winning producer Andrew Watt, who helped curate the star-studded roster, which also includes former Stone Bill Wyman.
Quiet: Rock and Roll frontman further revealed how the pair shared an unlikely interest in both antiques and cricket (Charlie pictured in 2016)
Big news: It comes after the band sent fans wild when they confirmed they will return to the music scene with their first album of new material in 18 years
Bill was part of the band’s first stable line-up, performing on their first 19 albums, and now returns for Hackney Diamonds.
Sir Mick said of Bill’s involvement: ‘We asked Bill to come in and play one song so we have the original line-up on one song.’
On 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, gave a sizzling performance as she donned a leather crop top and matching skimpy shorts.
In the video, directed by Francois Rousselet, Sydney reenacts the lyrics of the single as she performs a series of dance moves in the back of a car driving through Los Angeles.