Name – Ringo Starr | Born – 07/1940 | Nationality – British | Genre – Pop/Rock
Ringo Starr is one of the most well known people on the planet (as if you didn’t know that!). He found fame with The Beatles in the early 1960’s, and then went on to have a career as a solo artist, and has also played with many versions of his All Starr band.
His drumming with The Beatles is a pretty hot hot topic among drummers. Many people see his playing as quite basic, while others appreciate his creativity, fills, and unique style.
Basic or not, Ringo has cemented himself as one of the drumming and music world’s biggest icons, and he has inspired millions of people.
Perhaps one of the most appealing things about Ringo Starr is his fun-loving and easy going personality. His message to fans and people all over the world is quite simple – “Peace and Love”.
Biography
Ringo Starr was born as Richard Starkey in Liverpool, England on July 7th, 1940. He lived with his parents in a small terraced house in a poor working class area of Liverpool called the Dingle. His life got off to a tough start as his parents divorced when he was just 3 years old. Richard, now known as Ritchie, then moved with his mother to a smaller, nearby house in Liverpool.
Throughout much of his childhood, Ritchie suffered from variuos illnesses which kept him from attending school. These included a ruptured appendix that caused him severe stomach pains, and this led to an inflamed peritoneum.
He had surgery to resolve the problem and was in a coma for two months. He eventually woke up and started to recover, but after six months he fell out of his hospital bed and got a concussion, keeping in hospital for another six months.
When he finally got back to school he found that he was way behind with his studies and struggled to catch up. He didn’t really care about school anyway, and often didn’t bother to go. He didn’t even take his final exam and left to go secondary school at age 11.
In 1953 at age 13, his poor health continued to disrupt his life, he caught a bad cold that became chronic pleurisy, meaning more time spent in a children’s hospital. And to make things worse, he had further lung complications that kept him in hospital untill 1955. When he finally came out of hospital age 15, he didn’t stand a chance of catching up at school, so decided to look for some work.
Ritchie tried a few different jobs, first as a delivery boy, then a barman on a ferry, and then he started a new job as a trainee joiner. On his first day at his new job Ritchie hurt his finger and he knew it wasn’t for him. He started to get into the Skiffle scene that was sweeping country, and formed an amatuer band called ‘The Eddie Clayton Skiffle Group’ with his friend Eddie Clayton. His mother had remarried by this time, and in 1957 Ritchie’s step father bought him a Premier drum set. Ritchie, promised to be the best musician, ever.
With his new found passion, Ritchie started playing with different local bands in Liverpool. He learned his craft as best he could and developed his skills, becoming an active player in Liverpool’s Skiffle craze. He wasn’t an amazing drummer, and could only play what he had taught himself. But, he did start to form an original sound, partly because he was a left-handed player who played on a right-handed drum set.
Ritchie moved from band to band, but eventually he got the drum seat for a group called ‘The Raving Texans‘ who were the backing band for singer Rory Storm. They later became known as ‘Rory Storm & The Hurricanes‘ and they became quite a popular local band at that time.
While Ritchie was with the group, Rory Storm persuaded him to change his name to something more flashy, as it would help his career as a musician. Ritchie wore rings on his fingers, so they called him ‘Rings’ which when changed to ‘Ringo’, and then his last name was shortend to ‘Starr’ – ‘Ringo Starr’.
He even had ‘Ringo Starr’ written on his front bass drum head. The Hurricanes started to have more success and became the top group in Liverpool.
By 1960, Rory Storm & The Hurricanes were playing in Hamburg, topping the bill at the Kaiserkeller club. Here Ringo met another band from Liverpool, ‘The Beatles‘. Both bands ended up playing at the Kasierkeller club, splitting the long twelve hour shifts between them.
The bands became friends and Ringo Starr got on especially well with George Harrison. He would often stay and watch The Beatles play after The Hurricanes had finished their shift. After the season had finished, both bands returned to Liverpool and played the local club circuit. Ringo would often help out by stepping in and playing drums for The Beatles as substitute for their drummer Pete Best.
By 1962, The Hurricanes were now following in the shadow of The Bealtes and another group called ‘Gerry And The Pacemakers‘. The Beatles had passed an audition at Abbey Road studios in London with A & R man George Martin, but they needed a replacement drummer. George Martin and the band weren’t happy with the playing of their current drummer Pete Best. They needed someone reliable to fill the position and Ringo Starr was the best they knew and they liked him.
At this time, Ringo decided he wanted to leave The Hurricanes and join a band called ‘The Seniors‘. But, before he had chance, he was approached by The Beatles who asked him to join them permanently. Ringo accepted, Pete Best was out of the group, and The Beatles as we know them had truly formed.
On The Bealtes’ return to Liverpool, they played a gig at the now famous Cavern club were longtime fans began chanting “Pete forever, Ringo never!”. Ringo didn’t get off to a good start with the band, and found it difficult to fully become part of the gang.
On September 4th 1962, the band went into the recording studio to record Love Me Do. George Martin wasn’t sure Ringo’s part was good enough, so a session drummer was brought in to play Ringo’s part instead.
However, Ringo’s drumming was eventually used on the recording, and his drumming wasn’t questioned again. He started to settle with the band, and it was soon like he had been with them for years.
Love Me Do charted in the UK and made it to the top of the US charts. It was the beginning of an extraordinary career that would make him and the other members of the band the most famous and loved musicians in the world.
With The Beatles, Ringo Starr demonstrated his ability to play for the song, give a a steady groove, and look like he was having a great time doing it. The band went on to release further succesful albums and had cracked America before they even set foot on US soil. A round of UK and US tours commenced, with Ringo flopping around his ‘Beatle mop top’ to the delight of their screaming audiences. He was an easy going, funny character and he became known as the ‘Loveable’ Beatle.
Apart his drumming and likeable personality, Ringo Starr also contributed some suprisingly good acting performances in the band’s movies – A Hard Day’s Night
By 1965, The Beatles had released six albums, their latest being the slightly more experimental Rubber Soul
Earlier in the year, Ringo Starr married his childhood sweetheart Mary Cox. It had to be kept a secret from the fans though, to keep the screaming girls thinking they had a chance. Ringo was delighted when their first son, Zak Starkey, was born on September 13th.
Throughout the mid to late 1960’s, Ringo and The Beatles released another five albums which helped transform popular music into a much more experimental and complex art form. They were the biggest band in the world and were at the front of the cultural revolution in the 60’s.
However, there were tensions within the group, and Ringo even left briefly during recording sessions for The White Album
Ringo’s drumming, while often understated, was essential to the sound and feel of The Beatles music. His playing on The White Album and Abbey Road
Towards the end of the decade in 1969, tensions within the band were starting to to come to a head once again, and the band split while putting together their last album . They did reform to finish the record, but the bitterness bewteen Paul and John espcially meant that they had gone as far as they could. Let It Be
Ringo Starr was the only member of the group that generally stayed on good terms with all the others. During 1970 he played drums on John Lennon’s Plastic Ono Band
But, most notably it was the start of Ringo’s solo career and he released two albums – Sentimental Journey
Throughout the first half of the 1970’s, Ringo Starr started having some success releasing two more albums – Ringo
However, by the middle of the decade, the cracks were starting to show in Ringo’s marriage to Mary. Ringo was enjoying having a good time and Mary wasn’t part of the equation. They split up in 1975. Later in the year, Ringo moved to Monte Carlo for tax purposes, but also spent much of his time in Los Angeles.
During the last half of the 1970’s, Ringo released further solo albums – Ringo’s Rotogravure
In 1979, Ringo’s health problems resurfaced. He had servere intestinal problems related to the illnesses he’d suffered as a child. He had to go into hospital and was at one stage very close to death. Thankfully, doctors were able to operate and remove a large quantity of his intestine to save his life. However, later that year, the bad luck continued when his Los Angeles home was burned down. He wasn’t hurt but he lost most of his Beatles memorabilia in the fire. It marked the end of a pretty disapointing couple of years for Ringo.
At the start of the new decade in 1980, Ringo met and fell in love with Barbara Bach during the filiming of the movie Caveman. Later in the year the two of them were fortunate to survive a very bad car crash.
However, Ringo’s long time friend and fellow Beatles member, John Lennon, wasn’t so fortunate. He was murdered on December 8th, and it hit Ringo and the remaining Beatle members hard.
Throughout the early part of the 1980’s, Ringo got back to recording and released a couple of albums – Stop and Smell the Roses
But, the downturn in his solo career wasn’t about to change and neither album did well. Ringo moved back to England and married his girlfriend Barbara, and also found time to contribute some drum parts to Paul McCartney’s Pipes Of Peace album.
The rest of the 1980’s were fairly quiet for Ringo. His solo career was totally in the dumps, and he had started to drink a lot. He still did a few things though, including the voice over for kids tv show Thomas The Tank Engine, appearing in the movies Water, When We Was Fab, and The Return Of Bruno, and playing drums on George Harrison’s Cloud album. He was also well paid to appear in tv commercials, but a lot of lost money when a restaurant business venture failed.
At the end of the 80’s, Ringo’s alcohol problem was pretty severe and he checked into rehab to get himself back on track. He sobered up and started to promote his next venture – Ringo Starr And His All Starr Band. The group was made up of famous musicains who would play each others songs and generally put on a fun show for audiences. Tour dates were announced and they hit the road later that year getting a great response.
Having finished the 1980’s on a high, Ringo Starr and his All Starr band released a live album and a live video of their performances in 1990, both selling very well. He also started to work on a new solo album. During the rest of the early 90’s, he went on tour again with new line ups of his All Starr band, released his new album Time Takes Time, appeared at a few different charity concerts, and released Ringo Starr And The All Starr Band Volume 2. Ringo had really bounced back from his low point and was enjoying his life once again.
The later half of the decade was just as busy for Ringo, doing more world tours with a few different line ups of his All Starr band, and yet more live albums. He was also recognised for his playing and inducted into the Modern Drummer Hall Of Fame.
Ringo Starr released another long awaited solo album called Vertical Man
Ringo’s success and popularity continued into the new millenium and he launched the sixth version of his All Starr Band who toured the US in 2000. And to mark a decade of All Starr tours, the album Ringo And His All Starr Band: The Anthology…So Far
A couple of years later in 2003, Ringo’s next solo album Ringo Rama
Ringo Starr continues to play live and record with new versions of his band, and is still hugely popular among older and younger generations. His fun-loving and good natured personality, as well as his important contribution to drumming and to music, make him one of the music world’s most cherished individuals. Quite simply, Ringo Starr is a living legend.
