Ringo Starr - On the Boards

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Ringo Starr

Ringo Starr, who's real name is Sir Richard Starkey, is the man who is always mentioned last when referring to the Beatle's lineup. Born on on July 7, 1940, Ringo is the oldest of the band members, and as the replacement for Pete Best, just before "fame and fortune" hit, he is also the member with the least amount of time as a Beatle. Ringo gave the appearance of someone content to take whatever life tossed at him, with the wry smile of somebody who had figured out the punch line long before anybody else knew there was joke. Originally the drummer for Rory Storm and the Hurricanes, he had crossed paths with the Beatles many times during the Hamburg years, where he cemented his reputation as a "solid drummer". The addition of Richard Starkey to the band occurred at the insistence of George Martin who felt that Pete Best was not a team player, and that his drumming ability was somewhat lacking. So on August 16 1962 Epstein fired Best and Ringo was asked to join the band.

Before Ringo, drum stars were measured by their soloing ability and virtuosity. Ringo's popularity brought forth a new era 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 playing is so unique to the songs that you can listen to a Ringo drum part without the rest of the music and still identify the song. Starr advanced various modern drumming techniques, such as the matched grip, (both hands hold the sticks the same way), placing the drums on high risers for visibility as part of the band, tuning the drums lower, use of a 'sizzle' cymbal (a cymbal incorporated with rivets that vibrate), and using muffling devices to modify tone quality, along with his general contributions to The Beatles as a whole. While mainly considered as the "drummer for the Beatles", Ringo contributed to the song writing with "Don't Pass Me By" and "Octopus's Garden", and was lead vocalist on several songs, "Yellow Submarine", "With a Little Help from My Friends", "What Goes On", "I Wanna Be Your Man", "Boys", and "Good Night".

After the breakup of The Beatles in 1970, Ringo embarked on his solo career as well as occasionally playing drums on the solo recordings of his former band mates. These appearances included "The Concert for Bangla Desh", "Living in the Material World" and "All things Must Pass" with Harrison, and John Lennon's Plastic Ono Band. It was only after Lennon's death in 1980 that McCartney asked Ringo to appear on any of his albums, the first of which was Tug of War album in 1982. The solo work by Ringo produced several songs that became hits, but this success never rivaled that of the other Beatles, and has declined in commercial success in recent years, although he still tours occasionally with his All Starr Band. His 1973 album entitled "Ringo" still remains his most successful release to date.

Along with the continuation of his music career, Ringo Starr has also made appearances in several films such as; Candy in'68, The Magic Christian in'69, Blindman in '71, Son of Dracula in '74, The Last Waltz in'76, and my personal, "off the wall", favorite Caveman in '81. He also narrated Harry Nilsson's animated film The Point! in'71. Ringo also founded his own record label in 1975 which was given the, tongue in cheek, name of Ring O'Records, and was active until 1978, releasing four albums and sixteen singles during those three plus years.

Ringo Starr married Maureen Cox on February 11, 1965. This union lasted ten years, ending in divorce in 1975, and producing three children Zak - born September 13, 1965, Jason - born August 19, 1967, and Lee - born November 17, 1970. In April of 1981 Ringo married Barbara Bach, an actress he met while on the set of "Caveman", and the two have remained inseparable ever since, doing nearly everything together. Barbara's most notable film appearances were in the james bond movie "The Spy Who Loved Me" and "Force 10 from Navarone".

Ringo's son Zak from his first marriage to maureen has followed in his dad's footsteps becoming a highly respected drummer in his own right, frequently performing with his father in the All Starr Band on stage, and also with The Who, taking the place of his godfather the late Keith Moon. Zak made Ringo a grandfather in 1985 with the birth of his daughter, Tatia Jayne Starkey, and Ringo became a grandfather again when Jason and his girlfriend, Flora Evans, had Louie Starkey, who was born in 1999, and Sonny Starkey, who was born in 2002.

In 2002 Starr was inducted into the Percussive Hall of Fame.

Maureen Cox Barbara Bach

Zak Starkey Lee Starkey Jason Starkey

The Hurricanes All Starr Band

Ringo & Barbara Family Ringo & Lee

Discography

1970 Sentimental Journey	1970 Beaucoups of Blues
1973 "Ringo"	1974 Goodnight Vienna
1976 Ringo's Rotogravure	1977 Ringo the 4th
1978 Bad Boy	1981 Stop and Smell the Roses
1983 Old Wave	1992 Time Takes Time
1998 Vertical Man	2003 Ringo Rama
2005 Choose Love	2008 Liverpool 8

Live
1990 Ringo Starr and His All-Starr Band	1993 Ringo Starr and His All Starr Band Volume 2: Live From Montreux
1997 Ringo Starr and His third All-Starr Band-Volume 1	1998 VH1 Storytellers
2002 King Biscuit Flower Hour Presents Ringo & His New All-Starr Band	2003 Extended Versions
2004 Tour 2003	2006 Ringo Starr and Friends
2007 Ringo Starr: Live at Soundstage	2008 Ringo Starr & His All Starr Band Live 2006