Often appearing as a mere onlooker who didn't really want to be there, Charlie Watts - 'the silent Stone' - embraced fame reluctantly. Yet, ironically, if any one of the Stones could have made it big without the rest, it surely would have been Watts, who showed as much early promise as an artist as he did a jazz drummer.

Understated and seemingly underwhelmed, Watts provided a stark contrast to the brash Keith Richards and the bohemian Brian Jones, and was, in some ways, an unlikely candidate for the drummer's stool. Forty years later, however, he is regarded by many as the one factor that has kept the band going, bringing vitality to their music as well as artistry to their album covers.

Charlie Watts, remarkably the first biography of the drummer, continues Alan Clayson's study of The Rolling Stones with an intriguing insight into the life of the man who has been keeping time for the Stones for over four decades.

Alan Clayson is a noted writer and author of many musical biographies, including The Beatles Box biography set.