Rolling Stones drummer Charlie Watts dies at 80

• The Rolling Stones drummer Charlie Watts has died at 80.
• His death comes weeks after withdrawing from an upcoming US tour for health reasons.
• Watts was a member of the Rolling Stones for nearly 60 years.

The Rolling Stones drummer Charlie Watts has died, his publicist said in a statement published on the band's Twitter profile.

Watts - who joined the legendary rock band in 1963 before it rose to international fame - was 80 years old.

"He passed away peacefully in a London hospital earlier today surrounded by his family," the publicist said on Tuesday.

"Charlie was a cherished husband, father and grandfather and also as a member of The Rolling Stones one of the greatest drummers of his generation," the statement added. "We kindly request that the privacy of his family, band members, and close friends is respected at this difficult time."

Watts announced in early August that he was dropping out of the Stones' upcoming US tour, opting to have Steve Jordan replace him, after undergoing an undisclosed medical procedure.

"I am working hard to get fully fit but I have today accepted on the advice of the experts that this will take a while," he had said in a statement to CNN.

He was the third-longest-running Rolling Stones member, behind Mick Jagger and Keith Richards. His last concert with the band took place in Miami on August 30, 2019.

Watts was reserved and largely avoided the limelight. In a 1986 interview with the BBC, he described promotional media appearances as a "waste of time" and famously summed up his career with the Rolling Stones as "work five years, and 20 years hanging around."

Unlike his bandmates' flair and flash, Watt's performance style was laid-back yet precise. He is widely recognized as one of the most skilled drummers of all time.

In a 2012 review of a Rolling Stones concert in Brooklyn, New York, Billboard described Watts as "the heart of the Stones' rhythm."

"For all of Mick and Keith's supremacy, there's no question that the heart of this band is and will always be Watts," the review said. "At 71, his whipcrack snare and preternatural sense of swing drive the songs with peerless authority."

Along with his work with the Stones, Watts had a number of side projects in which he explored jazz, including the Charlie Watts Orchestra and the A, B, C & D Of Boogie Woogie.

In fact, Watts insisted that he wasn't originally fond of rock music. He drummed with local British jazz bands in the late '50s before officially launching his career with Alexis Korner's Blues Incorporated.

Watts became acquainted with Brian Jones, Jagger, and Richards during his time with Korner on London's R&B club circuit. They convinced him to join the Rolling Stones after their original drummer, Tony Chapman, quit in 1962.

"Every band I'd ever been in had lasted a week," Watts said, according to The Associated Press. "I always thought the Stones would last a week, then a fortnight, and then suddenly, it's 30 years."

In 1989, Watts and the other members of the Stones were inducted into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame.

Other music legends have paid tribute to Watts on social media, including his fellow drummer Ringo Starr, Carole King, Brian Wilson, Paul McCartney, and Elton John.

"A very sad day. Charlie Watts was the ultimate drummer," John wrote. "The most stylish of men, and such brilliant company."

"Love you Charlie. I've always loved you, beautiful man," McCartney said in a video.

Many offered condolences to Watts' wife, Shirley, whom he met before getting famous and married in 1964, as well as the couple's daughter and granddaughter, Seraphina and Charlotte.