Authorized Charlie Watts Biography Hitting Shelves This Fall

An authorized biography of late Rolling Stones drummer Charlie Watts will hit shelves this fall.

Charlie’s Good Tonight: The Authorized Biography of Charlie Watts will arrive on Sept. 15 in the U.K. and Oct. 11 in the U.S. The book documents Watts’ nearly-six-decade tenure with the Stones, from their early days in London R&B clubs to their status as debauched stadium-rock titans. It is available for preorder through HarperCollins Publishers’ website now.

Written by author, journalist and broadcaster Paul Sexton, who has covered the Stones for more than 30 years, Charlie’s Good Tonight will feature forewords from both Mick Jagger and Keith Richards, as well as a prelude by original band manager and producer Andrew Loog Oldham. It will also include exclusive and previously unseen photos of Watts, as well as new interviews with Jagger, Richards, Ronnie Wood and numerous family members, friends and collaborators of the drummer, who died on Aug. 24, 2021, at the age of 80.

“Our dear friend Charlie Watts was not just a fantastic drummer but a wonderful person,” the Rolling Stones said in a statement. “He was funny and generous and a man of great taste and we miss him terribly. It’s great that his family have authorized this official biography by Paul Sexton, who’s been writing and broadcasting about Charlie and the band for many years.”

Sexton said in his statement: “One of Charlie’s good friends said to me that he was a very easy man to love. Having had the pleasure of his company on so many occasions over the course of more than a quarter of a century, that’s a sentiment I echo wholeheartedly. To be able, with the help and encouragement of those who knew him best, to draw on my time with this unique man and his fellow Rolling Stones to write his authorized biography, is a thrill and an honor.”