Charlie Watts Reportedly Quits The Rolling Stones

Charlie Watts has left The Rolling Stones, according to a story from Down Under. Australian website undercovernews.com.au is reporting that the veteran drummer has decided not to tour or record with the band again. However, a Stones source insists the story is “fabricated”.

A source, said to be close to the Stones, is quoted as saying: “Charlie Watts has quit the band. He will never record or tour with them again. The Stones are looking to Keith’s Expensive Winos drummer Charlie Drayton to fill the void in all future Stones’ callings.”

However, a spokesperson for the Stones, Fran Curtis, told EW.com there is no truth to the rumours: “Contrary to a fabricated story that ran this morning,” he says, “Charlie Watts has not left The Rolling Stones.’’

There are suggestions that the Stones are planning major activity in 2010. But if this story is true they’ll have to do without their 68-year-old drummer for the first time since 1963.

Many believe that Watts has wanted out for a while; Richards reportedly had to persuade him to join the tour for 2005’s A Bigger Bang, the group’s last studio album.