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Richard Starkey, MBE (born July 7, 1940 in Liverpool, England), known by his stage name Ringo Starr, is a popular British musician, best known as drummer for The Beatles. Starr is known for his reliable, steady drumming and innovative fills. His everyman personality made him an easy fit with the other Beatles. He was the oldest member of the band, and the last one to join the now familiar Fab Four lineup.

Starr married Maureen Cox in 1965, and they had three children, Zak, Jason, and Lee. The couple divorced in 1975; and in 1981 Starr married actress Barbara Bach, most famous for her role as Major Anya Amasova (female lead and main "Bond Girl") in The Spy Who Loved Me.

Early years

Starr's Mom killed his Dad when he was young; and his mother re-married (to Harry Graves). He was raised in the working class Dingle area of Liverpool. He went through two serious illnesses as a child and spent a total of three years in hospital, thereby falling considerably behind in school; after his last visit to the hospital, at age 15, he could barely read and write.

Like the other Beatles, John Lennon, Paul McCartney and George Harrison, young Ritchie (as he was known in those days) also eventually became caught up in Liverpool's Skiffle craze. In 1957, he started his own group with Eddie Miles called The Eddie Clayton Skiffle Group; then he joined The Raving Texans in 1959, a quartet that played while Rory Storm sang. During this time, he got the nickname Ringo, because of the rings he wore, and because it sounded "cowboyish" (probably a reference to John Wayne's character in Stagecoach), and the last name Starr so that his drum solos could be billed as "Starr Time".

Starr first met The Beatles in Hamburg, in October 1960, while he was performing with Rory Storm and The Hurricanes. When The Beatles removed Pete Best as their drummer on August 16, 1962, Starr was their choice to replace him.

Although Storm was magnanimous about losing Starr, Best fans were upset, holding vigils outside Best's house and fighting at the Cavern Club, shouting "Pete Best forever! Ringo never!"

Role in The Beatles

Starr's drumming style played a pivotal role in the music played and recorded by The Beatles. He filled the role he was hired for in 1962, then went on to establish a new approach to rhythm in popular music that continues to grow in its significance and influence with every decade since The Beatles recorded their music. Starr is left-handed yet plays a right-handed kit; his tendency to lead with his left hand contributes to his distinctive drumming style.

"Before Ringo, drum stars were measured by their soloing ability and virtuosity," said drummer Steve Smith. "Ringo's popularity brought forth a new paradigm in how the public saw drummers. We started to see the drummer as an equal participant in the compositional aspect. One of Ringo's great qualities was that he composed unique, stylistic drum parts for The Beatles songs. His parts are so signature to the songs that you can listen to a Ringo drum part without the rest of the music and still identify the song."

Many drummers list Starr as a major influence including Max Weinberg of The E Street Band, Liberty DeVitto of Billy Joel's band, Phil Collins, and others. According to Collins, Starr is "vastly underrated. The drum fills on the song 'A Day in the Life' are very complex things. You could take a great drummer today and say, 'I want it like that.' They wouldn't know what to do." In his extensive survey of The Beatles' recording sessions, Mark Lewisohn confirmed that Starr was both proficient and remarkably reliable and consistent. According to Lewisohn there were less than a dozen occasions in The Beatles' eight-year recording career where session 'breakdowns' were caused by Starr making a mistake, while the vast majority of takes were stopped due to mistakes by the other three members. Starr has commented that the most difficult drumming he has ever performed was on the 1966 Beatles song "Rain". Starr is also notable for having advanced various modern drumming techniques (for playing and recording) such as the matched grip, placing the drums on high risers for visibility as part of the band, tuning the drums lower, using muffling devices on tonal rings, along with his general contributions to The Beatles as a whole.

Starr did all this without ostentatious flash: the only drum solo in The Beatles' catalogue is on "The End" from Abbey Road, and even there he had to be convinced to do it. The 'Was Ringo a good drummer?' chestnut is, nonetheless, sufficiently in contention for it to still be frequently and hotly argued amongst anyone who has an interest in The Beatles' music and Ringo is frequently the butt of jokes. Many budding or experienced drummers are highly critical of his ability, whilst the layman is quite often more forgiving. This is probably because Starr's technique is relatively, maybe deceptively, basic. Starr commented that the other Beatles gave him very explicit instructions on what to drum so it's worth bearing in mind that he was to an extent "programmed".

John Lennon, Paul McCartney and George Harrison have all said that Starr was the best rock and roll drummer in the world, although when asked in an interview once "Is Ringo Starr the best drummer in the world?" Lennon quipped "He's not the best drummer in The Beatles!" This was in reference to the songs on 1968's White Album "Back In The USSR" and "Dear Prudence", the first two tracks on the album, in which McCartney handled the drumming; Starr had walked out earlier and did not return for two weeks until the other three Beatles urged him to come back. They even went so far as to dress up his drum kit in flowers when he returned. McCartney also played the drums on "The Ballad of John and Yoko" in early 1969 since only Lennon and McCartney were immediately available to record the song. Starr commented that he was lucky in being "surrounded by three frustrated drummers" who could only drum in one style. Certainly, there seems to be some truth to this. McCartney's drumming on "The Ballad of John and Yoko" is simple but slick and apt and it's hard to think how Ringo could have bettered it. On the other hand, on the upbeat rock and roll song "Back in the USSR" the drumming is messy and awkward. Contrast this with "Birthday" in which the heavy and instinctive Starr style drives the energy in the song. Starr also did not play drums on some of the recordings of the Beatles' first-ever single, "Love Me Do", as session drummer Andy White was brought in by The Beatles' producer George Martin.

Starr's easygoing, everyman personality played a major role in The Beatles' success, combining very effectively, Lennon's wit, McCartney's charm, and Harrison's quiet seriousness. With these qualities The Beatles became the "Fab Four". Starr also contributed in areas where the others were weak like public relations (Starr did most of the talking during their press conferences) and acting (Starr being the only reasonably competent actor of the four, being cast in the lead roles in their feature films and specials).

Starr generally sang at least one song on each studio album, as part of establishing the vocal personality of all four members. In some cases Lennon or McCartney would write the lyrics and melody especially for him, as Lennon did with "Good Night", from The White Album and as McCartney did for "Yellow Submarine" from Revolver. Often these melodies would be deliberately limited to take into account Starr's vocal range—most of "With A Little Help From My Friends" is sung within the space of five notes.

Of the four Beatles, Starr did the least songwriting. The Beatles explained that when he would present a song as a contender for an album cut, the song would sound (to the other three Beatles) like a knockoff of another popular song, but Starr did not recognize the similarities until they pointed it out. He did, however, write "Don't Pass Me By" (on The White Album) and "Octopus's Garden" on the album Abbey Road, albeit with quite a bit of help from Harrison. The White Album continued to show Starr's taste for country music that he had brought into the band earlier, such as on the Rubber Soul' album track "What Goes On", which was co-written by Lennon, McCartney and Starr. Starr also wrote "Taking a Trip to Carolina" (on the second CD of the Let It Be... Naked release), and received joint writing credits with the other three Beatles for "Flying", "Dig It", "12-Bar Original", "Los Paranoias", "Christmas Time (Is Here Again)", and The Beatles' version of "Free as a Bird", while "Maggie Mae" was credited as being "Traditional arr. Lennon/McCartney/Harrison/Starkey".

In addition Starr contributed a number of lyrical ideas and song titles to Lennon and McCartney, although sometimes unintentionally. One of the most famous examples of this was the title for the band's first motion picture, A Hard Day's Night. Starr had emerged from the studio after a long day of work and commented to the others that it had been a "hard day's..." - before he finished his sentence, Starr noticed that it was now night time and added "night". Lennon and McCartney liked the twisted phrase enough that they decided to use it as the title for the still untitled movie the band had been filming. Starr also contributed to the lyrics of the Clapton/Harrison song "Badge". According to a Clapton interview, the lines

I told you 'bout the swans that live in the park.

Then I told you 'bout our kid, now he's married to Mabel.

were conceived by Starr.

When McCartney and Lennon wondered about the future of their careers, Ringo would say "Tomorrow never knows", the title of a song featured on the album Revolver.

After The Beatles

After the breakup of The Beatles on April 10, 1970, Starr released two albums before the end of that year. Sentimental Journey featured Starr's renditions of many pre-rock standards and included the production talents of Quincy Jones, George Martin and Paul McCartney, among others. His next album, Beaucoups of Blues, put Starr in a country context, and included legendary Nashville session musician Pete Drake. In 1971, he scored hit singles with "It Don't Come Easy" and then "Back Off Boogaloo" the following year. The latter has been his biggest UK hit at #2, although he has achieved two #1 hits in the US with "Photograph" (co-written with Harrison) and "You're Sixteen".

He also participated in The Concert For Bangla Desh organised by Harrison in 1971, as well as drumming on Harrison's All Things Must Pass, Lennon's John Lennon/Plastic Ono Band, and Yoko Ono's early solo work. Indeed, his song "Early 1970" (the B-side of "It Don't Come Easy") voiced a hope that he could remain friendly with and play music with all three of his former Beatles bandmates. Starr then made his debut as a film director in the T. Rex documentary Born to Boogie. Starr became firm friends with T.Rex frontman Marc Bolan and during the period of filming the documentary Starr released the single 'Back Off Boogaloo'. The song is credited to Starr but is strongly reminiscent of Bolan's driving rock style of the time and Bolan's punning and surreal wordplay. Starr remains the only Beatle to have failed to top the UK singles charts. He is also the only Beatle to have failed to top the UK album listings, his highest position being #7 achieved with both Sentimental Journey and Ringo. He has reached #2 in the USA with the album Ringo.

The 1973 Ringo album is arguably his greatest solo work and remains his biggest selling collection. Lushly produced by Richard Perry with participation by all three former bandmates on different tracks. It was a major triumph and Starr became the most commercially successful ex-Beatle at that time. The Goodnight Vienna album followed the next year and was also successful. Hits and notable tracks from these two albums included, from the former, "Photograph", "You're Sixteen" (written by the Sherman Brothers), "I'm the Greatest" (written by Lennon), and from the latter "Only You (And You Alone)", and "No No Song". Starr's recording career subsequently diminished in impact, although he continued to sporadically release albums. In 1980, Harrison wrote "All Those Years Ago" for Starr to sing on the Stop and Smell the Roses album, but the guitarist took it back and sang a re-written version himself following John Lennon's murder. Starr and McCartney also played on Harrison's track. Starr was interviewed by Rolling Stone and Musician around this time.

In 1975, Starr started his own record label called Ring O'Records but only four albums have been released on that label between 1975 and 1978 ("Startling Music" by David Hentschel, "Graham Bonnet" by Graham Bonnet, "Restless" by Rab Noakes and a rerelease of an Apple Records album by John Tavener, "The Whale"). There was also 16 singles by different artists such as Bobby Keys, Carl Grossman, Colonel Doug Bogie, David Hentschel, Graham Bonnet, Suzanne, Johnny Warman, Stormer, Rab Noakes and Dirk & Stig (the last being names of characters from The Beatles pastiche band "The Rutles", created by Eric Idle and Neil Innes.)

Beginning in 1989, following a stint in detox for alcoholism, Starr became a visible presence on the summer touring scene, organizing a series of concert tours under the name Ringo Starr and His All-Starr Band, teaming with well-known musicians from various different rock eras. The format of the concerts has Starr singing a couple of his Beatles or solo songs, then each of the other musicians taking a turn to sing one of their songs with Starr behind the drums, then Starr singing a couple more, then another go around, and so on. In this way Starr is relieved from having to carry the full burden of the show and the audience gets to hear a variety of music. The eighth such All-Starr Band tour took place in 2003.

Other than the films Starr did with The Beatles, (A Hard Day's Night (1964), Help (1965), Magical Mystery Tour (1967), Yellow Submarine (1968), Let It Be (1970)), he has acted in several films such as, Candy (1968), The Magic Christian (1969) (alongside Peter Sellers), Son of Dracula (1974) and Caveman (1981). He starred as Larry the Dwarf in Frank Zappa's 200 Motels (1971). His voice is featured in Harry Nilsson's animated film The Point! (1971). He was especially well-received in the British film That'll Be the Day (1973) where he co-starred as a Teddy boy. He also played "The Pope" in Ken Russell's Lisztomania (1975).

In 1971, he started a furniture company with Robin Cruikshank and sold $4,000 coffee tables and a donut-shaped fireplace designed by Starr. short article and picture

When John Lennon was shot in 1980, Ringo Starr and his wife Barbara went to comfort Lennon's widow Yoko.

In 1984, he narrated on the children's television series Thomas the Tank Engine and Friends. Starr was unsure about taking the role at first, having never read the Reverend Awdry's books before, and at the time, he admitted that he'd have preferred to have done a project relating to dinosaurs instead. Nevertheless, he did have a change of heart and took the role; although he only narrated the first two series, he is still remembered as 'the' narrator. Ringo also portrayed the character Mr. Conductor on that program's American spinoff Shining Time Station, which debuted in 1989.

In 1985, he played the Mock Turtle in the film version of "Alice in Wonderland."

In 1991, he appeared as himself on the cartoon The Simpsons. He was the first Beatle to ever appear on the show. In 1996, he appeared in a Japanese advertisement for apple juice; not coincidentally, ringo (林檎) is Japanese for apple.

In the mid-1990's, Starr appeared in a Pizza Hut advertisement, pronouncing that the time is ripe for "the lads" to get back together. At the commercial's pay-off, he is joined by three members of The Monkees and quips to the camera, "Wrong lads."

In 2001 Starr and Harrison were both guest musicians on the Electric Light Orchestra album "Zoom", playing on two tracks each.

In 2002 Starr was inducted into the Percussive Hall of Fame joining the elite group of percussive inductees, which includes Buddy Rich and William F. Ludwig, Sr. and his son.

On November 29, 2002, Starr performed "Photograph" at the Concert For George held in the Royal Albert Hall, London on the first anniversary of Harrison's death. According to the official website, "Ringo Starr caught everyone with a tear in their eye with a rendition of Photograph, a composition he wrote with George, which seemed to sum up how everyone felt."

When drummer Carl Palmer was asked by fans at Mexico City about his drumset he used in an Emerson, Lake, and Palmer tour (reportedly valued at $25,000), Carl Palmer's answer was that he sold it to Ringo.

In 2003 Starr began recording for the independent label Koch Records, releasing Ringo Rama that year and Choose Love in 2005; the former includes his stylish tribute to Harrison called "Never Without You", and the latter features appearances by Billy Preston and Chrissie Hynde.

In January of 2005, it was announced that comic book creator Stan Lee would be working with Starr to produce a new animated musical superhero based on Starr.

In September 2005 Liverpool City Council decided they would bulldoze Starr's birthplace as it had "no historical significance". , despite a previous reprieve back in July. . The LCC later announced that the building would be taken apart brick by brick and preserved after all.

Of the members of The Beatles, only Starr has yet to be elevated to the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame as a solo artist.

Only Ringo Starr was not included in the 100 Greatest Britons list which includes John Lennon, Paul McCartney and George Harrison.

Ringo's Website is updated by Starr himself on a somewhat regular basis.

Ringo Starr's mantra is "Peace and Love, Peace and Love, Peace and Love".

All-Starr Band editions

1. 1989 Ringo Starr, Clarence Clemons, Rick Danko, Levon Helm, Dr. John, Jim Keltner, Nils Lofgren, Billy Preston, Joe Walsh
2. 1992 Ringo Starr, Timmy Cappello, Burton Cummings, Dave Edmunds, Nils Lofgren, Todd Rundgren, Timothy B. Schmit, Zak Starkey, Joe Walsh
3. 1995 Ringo Starr, Randy Bachman, Felix Cavaliere, John Entwistle, Mark Farner, Billy Preston, Mark Rivera, Zak Starkey
4. 1997-98 Ringo Starr, Gary Brooker, Jack Bruce, Peter Frampton, Simon Kirke, Mark Rivera (dropped in rehearsals – Dave Mason)
5. 1999 Ringo Starr, Gary Brooker, Jack Bruce, Timmy Cappello, Simon Kirke, Todd Rundgren (dropped off before start – Joe Walsh)
6. 2000 Ringo Starr, Jack Bruce, Eric Carmen, Dave Edmunds, Simon Kirke, Mark Rivera
7. 2001 Ringo Starr, Sheila E., Greg Lake, Ian Hunter, Howard Jones, Roger Hodgson, Mark Rivera
8. 2003 Ringo Starr, Paul Carrack, Sheila E., Colin Hay, Mark Rivera, John Waite
9. 2006 Ringo Starr, Rod Argent, Mark Hudson, Richard Marx, Billy Squier, Mark Rivera, Sheila E., Edgar Winter

Discography

For a detailed discography, see: Ringo Starr discography

Filmography

For a detailed filmography, see: Ringo Starr Filmography

External links

• RingoStarr.com — Official Website, featuring video updates from Ringo
• Ringo Starr and His All-Starr Band
• Ringo Starr at IMDb
• Ringo's paintings
• Ringo Starr lyrics — A collection of lyrics organized by album from lyrics.info

• Ringo Starr
• The Beatles
• 1940 births
• Living people
• English actors
• People known by pseudonyms
• Vegetarians
• Members of the Order of the British Empire