Ringo Starr Biography
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Richard Starkey, MBE (born July 7, 1940)
known by his stage name, Ringo Starr, is a popular British musician,
best known as drummer for The Beatles. Ringo is known for his reliable,
steady drumming and innovative fills. His everyman personality made him
an easy fit with the other Beatles.
Starr married Maureen Cox in 1965, and the
couple has three children, Zak, Jason, and Lee. He divorced Maureen in
1975, and in 1981 married actress Barbara Bach (most famous for her role
as the "Bond Girl" in The Spy Who Loved Me).
* * * *
Early years
He was born as Richard Parkin and later
became Richard Starkey after his mother divorced and re-married. Richard
Starkey was raised in the working class Dingle section of Liverpool. He
went through two serious illnesses as a child and spent a total of three
years in hospital, thereby falling behind badly in school. After Ringo's
last visit to the hospital, at age 15, he could barely read and write.
Like the other Beatles, John Lennon, George
Harrison, and Paul McCartney, young Ritchie also eventually became
caught up in Liverpool's Skiffle craze. After starting his own group
with Eddie Miles called The Eddie Clayton Skiffle Group in 1957, he
joined The Raving Texans in 1959, a quartet which played while Rory
Storm sang. During this time, he got the nickname Ringo, because of the
rings he wore, and because it sounded "cowboyish", and the last name
Starr so that his drum solos could be billed as "Starr Time".
Ringo first met the Beatles in Hamburg, in
October 1960, while they were performing with what had become Rory Storm
and The Hurricanes. When the Beatles removed Pete Best as their drummer
on August 16, 1962, Ringo was their choice to replace him.
Although, Rory Storm was magnanimous about
the theft of his drummer, Pete Best fans were upset, holding vigils
outside Pete's house and rioting at the Cavern Club, shouting "Pete Best
forever! Ringo never!"
Role in The
Beatles
Ringo's drumming style played a pivotal
role in the music played and recorded by The Beatles. He filled a role
that he was hired for in 1963, then went on to establish a new approach
to rhythm in popular music that continues to grow in its significance
and influence with every decade since the Beatles recorded their music.
Ringo is left-handed yet plays a right-handed kit; his tendency to lead
with his left hand contributes to his distinctive drumming style.
Many drummers list Starr as a major
influence including Max Weinberg of The E Street Band, Liberty DeVitto
of Billy Joel's band, Phil Collins, and others. According to Collins,
Ringo is "vastly underrated. The drum fills on the video 'A Day in the
Life' are very complex things. You could take a great drummer today and
say, 'I want it like that.' They wouldn't know what to do." In his
extensive survey of The Beatles recording sessions, Mark Lewisohn
confirmed that Starr was both proficient and remarkably reliable and
consistent. According to Lewisohn there were less 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 three members. Starr has
commented that the most difficult drumming he has ever performed was on
the Beatles song "Rain". Ringo is also notable to advancing modern
drumming techniques of playing and recording such as the matched grip,
placing the drums on high risers for visibility as part of the band,
tuning the drums lower, using muffling devices on tonal rings, along
with his general contributions to the Beatles as a whole.
John Lennon, Paul McCartney and George
Harrison have all said that Ringo was the best rock and roll drummer in
the world, although when asked in an interview once "Is Ringo Starr the
best drummer in the world?" Lennon quipped "He's not the best drummer in
the Beatles!" This was in reference to the songs on 1969's White Album
"Back In The USSR" and "Dear Prudence", the first two tracks on the
album, in which Paul was forced to do the drumming; Ringo had stormed
out earlier and didn't return for two weeks till the other three Beatles
begged him to return. They even went so far as to dress up his drum kit
in flowers when he returned. Paul was also behind the drums in "The
Ballad of John and Yoko" in early 1969, since only Lennon and McCartney
were available to record the song. He also didn't play in the early
recording of their first single, "Love Me Do", the session drummer Andy
White was brought in by their producer George Martin fearing that Ringo
was out of practice ("ring rust"), but Ringo's version eventually was
released on the single, with the other version later appearing on their
first album.
Ringo's easygoing, everyman personality
played a major role in the Beatles' success, combining very effectively,
Lennon's wit, McCartney's charm, and Harrison's quiet seriousness. With
these qualities The Beatles became the "Fab Four". Ringo also
contributed in areas where the others were weak like public relations (Ringo
does most of the talking during their press conferenes) and acting (Ringo
being the only competent actor of the four, being cast in the lead roles
in their feature films and specials).
Ringo generally sang at least one song on
each studio album, as part of establishing the vocal personality of all
four members. In some cases Lennon or McCartney would write the lyrics
and melody especially for him, as Lennon did with "With a Little Help
from My Friends", from Sgt. Pepper's Lonely Hearts Club Band and as
McCartney did for "Yellow Submarine" from Revolver. Often these melodies
would be deliberately limited to take into account Starr's vocal
range—most of "With A Little Help From My Friends" is sung within the
space of five notes.
Of all the Beatles, Ringo did the least
songwriting. The Beatles explained that when he would present a song as
a contender for an album cut, the song would (to them) be a clear
knockoff of another popular song, but Ringo would not recognize the
similarities until they pointed it out. He did, however, write "Don't
Pass Me By" (on The White Album) and also, "Octopus's Garden" on the
album Abbey Road, albeit with quite a bit of help from Harrison. The
former continued to show the taste for country music that Ringo had
brought into the band on earlier albums, such as on Rubber Soul's
co-write "What Goes On".
In addition Ringo contributed a number of
lyrical ideas and song titles to Lennon and McCartney, although usually
unintentionally. One of the most famous examples of this was the title
for the band's first motion picture, A Hard Day's Night. Starr had
emerged from the studio after a long day of work and commented to the
others that it had been a "hard day's..." - before he finished his
sentence, Starr noticed that it was now night time and added "night".
Lennon and McCartney liked the twisted phrase enough that they decided
to use it as the title for the still untitled movie the band had been
filming. Another example is the title to "Tomorrow Never Knows". Ringo
also contributed to the lyrics of the Clapton/Harrison song "Badge".
According to a Clapton interview, the lines
I told you 'bout the swans that live in
the park.
Then I told you 'bout our kid
Now he's married to Mable.
were thought up by Ringo.
After the
Beatles
After the breakup of the Beatles on 10
April 1970, Starr scored hit singles with "It Don't Come Easy" and "Back
Off Boogaloo", and participated in Harrison's Concert for Bangladesh.
In 1973 the Ringo album came out, lushly
produced by Richard Perry and with participation by all three former
bandmates on different tracks. It was a major triumph and Starr
unexpectedly became the most commercially successful ex-Beatle at that
time. The Goodnight Vienna album followed the next year and was also
successful. Hits and notable tracks from these two collections included
"Photograph" (co-written by Harrison), "You're Sixteen", "I'm the
Greatest" (written by Lennon), "Only You", and the "No No Song".
Starr's recording career subsequently
diminished in impact, although he continued to sporadically release
albums. Beginning in 1989 he became a visible presence on the summer
touring scene, organizing a series of concert tours under the name Ringo
Starr and His All-Starr Band, teaming with well-known musicians from
various different rock eras. The format of the concerts has Ringo
singing a couple of his Beatles or solo songs, then each of the other
musicians taking a turn to sing one of their songs with Ringo behind the
drums, then Ringo singing a couple more, then another go around, and so
on. In this way Ringo is relieved from having to carry the full burden
of the show and the audience gets to hear a variety of music. The eighth
such All-Starr Band tour took place in 2003.
Other than the films Ringo did with the
Beatles, (A Hard Day's Night (1964), Help (1965), Magical Mystery Tour
(1967), Yellow Submarine (1968), Let It Be (1970)), he has acted in
several films such as, Candy (1968), The Magic Christian (1969)
(alongside Peter Sellers), Son of Dracula (1974) and Caveman (1980). He
starred as Larry the dwarf in Frank Zappa's 200 Motels (1971). His voice
is featured in Harry Nilsson's animated film The Point! (1971). He was
especially well-received in the British film That'll Be the Day (1973)
where he co-starred as a Teddy boy.
In 1984, he narrated on the children's
television series Thomas the Tank Engine and Friends and portrayed the
character Mr. Conductor on that program's American spinoff Shining Time
Station, which debuted in 1989.
In 1991, he appeared as himself on the
cartoon The Simpsons. In 1996, he appeared in a Japanese advertisement
for apple sauce; coincidentally, ringo (林檎) is
Japanese for apple.
In 2003 Starr began recording for the
independent label Koch Records, releasing Ringo Rama that year and
Choose Love in 2005; the latter features appearances by Billy Preston
and Chrissie Hynde.
In January of 2005, it was announced that
comic book creator Stan Lee would be working with Starr to produce a new
animated musical superhero based on Starr.
All-Starr
Band editions
-
1989 Ringo Starr, Clarence Clemons,
Rick Danko, Levon Helm, Dr. John, Jim Keltner, Nils Lofgren, Billy
Preston, Joe Walsh
-
1992 Ringo Starr, Timmy Cappello,
Burton Cummings, Dave Edmunds, Nils Lofgren, Todd Rundgren, Timothy
B. Schmit, Zak Starkey, Joe Walsh
-
1995 Ringo Starr, Randy Bachman, Felix
Cavaliere, John Entwistle, Mark Farner, Billy Preston, Mark Rivera,
Zak Starkey
-
1997-98 Ringo Starr, Gary Brooker, Jack
Bruce, Peter Frampton, Simon Kirke, Mark Rivera (dropped in
rehearsals – Dave Mason)
-
1999 Ringo Starr, Gary Brooker, Jack
Bruce, Timmy Cappello, Simon Kirke, Todd Rundgren (dropped off
before start – Joe Walsh)
-
2000 Ringo Starr, Jack Bruce, Eric
Carmen, Dave Edmunds, Simon Kirke, Mark Rivera
-
2001 Ringo Starr, Sheila E., Greg Lake,
Ian Hunter, Howard Jones, Roger Hodgson, Mark Rivera
-
2003 Ringo Starr, Paul Carrack, Sheila
E., Colin Hay, Mark Rivera, John Waite
* * * *
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URL of Original Article:
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ringo_Starr
Date Article Copied:
July 12, 2005
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