Age, Biography, and Wiki
Ringo Starr is 84 years old as of 2024. Born in Liverpool, England, Starr began his musical career in the late 1950s. He joined The Beatles in 1962, replacing Pete Best and completing the lineup that would become one of the most influential bands in history. Known for his distinctive drumming style and charismatic personality, Ringo sang lead vocals on several Beatles tracks, including "With a Little Help from My Friends" and "Yellow Submarine." His personal life has been well-documented, including his marriage to Maureen Cox and later to Barbara Bach.
| Occupation | Voice Actors |
|---|---|
| Date of Birth | 7 July 1940 |
| Age | 85 Years |
| Birth Place | Liverpool, England |
| Horoscope | Cancer |
| Country | England |
Height, Weight & Measurements
Ringo Starr stands at 5 feet 8 inches (173 cm) and has a weight of approximately 170 pounds (77 kg). Although specific measurements may vary, his height and weight are well-documented.
The first All-Starr excursion led to the release of Ringo Starr and His All-Starr Band (1990), a compilation of live performances from the 1989 tour. Also in 1990, Starr recorded a version of the song "I Call Your Name" for a television special marking the 10th anniversary of John Lennon's death and the 50th anniversary of Lennon's birth. The track, produced by Lynne, features a supergroup composed of Lynne, Tom Petty, Joe Walsh and Jim Keltner. The following year, Starr made a cameo appearance on The Simpsons episode "Brush with Greatness" and contributed an original song, "You Never Know", to the soundtrack of the John Hughes film Curly Sue. In 1992, he released his first studio album in nine years, Time Takes Time, which was produced by Phil Ramone, Don Was, Lynne and Peter Asher and featured guest appearances by various stars including Brian Wilson and Harry Nilsson. The album failed to achieve commercial success, although the single "Weight of the World" peaked at number 74 in the UK, marking his first appearance on the singles chart there since "Only You" in 1974.
Tjinder Singh of the indie rock band Cornershop said Starr was a pioneering drummer: "There was a time when the common consensus was that Ringo couldn't play. What's that all about? He's totally unique, a one-off, and hip hop has a lot to thank him for." In his book The Complete Beatles Recording Sessions, Mark Lewisohn says there were fewer 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 Beatles. Starr influenced various modern drumming techniques, such as the matched grip, tuning the drums lower, and using muffling devices on tonal rings. According to Ken Micallef and Donnie Marshall, co-authors of Classic Rock Drummers: "Ringo's fat tom sounds and delicate cymbal work were imitated by thousands of drummers."
Starr sang lead vocals for a song on most of the Beatles' studio albums as part of an attempt to establish a vocal personality for each band member. In many cases, Lennon or McCartney wrote the lyrics and melody especially for him, as they did for "Yellow Submarine" from Revolver and "With a Little Help from My Friends" on Sgt. Pepper's Lonely Hearts Club Band. These melodies were tailored to Starr's limited baritone vocal range. Because of his distinctive voice, Starr rarely performed backing vocals during his time with the Beatles, but they can be heard on songs such as "Maxwell's Silver Hammer" and "Carry That Weight". He is also the lead vocalist on his compositions "Don't Pass Me By" and "Octopus's Garden". In addition, he sang lead on "I Wanna Be Your Man", "Boys", "Matchbox", "Honey Don't", "Act Naturally", "Good Night" and "What Goes On".
| Height | 5 feet 8 inches |
| Weight | 77 kg |
| Body Measurements | |
| Eye Color | |
| Hair Color |
Dating & Relationship Status
Ringo Starr has been married twice: first to Maureen Cox from 1965 to 1975, and then to Barbara Bach in 1981, with whom he is still married. His personal life has been relatively stable, with a strong focus on his family and career.
He is the only child of confectioners Richard Starkey (1 October 1913 – 5 December 1981) and Elsie Gleave (19 October 1914 – 1 January 1987). Elsie enjoyed singing and dancing, a hobby that she shared with her husband, an avid fan of swing. Prior to the birth of their son, whom they called "Ritchie", the couple had spent much of their free time on the local ballroom circuit, but their regular outings ended soon after his birth. Elsie adopted an overprotective approach to raising her son that bordered on fixation. Subsequently, "Big Ritchie", as Starkey's father became known, lost interest in his family, choosing instead to spend long hours drinking and dancing in pubs, sometimes for several consecutive days.
In an effort to reduce their housing costs, his family moved in 1944 to another neighbourhood in the Dingle, Admiral Grove; soon afterwards his parents separated, and they divorced within the year. Starkey later stated that he has "no real memories" of his father, who made little effort to bond with him, visiting as few as three times thereafter. Elsie found it difficult to survive on her ex-husband's support payments of thirty shillings a week, so she took on several menial jobs cleaning houses before securing a position as a barmaid, an occupation that she held for twelve years.
At the age of six, Starkey developed appendicitis. Following a routine appendectomy he contracted peritonitis, causing him to fall into a coma that lasted days. His recovery spanned twelve months, which he spent away from his family at Liverpool's Myrtle Street children's hospital. Upon his discharge in May 1948, his mother allowed him to stay at home, causing him to miss school. At age eight, he remained illiterate, with a poor grasp of mathematics. His lack of education contributed to a feeling of alienation at school, which resulted in his regularly playing truant at Sefton Park. After several years of twice-weekly tutoring from his surrogate sister and neighbour, Marie Maguire Crawford, Starkey had nearly caught up to his peers academically, but in 1953, he contracted tuberculosis and was admitted to a sanatorium, where he remained for two years. During his stay the medical staff made an effort to stimulate motor activity and relieve boredom by encouraging their patients to join the hospital band, leading to his first exposure to a percussion instrument: a makeshift mallet made from a cotton bobbin that he used to strike the cabinets next to his bed. Soon afterwards, he grew increasingly interested in drumming, receiving a copy of the Alyn Ainsworth song "Bedtime for Drums" as a convalescence gift from Crawford. Starkey commented: "I was in the hospital band ... That's where I really started playing. I never wanted anything else from there on ... My grandparents gave me a mandolin and a banjo, but I didn't want them. My grandfather gave me a harmonica ... we had a piano – nothing. Only the drums."
Starkey attended St Silas, a Church of England primary school near his house where his classmates nicknamed him "Lazarus", and later Dingle Vale Secondary modern school, where he showed an aptitude for art and drama, as well as practical subjects including mechanics. As a result of the prolonged hospitalisations, he fell behind his peers scholastically and was ineligible for the 11-plus qualifying examination required for attendance at a grammar school. After the extended hospital stay following Starkey's recovery from tuberculosis, he did not return to school, preferring instead to stay at home and listen to music while playing along by beating biscuit tins with sticks. On 17 April 1954, Starkey's mother married Harry Graves at the register office on Mount Pleasant, Liverpool. He was an ex-Londoner who had moved to Liverpool following the failure of his first marriage. Graves, an impassioned fan of big band music and their vocalists, introduced Starkey to recordings by Dinah Shore, Sarah Vaughan and Billy Daniels. Graves stated that he and "Ritchie" never had an unpleasant exchange between them; Starkey later commented: "He was great ... I learned gentleness from Harry."
Soon after Trafford piqued Starkey's interest in skiffle, the two began rehearsing songs in the manufacturing plant's cellar during their lunch breaks. Trafford recalled: "I played a guitar, and [Ritchie] just made a noise on a box ... Sometimes, he just slapped a biscuit tin with some keys, or banged on the backs of chairs." The pair were joined by Starkey's neighbour and co-worker, the guitarist Eddie Miles, forming the Eddie Miles Band, later renamed Eddie Clayton and the Clayton Squares after a Liverpool landmark. The band performed popular skiffle songs such as "Rock Island Line" and "Walking Cane", with Starkey raking a thimble across a washboard, creating primitive, driving rhythms. Starkey enjoyed dancing as his parents had years earlier, and he and Trafford briefly took dance lessons at two schools. Though the lessons were short-lived, they provided Starkey and Trafford with an introduction that allowed them to dance competently while enjoying nights out on the town.
By November 1962, Starr had been accepted by Beatles fans, who were now calling for him to sing. He began receiving an amount of fan mail equal to that of the others, which helped to secure his position within the band. Starr considered himself fortunate to be on the same "wavelength" as the other Beatles: "I had to be, or I wouldn't have lasted. I had to join them as people as well as a drummer." He was given a small percentage of Lennon and McCartney's publishing company, Northern Songs, but derived his primary income during this period from a one-quarter share of Beatles Ltd, a corporation financed by the band's net concert earnings. He commented on the nature of his lifestyle after having achieved success with the Beatles: "I lived in nightclubs for three years. It used to be a non-stop party." Like his father, Starr became well known for his late-night dancing and he received praise for his skills.
Relations within the Beatles deteriorated during the recording of the White Album, and there were occasions where only one or two members were involved in the recording of a track. Starr had become tired of McCartney's increasingly overbearing approach, Lennon's passive-aggressive behaviour, and the near-constant presence of Lennon's wife Yoko Ono. After one particularly difficult session which included McCartney harshly criticising his drumming, Starr briefly quit the Beatles and went on holiday to Sardinia, where he and his family stayed on a boat loaned to them by actor Peter Sellers. During a lunch there, the chef served octopus and Starr refused to eat it; an ensuing conversation with the ship's captain about the animal inspired Starr's song "Octopus's Garden" from the Beatles' album Abbey Road, which he wrote using a guitar during the trip. Two weeks later, he returned to the studio to find that Harrison had covered his drum kit in flowers as a welcome-back gesture.
Following Lennon's murder in December 1980, Harrison modified the lyrics of a song he had originally written for Starr, "All Those Years Ago", as a tribute to their former bandmate. Released as a Harrison single in 1981, the track, which included Starr's drum part and overdubbed backing vocals by McCartney, peaked at number two in the US charts and number 13 in the UK. Later that year, Starr released Stop and Smell the Roses, featuring songs produced by Nilsson, McCartney, Harrison, Ronnie Wood and Stephen Stills. The album's lead single, the Harrison-composed "Wrack My Brain", reached number 38 in the US charts, but failed to chart in the UK. Lennon had offered a pair of songs for inclusion on the album – "Nobody Told Me" and "Life Begins at 40" – but following his death, Starr did not feel comfortable recording them. Soon after the murder, Starr and his girlfriend Barbara Bach flew to New York City to be with Lennon's widow Yoko Ono.
In 1994, he began a collaboration with the surviving former Beatles for the Beatles Anthology project. They recorded two new Beatles songs built around solo vocal and piano tapes recorded by Lennon and gave lengthy interviews about the Beatles' career. Released in December 1995, "Free as a Bird" was the first new Beatles single since 1970. In March 1996, they released a second single, "Real Love". The temporary reunion ended when Harrison refused to participate in the completion of a third song. Starr then played drums on McCartney's 1997 album Flaming Pie. Among the tracks to which he contributed, "Little Willow" was a song McCartney wrote about Starr's ex-wife Maureen, who died in 1994, while "Really Love You" was the first official release ever credited to McCartney–Starkey.
Starr served as an honorary Santa Tracker and voice-over personality in 2003 and 2004 during the London stop in Father Christmas's annual Christmas Eve journey, as depicted in the annual NORAD tracks Santa program. According to NORAD officials, he was "a Starr in the east" who helped guide North American Aerospace Defense Command's Santa-tracking tradition.
In 1985, he was the first of the Beatles to become a grandfather upon the birth of Zak's daughter Tatia Jayne Starkey. Zak is also a drummer, and he spent time with the Who's Keith Moon during his father's regular absences; he has performed with his father during some All-Starr Band tours. Starr has eight grandchildren: two from Zak, three from Jason, and three from Lee. In 2016, he was the first Beatle to become a great-grandfather.
| Parents | |
| Husband | Maureen Cox (m. 1965-1975) Barbara Bach (m. 1981) |
| Sibling | |
| Children |
Net Worth and Salary
As of 2025, Ringo Starr's net worth is estimated to be around $350 million. This impressive sum comes from his successful career with The Beatles, his solo music projects, touring, acting roles, and numerous business ventures. His net worth is bolstered by continuous royalties from The Beatles' extensive music catalog, which continues to generate significant revenue.
By early 1960, the Hurricanes had become one of Liverpool's leading bands. In May, they were offered a three-month residency at a Butlins holiday camp in Wales. Although initially reluctant to accept the residency and end his five-year machinist apprenticeship that he had begun four years earlier, Starr eventually agreed to the arrangement. The Butlins gig led to other opportunities for the band, including an unpleasant tour of US Air Force bases in France about which Starr commented: "The French don't like the British; at least I didn't like them." The Hurricanes became so successful that when initially offered a highly coveted residency in Hamburg, they turned it down because of their prior commitment with Butlins. They eventually accepted, joining the Beatles at Bruno Koschmider's Kaiserkeller on 1 October 1960, where Starr first met the band. Storm's Hurricanes were given top-billing over the Beatles, who also received less pay. Starr performed with the Beatles during a few stand-in engagements while in Hamburg. On 15 October 1960, he drummed with John Lennon, Paul McCartney and George Harrison, recording with them for the first time while backing Hurricanes singer Lu Walters on the song "Summertime". During Starr's first stay in Hamburg he also met Tony Sheridan, who valued his drumming abilities to the point of asking Starr to leave the Hurricanes and join his band.
Starr met actress Barbara Bach in 1980 on the set of the film Caveman, and they were married at Marylebone Town Hall on 27 April 1981. Starr and Bach split their time between homes in Cranleigh in Surrey, Los Angeles, and Monte Carlo. He was listed at number 56 in the Sunday Times Rich List 2011 with an estimated personal wealth of £150 million. In 2012, he was estimated to be the wealthiest drummer in the world. In 2014, Starr announced that his 200 acre Surrey estate at Rydinghurst at Cranleigh was for sale, with its Grade II-listed Jacobean house. However, he retains a property in the London district of Chelsea off King's Road, and he and Bach continue to divide their time between London and Los Angeles.
Career, Business, and Investments
Ringo Starr's career is marked by his iconic tenure with The Beatles, where he played a crucial role in shaping the band's sound. After The Beatles disbanded, Starr pursued a successful solo career, releasing hit singles like "It Don't Come Easy" and "Photograph." He has also had a notable acting career, appearing in films such as "Candy," "The Magic Christian," and "Caveman." Additionally, Starr has been involved in various other projects, including narrating "Thomas & Friends" and authoring books like "Photograph".
After his return home from the sanatorium in late 1955, Starkey entered the workforce but was lacking in motivation and discipline; his initial attempts at gainful employment proved unsuccessful. In an effort to secure himself some warm clothes, he briefly held a railway worker's job with British Rail, which came with an employer-issued suit. He was supplied with a hat but no uniform and, unable to pass the physical examination, he was laid off and granted unemployment benefits. He then found work as a waiter serving drinks on a day boat that travelled from Liverpool to North Wales, but his fear of conscription into military service led him to quit the job, not wanting to give the Royal Navy the impression that he was suitable for seafaring work. In mid-1956, Graves secured Starkey a position as an apprentice machinist at Henry Hunt and Son, a Liverpool school equipment manufacturer. While working at the facility Starkey befriended Roy Trafford, and the two bonded over their shared interest in music. Trafford introduced Starkey to skiffle, and he quickly became a fervent admirer.
During 1963, the Beatles enjoyed increasing popularity in Britain. In January, their second single, "Please Please Me", followed "Love Me Do" into the UK charts and a successful television appearance on Thank Your Lucky Stars earned favourable reviews, leading to a boost in sales and radio play. By the end of the year, the phenomenon known as Beatlemania had spread throughout the country, and by February 1964 the Beatles had become an international success when they performed in New York City on The Ed Sullivan Show to a record 73 million viewers. Starr commented: "In the States I know I went over well. It knocked me out to see and hear the kids waving for me. I'd made it as a personality ... Our appeal ... is that we're ordinary lads." He was a source of inspiration for several songs written at the time, including Penny Valentine's "I Want to Kiss Ringo Goodbye" and Rolf Harris's "Ringo for President". Cher released her first single, "Ringo, I Love You" in 1964 under the pseudonym Bonnie Joe Mason. In 1964, "I love Ringo" lapel pins were the bestselling Beatles merchandise. The prominent placing of the Ludwig logo on the bass drum of his American import drum kit gave the company such a burst of publicity that it became the dominant drum manufacturer in North America for the next twenty years. During live performances, the Beatles continued the "Starr Time" routine that had been popular among his fans: Lennon would place a microphone in front of Starr's kit in preparation for his spotlight moment and audiences would erupt in screams. When the Beatles made their film debut in A Hard Day's Night, Starr garnered praise from critics, who considered his delivery of deadpan one-liners and his non-speaking scenes highlights. The extended non-speaking sequences had to be arranged by director Richard Lester because of Starr's lack of sleep the previous night; Starr commented: "Because I'd been drinking all night I was incapable of saying a line." Epstein attributed Starr's acclaim to "the little man's quaintness". After the release of the Beatles' second feature film, Help! (1965), Starr won a Melody Maker poll against his fellow Beatles for his performance as the central character in the film.
Despite a temporary return to friendly interactions during the completion of the White Album, production of the Beatles' fourth feature film Let It Be and its accompanying album further strained band relationships. On 20 August 1969, the Beatles gathered for the final time at Abbey Road Studios for a mixing session for "I Want You". At a business meeting exactly one month later, Lennon told the others that he was leaving the band, effective immediately. However, the band's break-up would not become public knowledge until McCartney's announcement on 10 April 1970 that he was also leaving.
Shortly before McCartney announced his exit from the Beatles in April 1970, he and Starr had a falling out due to McCartney's refusal to cede the release date of his eponymous solo album to allow for Starr's debut, Sentimental Journey, and the Beatles' Let It Be. Starr's album – composed of renditions of pre-rock standards that included musical arrangements by Quincy Jones, Maurice Gibb, George Martin and McCartney – peaked at number seven in the UK and number 22 in the US. Starr followed Sentimental Journey with the country-inspired Beaucoups of Blues, engineered by Scotty Moore and featuring renowned Nashville session musician Pete Drake. Despite favourable reviews, the album was a commercial failure. Starr subsequently combined his musical activities with developing a career as a film actor.
In 1973 and 1974, Starr had two number one hits in the US: "Photograph", a UK number eight hit co-written with Harrison, and "You're Sixteen", written by the Sherman Brothers. Starr's third million-selling single in the US, "You're Sixteen" was released in the UK in February 1974 where it peaked at number four. Both tracks appeared on Starr's debut rock album, Ringo, produced by Richard Perry and featuring further contributions from Harrison as well as a song each from Lennon and McCartney. A commercial and critical success, the LP also included "Oh My My", a US number five. The album reached number seven in the UK and number two in the US. Author Peter Doggett describes Ringo as a template for Starr's solo career, saying that, as a musician first rather than a songwriter, "he would rely on his friends and his charm, and if both were on tap, then the results were usually appealing".
Starr founded the record label Ring O' Records in 1975. The company signed eleven artists and released fifteen singles and five albums between 1975 and 1978, including works by David Hentschel, Graham Bonnet and Rab Noakes. The commercial impact of Starr's own career diminished over the same period, however, although he continued to record and remained a familiar celebrity presence. Speaking in 2001, he attributed this downward turn to his "[not] taking enough interest" in music, saying of himself and friends such as Nilsson and Keith Moon: "We weren't musicians dabbling in drugs and alcohol; now we were junkies dabbling in music." Starr, Nilsson and Moon were members of a drinking club, the Hollywood Vampires.
From the late 1960s until the mid-1980s, Starr and the designer Robin Cruikshank ran a furniture and interior design company, ROR. ROR's designs were placed on sale in the department stores of Harvey Nichols and Liberty of London. The company designed the interiors of palaces in Abu Dhabi and Oman, and the apartments of Paul Raymond and Starr's friend Nilsson. In November 1976, Starr appeared as a guest at the Band's farewell concert, featured in the 1978 Martin Scorsese documentary The Last Waltz. Also in 1976, Starr issued Ringo's Rotogravure, the first release under his new contract with Atlantic Records for the North American market and Polydor for all other territories. The album was produced by Arif Mardin and featured compositions by Lennon, McCartney and Harrison. Starr promoted the release heavily, yet Rotogravure and its accompanying singles failed to chart in the UK. In America, the LP produced two minor hits, "A Dose of Rock 'n' Roll" (number 26) and a cover of "Hey! Baby" (number 74), and achieved moderate sales, reaching a chart position of 28. Its disappointing performance inspired Atlantic to revamp Starr's formula; the result was a blend of disco and 1970s pop, Ringo the 4th (1977). The album failed to chart in the UK and peaked at number 162 in the US. In 1978 Starr released Bad Boy, which reached number 129 in the US and again failed to place on the UK albums chart.
Following Stop and Smell the Roses, Starr's recording projects were beset with problems. After completing Old Wave in 1982 with producer Joe Walsh, he was unable to find a record company willing to release the album in the UK or the US. In 1987, he abandoned sessions in Memphis for a planned country album, produced by Chips Moman, after which Moman was blocked by a court injunction from issuing the recordings. Starr narrated the 1984–1986 series of the children's series Thomas & Friends, a Britt Allcroft production based on the books by the Reverend W. Awdry. For a single season in 1989, Starr also portrayed the character Mr. Conductor in the American Thomas & Friends spin-off, Shining Time Station.
During October and November 1988, Starr and Bach attended a detox clinic in Tucson, Arizona; each received a six-week treatment for alcoholism. He later commented on his longstanding addiction: "Years I've lost, absolute years ... I've no idea what happened. I lived in a blackout." Having embraced sobriety, Starr focused on re-establishing his career by making a return to touring. On 23 July 1989, Ringo Starr & His All-Starr Band gave their first performance to an audience of ten thousand in Dallas, Texas. Setting a pattern that would continue over the following decades, the band consisted of Starr and an assortment of musicians who had been successful in their own right at different times. The concerts interchanged Starr's singing, including selections of his Beatles and solo songs, with performances of each of the other artists' well-known material, the latter incorporating either Starr or another musician as drummer.
In 1998, he released two albums on the Mercury label. The studio album Vertical Man marked the beginning of a nine-year partnership with Mark Hudson, who produced the album and, with his band the Roundheads, formed the core of the backing group on the recordings. In addition, many famous guests joined on various tracks, including Martin, Petty, McCartney and, in his final appearance on a Starr album, Harrison. Most of the songs were written by Starr and the band. Joe Walsh and the Roundheads joined Starr for his appearance on VH1 Storytellers, which was released as an album under the same name. During the show, he performed greatest hits and new songs and told anecdotes relating to them. Starr's final release for Mercury was the 1999 Christmas-themed I Wanna Be Santa Claus. The album was a commercial failure, although the record company chose not to issue it in Britain.
Starr released the album Liverpool 8 in January 2008, coinciding with the start of Liverpool's year as the European Capital of Culture. Hudson was the initial producer of the recordings, but after a falling out with Starr, he was replaced by David A. Stewart. Starr performed the title track at the opening ceremony for Liverpool's appointment, but thereafter attracted controversy over his seemingly unflattering comments about his city of birth. Later that year, he was the object of further criticism in the press for posting a video on his website in which he harangued fans and autograph hunters for sending him items to sign.
Starr is widely known for sitting behind the drum kit in a higher position than most drummers. This position gives him better access to the tom-tom and cymbals as well as doing the rimshot.
In 2015, 27 years after he was inducted into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame as one of the Beatles, Starr became the last Beatle to be inducted for a solo career. Unlike the other three Beatles who were inducted within the "Performers" category, Starr was inducted within the "Musical Excellence" category. During the 50th Grammy Awards, Starr, George Martin and his son Giles accepted the Best Compilation Soundtrack award for Love. On 9 November 2008, Starr accepted a Diamond Award on behalf of the Beatles during the 2008 World Music Awards ceremony in Monaco. On 8 February 2010, he was honoured with the 2,401st star on the Hollywood Walk of Fame by the Hollywood Chamber of Commerce. It is located at 1750 North Vine Street, in front of the Capitol Records building, as are the stars for Lennon, McCartney and Harrison.
Starr has received praise from critics and movie industry professionals regarding his acting; director and producer Walter Shenson called him "a superb actor, an absolute natural". By the mid-1960s, Starr had become a connoisseur of film. In addition to his roles in A Hard Day's Night (1964), Help! (1965), Magical Mystery Tour (1967) and Let It Be (1970), Starr also acted in Candy (1968), The Magic Christian (1969), Blindman (1971), Son of Dracula (1974) and Caveman (1981). In 1971, he starred as Larry the Dwarf in Frank Zappa's 200 Motels and was featured in Harry Nilsson's animated film The Point! He co-starred in That'll Be the Day (1973) as a Teddy Boy and appeared in The Last Waltz, the Martin Scorsese documentary film about the 1976 farewell concert of the Band.
Social Network
Ringo Starr is active on social media platforms, where he engages with fans and shares updates about his projects. His presence on platforms like Instagram and Facebook allows him to connect with a wide audience.
Beatles biographer Bob Spitz described Starkey's upbringing as "a Dickensian chronicle of misfortune". Houses in the area were "poorly ventilated, postage-stamp-sized ... patched together by crumbling plaster walls, with a rear door that opened onto an outhouse." Crawford commented: "Like all of the families who lived in the Dingle, he was part of an ongoing struggle to survive." The children who lived there spent much of their time at Prince's Park, escaping the soot-filled air of their coal-fuelled neighbourhood. Adding to their difficult circumstances, violent crime was an almost constant concern for people living in one of the oldest and poorest inner-city districts in Liverpool. Starkey later commented: "You kept your head down, your eyes open, and you didn't get in anybody's way."
Starr's first recording session as a member of the Beatles took place on 4 September 1962. He stated that Martin had thought that he "was crazy and couldn't play ... because I was trying to play the percussion and the drums at the same time, we were just a four-piece band". For their second recording session with Starr, on 11 September 1962, Martin replaced him with session drummer Andy White while recording takes for what would be the two sides of the Beatles' first single, "Love Me Do", backed with "P.S. I Love You". Starr played tambourine on "Love Me Do" and maracas on "P.S. I Love You". Concerned about his status in the Beatles, he thought: "That's the end, they're doing a Pete Best on me." Martin later clarified: "I simply didn't know what Ringo was like and I wasn't prepared to take any risks."
For the Beatles' seminal 1967 album, Sgt. Pepper's Lonely Hearts Club Band, Starr sang lead vocals on the Lennon–McCartney composition "With a Little Help from My Friends". Although the Beatles had enjoyed widespread commercial and critical success with Sgt. Pepper, the long hours they spent recording the LP contributed to Starr's increased feeling of alienation within the band; he commented: "[It] wasn't our best album. That was the peak for everyone else, but for me it was a bit like being a session musician ... They more or less direct me in the style I can play." His inability to compose new material led to his input being minimised during recording sessions; he often found himself relegated to adding minor percussion effects to songs by McCartney, Lennon and Harrison. During his downtime, Starr worked on his guitar playing, and said: "I jump into chords that no one seems to get into. Most of the stuff I write is twelve-bar".
Epstein's death in August 1967 left the Beatles without management; Starr remarked: "[It was] a strange time for us, when it's someone who we've relied on in the business, where we never got involved." Soon afterwards, the band began an ill-fated film project, Magical Mystery Tour. Starr's growing interest in photography led to his billing as the movie's Director of Photography, and his participation in the film's editing was matched only by that of McCartney. In February 1968, Starr became the first Beatle to sing on another artist's show without the others. He sang the Buck Owens hit "Act Naturally", and performed a duet with Cilla Black, "Do You Like Me Just a Little Bit?" on her BBC One television programme, Cilla.
Starr's first musical hero was Gene Autry, about whom he commented: "I remember getting shivers up my back when he sang, 'South of the Border. By the early 1960s he had become an ardent fan of Lee Dorsey. In November 1964, Starr told Melody Maker: "Our music is second-hand versions of negro music ... Ninety per cent of the music I like is coloured."
Starr influenced the Genesis drummer Phil Collins, who said: "I think he's vastly underrated, Ringo. The drum fills on 'A Day in the Life' are very, very complex things. You could take a great drummer from today and say, 'I want it like that', and they really wouldn't know what to do." Collins said his drumming on the 1983 Genesis song "That's All" was an affectionate attempt at a "Ringo Starr drum part".
In an often-repeated but apocryphal story, when asked if Starr was the best drummer in the world, Lennon quipped that he "wasn't even the best drummer in the Beatles". The line actually comes from a 1981 episode of the BBC Radio 4 comedy series Radio Active, and gained more prominence when it was used by the television comedian Jasper Carrott in 1983, three years after Lennon's death. In September 1980, Lennon told Rolling Stone that Starr was a "damn good drummer" whose talent would have surfaced even without the Beatles.
Starr's idiosyncratic turns of phrase or "Ringoisms", such as "a hard day's night" and "tomorrow never knows", were used as song titles by the Beatles, particularly by Lennon. McCartney commented: "Ringo would do these little malapropisms, he would say things slightly wrong, like people do, but his were always wonderful, very lyrical ... they were sort of magic." Starr also occasionally contributed lyrics to unfinished Lennon–McCartney songs, such as the line "darning his socks in the night when there's nobody there" in "Eleanor Rigby".
Education
Ringo Starr attended Dingle Vale Primary School and later went to the Liverpool Institute High School for Boys. However, his education was interrupted due to illness and he did not complete his formal education. Despite this, he found success in his early life through music.
In summary, Ringo Starr is a monumental figure in music history, with a net worth reflecting his enduring legacy as a musician, actor, and cultural icon. His contributions to The Beatles and his solo career have cemented his place as one of the wealthiest and most influential musicians of all time.
Starr's playing style, which emphasised feel over technical virtuosity, influenced many drummers to reconsider their playing from a compositional perspective. He also influenced various modern drumming techniques, such as the matched grip, tuning the drums lower, and using muffling devices on tonal rings. In his opinion, his finest recorded performance was on the Beatles' "Rain". In 1999, he was inducted into the Modern Drummer Hall of Fame. In 2011, Rolling Stone readers named him the fifth-greatest drummer of all time. He was inducted twice into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame, as a Beatle in 1988 and as a solo artist in 2015, and appointed a Knight Bachelor in the 2018 New Year Honours for services to music.
In November 1968, Apple Records released The Beatles, commonly known as the "White Album". The album was partly inspired by the band's recent interactions with the Maharishi Mahesh Yogi. While attending the Maharishi's intermediate course at his ashram in Rishikesh, India, they enjoyed one of their most prolific writing periods, composing most of the album there. It was here that Starr completed his first recorded Beatles song, "Don't Pass Me By", but he left after 10 days and later compared his time there to a stay at Butlin's. The long-lasting health problems that began in his childhood had an impact on his time in India, causing him to experience allergies and sensitivities to the local food; when the band travelled there, he resorted to taking his own food with him.
Starr was appointed a Knight Bachelor in the 2018 New Year Honours for services to music. He was knighted in an investiture ceremony at Buckingham Palace by Prince William, Duke of Cambridge on 20 March 2018.
In 2022, Starr received an honorary Doctor of Music degree from the Berklee College of Music for his "immeasurable impact on music, film and television, and popular culture".
