A handwritten letter from Brian Jones to Charlie Watts, written in 1962 to lure the drummer away from his day job and into what would become the Rolling Stones, is heading to auction with an estimate of $70,000 to $80,000. The letter, kept privately by the Watts family for more than six decades, is being revealed publicly for the first time ahead of the sale.
According to The Guardian, the letter was addressed to “Mr. C. Watts” at his childhood home in Wembley, at a time when Watts was still working in advertising while playing with Alexis Korner's Blues Incorporated. Jones was blunt about why he was writing. In the letter, cited by Rolling Stone, he wrote that “we are looking for a good drummer. Already we consider our band far better than Alex's — we are getting a very tightly-knit sound.”
Jones did not mince words about the drummer he hoped to replace, either. The Guardian's reporting includes a postscript in which Jones declared, “Our present drummer is atrocious!” That unnamed player has since been linked to either Tony Chapman or Carlo Little, both of whom cycled through the group's lineup before Watts came aboard, alongside other short-term drummers including Steve Harris and Colin Folwell, as Rolling Stone's account of the band's early rotating cast of players lays out.
A Reluctant Recruit Who Became a Six-Decade Fixture
Watts did not jump at the offer. Rolling Stone's account notes that Watts initially rebuffed Jones's overture, and it would take time before he formally signed on. He officially joined the Rolling Stones in January 1963 and went on to remain the band's drummer until his death in August 2021, a run the Guardian describes as performing and recording with the group for nearly six decades.
By the time Watts took his seat behind the kit, the lineup around him had taken shape. The Guardian reports that on February 2, 1963, the Rolling Stones performed with an early six-member lineup that included Watts, Bill Wyman, Jones, Keith Richards, Mick Jagger and Ian Stewart — the same core group, per Far Out Magazine's rundown of the band's formation, that would stabilize into the Stones' first enduring configuration.
A Band That Hadn't Even Settled on Its Name
The letter's timing makes it an unusual artifact in rock history. It predates the band even adopting the name The Rolling Stones, according to Far Out Magazine, meaning Jones was pitching Watts on a project that hadn't yet found its own identity, let alone the drummer who would help define its sound for the next sixty years.
Public Viewing Before the December Sale
The letter and its original envelope are part of Sotheby's New York's Rock & Pop Sale on December 15, with Rolling Stone reporting the same $70,000 to $80,000 estimate cited by the Guardian. The Guardian adds that the letter will be on public view at Sotheby's New York from December 2 to December 8, with online bidding continuing until the sale closes.
