Brian Jones’s 1962 letter recruiting Charlie Watts heads to auction
A handwritten 1962 letter in which Brian Jones tried to recruit Charlie Watts to his fledgling band, soon to become the Rolling Stones, is going to auction. Preserved by Watts’s family for more than six decades, it offers a rare glimpse of the band’s early ambitions and the drummer’s eventual place in its history.
Jones asked Watts to leave Alexis Korner’s Blues Incorporated, claiming his own group already sounded “far better” and describing its current drummer as “atrocious”. Watts joined seven months later, in January 1963, after bassist Bill Wyman had also come aboard. The letter is estimated at $70,000 to $80,000 (£52,000 to £60,000); it will be displayed at Sotheby’s New York from 2 to 8 December, with bidding running until the 15 December sale.
In short
- Brian Jones’s 1962 letter recruiting Charlie Watts is heading to auction.
- The note calls the band’s drummer “atrocious”.
- It is estimated to sell for up to $80,000.
Explained simply
The Rolling Stones began in London in the early 1960s, when guitarist Brian Jones was putting together a band shaped by American blues music. Charlie Watts was then playing drums with Alexis Korner’s Blues Incorporated, an influential group in Britain’s blues scene.
Jones’s letter shows him trying to persuade Watts to switch bands, but Watts did not join the Stones until January 1963. He became their drummer for decades, as the group grew into one of the best-known rock bands in the world. The letter is of interest as a record of the band’s beginnings and Watts’s eventual role in its history.
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Originally published by The Guardian as “‘Dear Charlie’: letter revealing move to snare future Rolling Stones drummer up for auction”.