Cancer Type – Throat
Bio – Charlie Watts the drummer for the Rolling Stones may be glad he quit smoking when he did.
Short Story – The laid-back drummer was an excessive smoker until quitting in the late 1980’s, yet this habit almost cost him his life. Diagnosed in 2004 with lung cancer, Charlie Watts went through six weeks of chemotherapy to cure his cancer.
People who smoke or otherwise use tobacco are at risk of developing tumors of the throat. Malignant tumors can harm the vocal cords, voice box (larynx), and other areas of the throat. Charlie was 63 when he was diagnosed. In the same year of his diagnosis, Mick Jagger released a statement to the United Kingdom’s Daily Mirror for Saturday’s editions, “Charlie has had all his treatments and he’s now been cleared and is free of any illness.”
Image Credits – By Siebbi (Charlie Watts) [CC BY 3.0 (http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/3.0)], via Wikimedia Commons
| Background information | |
| Birth name | Charles Robert Watts |
| Born | 2 June 1941 (age 75), Kingsbury, London, England |
| Genres | Rock, jazz, blues |
| Occupation(s) | Musician, composer, producer |
| Instruments | Drums |
| Years active | 1959–present |
| Labels | Decca, Rolling Stones, Virgin |
| Associated acts | Blues Incorporated, The Rolling Stones, The Charlie Watts Tentet |
| Notable instruments | |
| Gretsch Drums | |
