Passed away at 84

Shirley Watts

widow of Rolling Stones' Drummer Charlie Watts

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Shirley Ann Shepherd Watts, the wife of late Rolling Stones drummer Charlie Watts, died on Friday, Dec. 16. She was 84.

Shirley Ann Watts, a former art student and prominent breeder of Arabian horses who met drummer Charlie Watts

 well before he joined the Rolling Stones and with him formed one of rock’s most enduring marriages, has died at 84.

Shirley Ann Shepherd was born in London in 1938 and was studying sculpture at the Royal College of Art in the early '60s when she first saw her future husband

who at the time was part of the emerging blues and jazz scene in England that also included Jagger and Richards.  They were already dating when Watts joined the Stones early in 1963, and married the following year

Charlie was a member of the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame and Modern Drummer Hall of Fame and was widely regarded to be one of the greatest rock drummers of all time.

"Shirley died peacefully on Friday 16th December in Devon after a short illness surrounded by her family," her family announced on Monday.

According to Charlie, his wife had warm relations with Jagger and Richards and, unlike him, would play the Stones' music around the house.

“She was so funny and clever, and she had the most infectious laugh you’d ever heard,” Charlie Watts said of her when interviewed by The Guardian in 2000. 

“And I loved the world she was in, the world of art and sculpting. I just admired Shirley very, very much.”

"Shirley died peacefully on Friday 16th December in Devon after a short illness surrounded by her family," her family announced on Monday.

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