.

Stones' Watts Has Cancer

Drummer undergoing radiotherapy

By 
August 16, 2004 12:00 AM ET
Rolling Stones drummer Charlie Watts is suffering from throat cancer.

"Following a minor operation in June, Charlie Watts is reaching the end of radiotherapy," read a statement from Watts' publicist. "He is expected to make a full recovery and start work with the rest of the band later in the year."

The sixty-three year-old drummer is the band's oldest member, and his understated demeanor distinguishes him from his flamboyant fellow Stones. Watts and the Stones toured last year, and on August 24th the jazz-minded drummer will release the double-disc live album Watts at Scott's, gleaned from a 2001 performance that included songs by Thelonius Monk, Duke Ellington and a rejiggered cover of the Stones' own "(I Can't Get No) Satisfaction."

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