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'Our drummer is atrocious': Brian Jones's letter begging Charlie Watts to join the Rolling Stones will be auctioned in New York

The Rolling Stones, whose founder Brian Jones wrote to Charlie Watts in June 1962 urging him to join, with a postscript mocking his then-current drummer as "atrocious.
The Rolling Stones, whose founder Brian Jones wrote to Charlie Watts in June 1962 urging him to join, with a postscript mocking his then-current drummer as "atrocious.

A handwritten letter from Rolling Stones co-founder Brian Jones to Charlie Watts, written on 3 June 1962 and never previously seen in public, is expected to fetch up to $80,000 at Sotheby's New York's Rock and Pop sale on 15 December. Jones sent the letter to Watts's childhood home in Wembley, writing it weeks before the Stones' first official gig. In it he complained of their "atrocious" drummer and pressed Watts to leave Alexis Korner's Blues Incorporated. The letter remained in the Watts family's hands for more than six decades and has been supplied to Sotheby's by the late drummer's sister.

Watts turned Jones down at the time — he eventually joined the Stones in January 1963, seven months after receiving the letter.

In a postscript, Jones listed the band's pre-Stones lineup as two guitars, harmonica, piano and drums, adding that a bass guitar was soon to join the setup.

The letter will make its first public appearance on 2 December at Sotheby's New York, ahead of the December auction.

MoreThe Independent‘Dear Charlie...’ Letter Brian Jones wrote to future Rolling Stones drummer up for auction - The IndependentThe Times‘Our drummer is atrocious’: unseen Rolling Stones letter for saleThe IndependentWhat Brian Jones wrote to Charlie Watts before he joined the Rolling Stones, revealed for the first time
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