Tom Dunne: I was too upset to play Stones songs when I heard the news

Music & Me: The death of Charlie Watts hit me more than I expected, but then I've loved his band for more than 40 years

The Rolling Stones posing with a group of ladies, during rehearsals for ABC's 'Thank Your Lucky Stars' TV pop music show at Teddington Studios, London, 11th November 1964. From left to right, Bill Wyman, Keith Richards, Mick Jagger, Brian Jones and Charlie Watts. (Photo by Terry O'Neill/Getty Images)

Fri, 27 Aug, 2021 - 08:43

Tom Dunne is a music-lover extraordinaire who, as well as presenting radio and TV shows, can also be seen in the wild as the lead singer with Something Happens.

Charlie Watts’ death banjaxed me. I tried to play Rolling Stones' songs on the show when I heard, but I had to stop. I was too upset.

It begs the old question: why do people in bands mean so much to us? Why do we care? It makes sense in your teens but I’m not in my teens. “I’m an adult now,” as The Pursuit of Happiness once sang, “I’ve got the problems of an adult, on my head and on my shoulders, I’m an adult now.”