Brian Jones's 1962 Letter Recruiting Charlie Watts Heads to Sotheby's

A handwritten 1962 letter from Brian Jones asking Charlie Watts to join his unnamed new band goes up for auction at Sotheby's New York on 15 December, with an estimate of $70,000 to $80,000 (£52,000-£60,000).

The letter, which comes directly from Watts's sister, has stayed in the family for more than six decades. It will be shown to the public for the first time when it goes on view at Sotheby's New York from 2 to 8 December. Online bidding opens 2 December and closes at the Rock & Pop sale on 15 December.

The document captures the Rolling Stones before they were the Rolling Stones. Watts was working in advertising in 1962 while playing with Alexis Korner's Blues Incorporated, one of the leading groups in London's rhythm and blues scene. He was hesitant about Jones's fledgling band, which did not yet have a name.

The letter arrives with its original envelope, addressed to "Mr. C. Watts" at his childhood home in Wembley. Jones opens with an apology: "Dear Charlie, if you consider this letter rather impertinent, please excuse me."

He then asks about Watts's work with Blues Incorporated before making his pitch: "We are looking for a good drummer. Already we consider our band far better than Alex's – we are getting a very tightly-knit sound."

What does the postscript reveal?

The most quoted line sits in a postscript. Jones lists the band's existing lineup — two guitars, harmonica, piano and drums — notes plans to add a bass guitar eventually, and delivers a blunt verdict on the man Watts would replace: "Our present drummer is atrocious!"

The courtship didn't land immediately. It took another seven months before Watts officially joined the Rolling Stones in January 1963, by which point bassist Bill Wyman had also signed on. On 2 February 1963, the band performed with its early six-member lineup: Watts, Wyman, Jones, Keith Richards, Mick Jagger and pianist Ian Stewart.

Keith Richards later described the effort in his autobiography Life, recalling that the musicians trimmed their own budgets to bring Watts in. "We starved ourselves to pay for him!" he wrote.

Why the letter matters

Sotheby's frames the letter as foundational evidence, written weeks before the Rolling Stones' first performance and months before Watts joined. "Few documents bring us as close to the formation of a legendary band as this letter," said Craig Inciardi, Sotheby's music and pop culture specialist.

Inciardi added that it "captures the excitement and ambition of a band on the cusp of history" and "stands as an extraordinary first-hand record of the moment Brian Jones set out to recruit the drummer whose distinctive sound would help shape one of the most influential bands in rock history."

The gamble paid off for nearly sixty years. Watts drummed with the Stones, performing and recording, until his death in August 2021. For collectors, the December sale offers a rare chance to own the paperwork behind that decision — and for everyone else, a first look at a document that has never left the Watts family until now.