Photo Charlotte Schultz

By André Ribeiro
Charlotte Schultz ran
the Rolling Stones Fan Club Office (RSFCO) for 45 years. Then, because she was
tired of all those years as head of the fan-club and needed more time for her
personal projects, she decided it was time to stop in 2009.

Pia Schultz is
Danish, but she’s now living in France and gently gave us the following
interview, sharing her experiences and memories of many of Stones concerts she
attended, mostly in the Brian Jones era. Nowadays, Charlotte has almost no more time for the
band, but her memories are alive and will be shared exclusively with Stones
Planet Brazil.

STONES PLANET BRAZIL – The Rolling Stones
Fan Club Office began in 1964 in your bedroom, at your parents’ house in
Denmark. How was it for you to begin it? Why did you want to start the
fan-club?
CHARLOTTE SCHULTZ –  In 1958
when I was 10 years old my interest started for music, I became a member in a
Elvis Presley fan club in England and a couple of years later, my father asked
me, if I would like to help a danish artist with her fan mail. Her bigger
sister worked as a secretary for him, and the artist was Gitte Hænning from
Denmark. She is still a big name in Scandinavia and Germany. I put her signed
photo and in envelopes and sent them back to the record company in Germany. So
it all started. Together with two others we spoke about starting a fan club in
end of 1963, and we wrote to Beatles, and they already had a fan club in
Denmark, then it was Rolling Stones. We got a reply, that they already have one
for Scandinavia in Holland. I wrote back and told them Holland is not Denmark
so we got the permission to start the fan club for Denmark and Sweden. We got
many members directly and did a little fanzine on a dublicator.
SPBR – How did you get a permission to start an official Fan Club in Scandinavia and in the UK? You received a document agreeing with this, but who gave you this permission?
CHARLOTTE – The
fan club was for Scandinavia then and official with the permission from the UK
fan club runned by Annabelle Smith. When we did so good, they concentrated
about Rolling Stones Monthlies with 30 editions of the fanzine, just like we
did with Stones Planet a lot of years after.
SPBR – Do you remember the
first Stones concert you attended? Where and when was it and how did you feel?
What impressed you more about it?
CHARLOTTE – The first concert I saw was in Copenhagen at
Tivoli Concert hall and in March 1965. It was a great moment. We met the
roadies on a chicken restaurant before, and we got their autographs before the
show.
SPBR – Stones’ fans have a
strong curiosity about Brian. How was he on stage, and how was his interaction
with the band?
CHARLOTTE – I liked Brian Jones a lot, he was so nice and
sweet. I dont remember any problems between the band members at that time.
SPBR – To witness a Stones
concert in the 60’s is an astonishing thing, and we can only dream about it.
What can you tell us about the interaction of the band with the audiences and
the screaming fans? By the way, were you one of these screaming fans at their
concerts too?
CHARLOTTE – The shows were very noisy from both sides. The
people screamed and the band played along. A few shops were interrupted after
riots, one of them was in Tennis Hallen in Stockholm. Both boys and girls
screamed as far as I remember.
SPBR – Did you have any kind
of direct contact with the band (and especially with Brian) during all those
years? Can you share your memories about it, if this happened?
CHARLOTTE – I met Stones a couple of times in London, and
Charlie I helped with horses for his farm. It was a great pleasure.
SPBR – Brian’s death was
traumatic for every Stones fan all over the world. Can you tell us about the
impact it had on your life and on the fan club?
CHARLOTTE – I married the same day as Brian died in the
pool. Do I need to say more…
SPBR – After Brian’s death,
Mick Taylor was announced as his replacement. How was the fans’ reaction at the
time and how did you feel about Taylor being in the band? And after Taylor’
departure, how did you feel when Ronnie entered the band?
CHARLOTTE – Mick
Taylor were OK and so were Ronnie, but the originals could never be replaced.
SPBR – Nowadays, are you
still interested in the Stones and their music?
CHARLOTTE – I hear the band from time to time in radio but I
dont play my collection at all anymore. May interest for music is 1958-1962 and
in connection with the style played at the offshore radio at that time from
Radio Mercur, DCR.
SPBR – The RSFCO published a
newsletter in the 60’s. How was it at that time and do you see any similarities
with the Stones Planet Fanzine, published between 1999 and 2009?
CHARLOTTE – The newsletter we did before was a little thing
and Stones Planet was the great work, Blue Lena (Tamara Guo from USA) took good care of the editing
of that.
Photo André Ribeiro
Stones Planet Fanzine: some issues.
SPBR – Why did you decide to
finish the fan club? Was it because of lack of support from the band? Did you
lose interest for their music? Or was it because the competition between the
fans and fan websites?
CHARLOTTE – My interest for the band ran out in the sand, as
I had so much other things to care about with country houses and the offshore
music.
It was a fun time, but I think fan clubs time
with magazine is over and out now at these days with multimedia and so many
other possibilities.
SPBR – If the Rolling Stones
could read this interview, what would you like to tell them? And do you have
anything to say to the hardcore Stones fans that are reading this interview
right now?
CHARLOTTE – Your guys in the band didn’t gave lot of
attention to your local fan club secretaries allover the world. Life is more
than money, and I think the Stones missed something there.
RSFCO t-shirt and logo
RSFCO fan card
** Translation: Cristiano Radtke