Ringo Starr

Ringo Starr was The Beatles' drummer and occasional singer. He was the oldest member and the last to join the band.

Ringo's a damn good drummer. He was always a good drummer. He's not technically good, but I think Ringo's drumming is underrated the same way as Paul's bass playing is underrated...

I think Paul and Ringo stand up anywhere with any of the rock musicians. Not technically great. None of us were technical musicians. None of us could read music. None of us can write it. But as pure musicians, as inspired humans to make noise, they're as good as anybody!

The early years

Ringo was born Richard Starkey on 7 July 1940, at 9 Madryn Street in the Dingle area of Liverpool. His parents split up when he was three, and his mother Elsie remarried a man called Harry Graves. Graves got on well with Richard and encouraged the boy's passion for music.

A sickly child, Starkey spent long stretches in hospital. Among his afflictions were a coma caused by appendicitis, a cold which led to pleurisy, and various allergies and intolerances to certain foods. His illnesses made him fall behind academically, and he didn't return to school after a stay in hospital which began at the age of 13.

Known as Ritchie as a teenager, Starkey became infatuated with the skiffle craze which swept Liverpool and elsewhere in the 1950s. He co-founded the Eddie Miles Band, which later became Eddie Clayton and the Clayton Squares, and in 1959 joined the Raving Texans - backing band for local singer Rory Storm.

It was while playing in these Liverpool bands that he gained the nickname Ringo Starr - the first part due to the rings he wore, and the second because his solos - which Ringo performed reluctantly - could be billed as 'Starr Time'.

With The Beatles

Ringo met The Beatles in Hamburg in October 1960. At the time he was performing with Rory Storm and The Hurricanes, but stepped in on a number of occasions when Pete Best was unavailable. At the time there was a sense of solidarity among the British groups in Hamburg, and The Beatles got to know Starr well.

When George Martin demanded that Best be replaced, The Beatles insisted that Ringo was the best drummer for them. The decision was controversial among the group's fans, who demanded "Pete forever! Ringo never!" at The Cavern, and fights broke out.

However, Starr didn't play drums on The Beatles' first single, Love Me Do. Martin brought session drummer Andy White in for the session, relegating Starr to tambourine on Love Me Do, and maracas on its b-side PS I Love You. From then on Ringo played on virtually all The Beatles' recordings.

Ringo Starr quickly established himself as a rock-steady drummer, whose open hi-hat and four-to-the-floor bass drum helped energise The Beatles' sound. He was a reliable performer who made only a handful of mistakes during the band's recording career.

A left-handed drummer who performed on a kit conventionally set up for a right-handed player, Ringo formed a distinctive sound - not least his 'backwards' fills which were created by leading with the 'wrong' hand. As Ian MacDonald noted, "Starr would, during fills, come off the snare onto the tom-toms with his left hand leading so that he could only progress 'backwards' from floor tom to small tom or from small tom to snare.

His droll variations on this, including rolling off the hi-hat, delighted orthodox drummers and added to the newness of The Beatles' sound.

Examples of his characteristic fills can be found on A Day In The Life, Hey Jude, and the Paperback Writer b-side Rain - which Starr considers to be his best drumming.

'Ringoisms' - expressions coined by Starr and adopted by the band - were used by John Lennon for the titles of A Hard Day's Night and Tomorrow Never Knows. He also contributed the line "Darning his socks in the night" to Eleanor Rigby.

He became the central character in the films Help! and Yellow Submarine - which were a testament to his popularity as a band member. A Hard Day's Night, too, showed his natural ability as an actor, though he subsequently downplayed his performance, claiming he was hungover on the shoot.

Starr walked out during the recording of the White Album, after becoming tired of The Beatles' in-fighting. Away for two weeks, Paul McCartney played the drums on Back In The USSR and Dear Prudence.

Starr spent two weeks with Peter Sellers on his yacht, where he wrote Octopus's Garden. The others urged him to come back with telegrams and phone messages, and upon his return George Harrison decorated the studio with flowers saying "Welcome home".

Ringo sang on at least one song on The Beatles' studio albums, with the exception of A Hard Day's Night and Let It Be, and his vocal spots became particular live favourites for the group's fans. In the early days he was given a mixture of cover versions or Lennon-McCartney originals - often ones they did not want to sing themselves.

He composed two original songs during his time with The Beatles: Don't Pass Me By and Octopus's Garden. He also established a co-credit on What Goes On from Rubber Soul, which was listed as being written by Lennon-McCartney-Starkey.

The Magical Mystery Tour instrumental Flying, and Let It Be's Dig It, were group compositions credited to Lennon-McCartney-Harrison-Starkey, as were Free As A Bird, 12-Bar Original, Los Paranoias, Christmas Time (Is Here Again), Suzy Parker and Jessie's Dream.

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