Beatle Brunch - Ringo Starr

Ringo Starr

Richard Starkey was born July 7th 1940 in Liverpool. Measures 5ft. 8 in., weight 134 lbs. Eyes: blue. Hair: brown with gray streak over the right ear. Likes Ray Charles, steak with french fries, fast cars, sleek suits and neatly-dressed girls. Began with Liverpool’s Darktown Skiffle outfit, drummed with other groups including Rory Storm’s Hurricanes before meeting The Beatles in a club and joining them in 1962. Dislikes traveling in the early morning, setting up his drums in a hurry, onions, motorcycles and Chinese food. Has no brothers or sisters.

Though he was the last piece of the Beatle puzzle, Ringo is the dean of the Beatles, because he is the oldest, just three months older than John.

Ringo was very sick as a child, and spent several years in the hospital, battling Appendicitis and Peritonitis. It was while he was in the hospital that he learned to play the drums when one of the nurses had the boys in the ward play an electronic percussion instrument, marked with colors. He got a set of drums from a relative and the rest is history.

Ritchie got the nickname Ringo because he was known for wearing multiple rings on his fingers. Ringo met The Beatles in Germany when they played there with Pete Best as their drummer. Ringo used to sit in when Pete was sick, so when The Beatles began to tire of Pete, they asked Ringo to join the group. He gave 10 days notice to The Hurricanes, then came aboard and never looked back. Ringo has often called himself “the luckiest man alive” for getting the part of the humble drummer. And while Ringo’s songwriting skills are not up to par with Lennon and McCartneys, or Georges, he was usually awarded a vocal track on each Beatle album. Beatle fans have come to identify Ringo with songs like “Yellow Submarine” and “With a Little Help From My Friends” and he loves to perform them in concert.

In 1965, Ringo married Maureen Cox. They had three kids, two boys and a girl. The oldest, Zak, became a professional drummer who toured with Ringo’s All Starr Band in the late 80's and 90's, and later became The Who’s drummer. Ringo and Maureen were divorced in 1976.

In 1982, Ringo met actress Barbara Bach on the set of the film, “Caveman”, and they were married shortly thereafter. They are still together today. Barbara Bach and Patti Boyd-Harrison-Clapton have recently joined together and formed a substance abuse clinic.

Like George, when The Beatles broke up, Ringo broke out. He was a regular on the pop charts in the 70's, scoring big with the remakes, “Only You” and “You’re 16". He wrote some 70's classics, including “Photograph” and “It Don’t Come Easy”. Ringo also had a big hit with "Goodnight Vienna". Ringo loved making The Beatles films, and after they stopped touring, began making films with Peter Sellers and others. While the other three would embark upon writing careers, Ringo was happy just to star in the occasional flick. "The Magic Christian" also featured "Come and Get it", written by Paul McCartney and recorded by the Apple band, Badfinger.

In the 70's and 80's, like many rock stars, Ringo had terrible time with substance abuse and alcohol, but has now been completely clean for more than 10 years. Ringo regularly works out in the gym and drinks a lot of bottled water. In addition to his work in films, Ringo also pursued a musical career. Starr's first solo project, Sentimental Journey (1970), produced by George Martin, captured some of his favorite songs that he heard while growing up. Ringo's next project was a country & western album, Beacoups of Blues, (1971) recorded in Nashville in just two days. From Nashville Starr went straight to LA and began work on what would eventually become the smash release Ringo, (1973) which yielded 3 "Top 10" singles and a number one. This also marked the first time since the break up that all the Beatles participated in the same project, though not at the same time. (Paul plays mouth organ on “You’re 16" - George plays on and co-wrote "Photograph" - and John wrote and played on "I'm the Greatest"). It has been called the last Beatles album.

Between the years 1974 - 1978 Ringo continued to make and release albums, which included: Goodnight Vienna in 1974; Rotogravure in 1976; Ringo the 4th in 1977; and in 1978 Bad Boy, which included a television special with Art Carney and Carrie Fisher. 1981 - ”Caveman is a stupid, silly, and altogether infantile little prehistoric comedy… but damn if it doesn’t make me laugh! Ringo Starr, Barbara Bach, Shelley Long, and Dennis Quaid in loincloths are being chased by the goofiest stop-motion dinosaurs ever committed to celluloid." Ringo later married Barbara Bach and they are still together today.

Ringo is the one member of the band to stay very close to each of the others. When John Lennon was shot in 1980, he was the only one to rush to the Dakota to be by Yoko’s side. He has continued his close relationship with Paul, by drumming on many of his songs since the Beatle days, and had visited with George regularly. Ringo has a home in Los Angeles and an apartment in Monte Carlo, where the tax laws are very lenient toward wealthy individuals.

1989 saw Ringo hit the road with his first All Starr Band. "Ringo and His All Starr Band" included his friend and former collaborator Joe Walsh, E-Streeters Nils Lofgren and Clarence Clemmons, Levon Helm and Rick Danko from the Band, Ringo's old friend Billy Preston (the first 5th Beatles), the legendary Dr. John and fellow drummer Jim Keltner. The tour met with great success and yielded Ringo's first live album, released on Rykodisc in 1990 and titled simply, Ringo and His All Starr Band. Ringo was also the first Beatle to appear on the popular cartoon sitcom "The Simpsons" which he recorded during this time.

In 1992 Ringo released Time Takes Time on Private Music. Hailed by the New York Times critic Allan Kozinn as "Starr's best: more consistently pleasing than Ringo, [Time Takes Time] shows him as an assured performer and songwriter." Ringo was also very proud of this release which boasted a broad selection of great songs including the singles "Weight of the World," and "Don't Go Where the Road Don't Go," as well as the infectious "In A Heartbeat," a collaboration with Brian Wilson. Later that same year Ringo put together his second All-Starr band, which saw Ringo tour Europe for the first time since the Beatles. This line-up featured Nils Lofgren as musical director, former Eagle Timothy B Schmidt playing beside his band-mate Joe Walsh, legendary rockers Todd Rundgren and Dave Edmunds, the Guess Who's Burton Cummings, percussionist and alongside his Dad on drums, Zak Starkey. Ringo later released another live album in 1993, recorded in Montreaux Switzerland, entitled Ringo and His All Starr Band Vol 2.

In 1995, while the Beatles dominated the Billboard charts in early Spring owing to the Capitol release of the BBC Recordings, Ringo put together his third All Starr Band. This time the band welcomed the return of All-Starr 1 member Billy Preston, and from the second tour, Ringo's son Zak. The line-up also featured BTO's Randy Bachman, Grand Funk's Mark Farner, John Entwistle from the Who, Felix Cavaliere of the Young Rascals and Mark Riviera. 1995 also saw the "impossible" happen - the Beatles reunite to record two new singles. Owing to technology (and a demo of John's found by Yoko), they record "Free As A Bird" and "Real Love." The first single, "Free As A Bird," was released in November 1995 along with the long awaited "Beatles Anthology" - the definitive story of the Beatles told by the Beatles - which aired over three nights, (November 19, 20 and 21), in the States on ABC and throughout the world on various networks. Over 148 million viewers saw it (47 million in the U.S. alone).

By 1997 The Beatles won 3 Grammy's for the Anthology series. In addition, over 1 billion dollars in merchandise was sold; while the CD's released by Capitol Records (The Beatles Anthology 1, 2 & 3), sold over 20 million copies (41% of the buyers were ages 12-25): and each Anthology release garnered a number one spot on Billboards Top 200 fresh out of the box and were the fastest selling and highest grossing releases in history. Ringo has been touring with his "All-Star Band" for many years, and will continue doing so. While Paul is on tour, Ringo will take a break

New Ringo CD Features George Harrison Tribute
"Ringo Rama", the new solo album from Ringo Starr, is out from Koch Records. Ringo's first studio album since 1998 features guest appearances from Eric Clapton, David Gilmour and others. The album's first single will be "Never Without You," a tribute to Starr's late Beatles mate George Harrison, that features a guitar solo by Clapton. In a statement, Starr said the song is "my way... to say how much George meant to me and how much he will be remembered... I wanted Eric to come and play that solo because I only wanted people on the track who George knew and loved."

Written by Starr, "Ringo Rama" producer Mark Hudson, and Gary Nicholson, the song's chorus tells Harrison that "your song will play on/Without you/And this world/Won't forget/About you/Every part of you was in your song...'Here Comes The Sun' is about you." Starr said he also tried to pay tribute to his other late bandmate, John Lennon, but "it got too busy."

Discography:

1970 SENTIMENTAL JOURNEY Apple	1970 BEAUCOUPS OF BLUES Apple	1973 "RINGO" Apple
1974 GOODNIGHT VIENNA Apple	1975 BLAST FROM YOUR PAST Apple	1976 RINGO'S ROTOGRAVURE Atlantic
1977 RINGO THE 4TH Atlantic	1978 BAD BOY Portrait	1981 STOP AND SMELL THE ROSES Boardwalk
1983 OLD WAVE RCA	1989 STARR STRUCK: BEST OF RINGO STARR Rhino	1990 RINGO STARR AND HIS ALL-STARR BAND Rykodisc
1992 TIME TAKES TIME Private	1993 RINGO STARR AND HIS ALL-STARR BAND : LIVE FROM MONTREUX Rykodisc	1997 RINGO STARR AND HIS THIRD ALL-STARR BAND (Volume 1) Blockbuster
1998 VERTICAL MAN Mercury	1998 VH1 STORYTELLERS Mercury	1999 I WANNA BE SANTA CLAUS Mercury
2001 RINGO STARR AND HIS ALL-STARR BAND: THE ANTHOLOGY... SO FAR Koch Records	2002 KING BISCUIT FLOWER HOUR PRESENTS RINGO & HIS NEW ALL-STARR BAND Razor & Tie	2003 Ringo Rama (Features a single that is a tribute to George.) Koch Records Comes with a DVD
2005 Choose Love	2007 Photograph: The Very Best of Ringo Starr	2007 Ringo Starr Live at Soundstage
	2008 Ringo Starr Liverpool 8