The news comes weeks after it was announced that Watts would miss the band’s US tour dates to recover from an unspecified medical procedure, after he was treated for throat cancer in 2004.
He had been a member of the Stones since January 1963, when he joined Mick Jagger, Keith Richards and Brian Jones in their fledgling group.
Watts helped them become, with The Beatles, one of the bands who took rock ‘n’ roll to the masses in the 60s.
