88 Facts About Ringo Starr

Ringo Starr wrote and sang the Beatles songs "Don't Pass Me By" and "Octopus's Garden", and is credited as a co-writer of four others.

Ringo Starr was afflicted by life-threatening illnesses during childhood, with periods of prolonged hospitalisation.

Ringo Starr briefly held a position with British Rail before securing an apprenticeship as a machinist at a Liverpool school equipment manufacturer.

Ringo Starr achieved commercial and critical success with his 1973 album Ringo, which was a top-ten release in both the UK and the US.

Ringo Starr's playing style, which emphasised feel over technical virtuosity, influenced many drummers to reconsider their playing from a compositional perspective.

Ringo Starr influenced various modern drumming techniques, such as the matched grip, tuning the drums lower, and using muffling devices on tonal rings.

Ringo Starr 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.

Ringo Starr is the only child of confectioners Richard Starkey and Elsie Gleave.

Ringo Starr's recovery spanned twelve months, which he spent away from his family at Liverpool's Myrtle Street children's hospital.

Ringo Starr was an ex-Londoner who had moved to Liverpool following the failure of his first marriage.

Ringo Starr was supplied with a hat but no uniform and, unable to pass the physical examination, he was laid off and granted unemployment benefits.

Ringo Starr 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.

About this time he adopted the stage name Ringo Starr; derived from the rings he wore and because it implied a country and western influence.

Ringo Starr performed with the Beatles during a few stand-in engagements while in Hamburg.

Ringo Starr quit Rory Storm and the Hurricanes in January 1962 and briefly joined Sheridan in Hamburg before returning to the Hurricanes for a third season at Butlins.

Ringo Starr's first recording session as a member of the Beatles took place on 4 September 1962.

Ringo Starr began receiving an amount of fan mail equal to that of the others, which helped to secure his position within the band.

Ringo Starr was temporarily replaced for five concerts by 24-year-old session drummer Jimmie Nicol.

Ringo Starr later said that he feared he would be permanently replaced during his illness.

Ringo Starr was the first to try one but the others were hesitant.

On 11 February 1965, Ringo Starr married Maureen Cox, whom he had met in 1962.

Ringo Starr received a telephoned death threat before a show in Montreal, and resorted to positioning his cymbals vertically in an attempt to defend against would-be assassins.

Ringo 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, Ringo Starr became the first Beatle to sing on another artist's show without the others.

Ringo 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.

Shortly before McCartney announced his exit from the Beatles in April 1970, he and Ringo Starr had a falling out due to McCartney's refusal to cede the release date of his eponymous solo album to allow for Ringo Starr's debut, Sentimental Journey, and the Beatles' Let It Be.

Ringo Starr followed Sentimental Journey with the country-inspired Beaucoups of Blues, engineered by Scotty Moore and featuring renowned Nashville session musician Pete Drake.

Ringo Starr subsequently combined his musical activities with developing a career as a film actor.

In 1971, Ringo Starr participated in the Concert for Bangladesh, organised by Harrison, and with him co-wrote the hit single "It Don't Come Easy", which reached number four in both the US and the UK.

In 1973 and 1974, Ringo 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.

Ringo Starr played tambourine on a song she wrote and produced for Vera Lynn, "Don't You Remember When", and he inspired another De Paul song, "If I Don't Get You the Next One Will", which she described as being about revenge after he missed a dinner appointment with her because he was asleep in his office.

Ringo Starr founded the record label Ring O' Records in 1975.

Ringo Starr signed eleven artists and released fifteen singles and five albums between 1975 and 1978, including works by David Hentschel, Graham Bonnet and Rab Noakes.

Ringo Starr designed the interiors of palaces in Abu Dhabi and Oman, and the apartments of Paul Raymond and Starr's friend Nilsson.

In November 1976, Ringo 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.

Ringo Starr promoted the release heavily, yet Rotogravure and its accompanying singles failed to chart in the UK.

In 1978 Ringo Starr released Bad Boy, which reached number 129 in the US and again failed to place on the UK albums chart.

Later that year, Ringo Starr released Stop and Smell the Roses, featuring songs produced by Nilsson, McCartney, Harrison, Ronnie Wood and Stephen Stills.

In 1985, Ringo Starr performed with his son Zak as part of Artists United Against Apartheid on the protest song "Sun City", and, with Harrison and Eric Clapton, was among the special guests on Carl Perkins' TV special Blue Suede Shoes: A Rockabilly Session.

The concerts interchanged Ringo 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 Ringo Starr or another musician as drummer.

Also in 1990, Ringo 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.

Ringo Starr then played drums on McCartney's 1997 album Flaming Pie.

Ringo 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.

Ringo Starr released the album Liverpool 8 in January 2008, coinciding with the start of Liverpool's year as the European Capital of Culture.

Ringo 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.

Ringo Starr appeared on-stage during Microsoft's June 2009 E3 press conference with Yoko Ono, McCartney and Olivia Harrison to promote The Beatles: Rock Band video game.

In 2010, Ringo Starr self-produced and released his fifteenth studio album, Y Not, which included the track "Walk with You" and featured a vocal contribution from McCartney.

Ringo Starr recorded a cover of Buddy Holly's "Think It Over" for the 2011 tribute album Listen to Me: Buddy Holly.

In January 2014, Ringo Starr joined McCartney for a special performance at the 56th Annual Grammy Awards in Los Angeles, where they performed the song "Queenie Eye".

That summer he toured Canada and the US with an updated version of the Twelfth All-Ringo Starr Band, featuring multi-instrumentalist Warren Ham instead of saxophonist Mark Rivera.

In January 2015, Ringo Starr tweeted the title of his new studio album Postcards from Paradise.

On 7 July 2017, Ringo Starr released "Give More Love" as a single, which was followed two months later by his nineteenth studio album, titled Give More Love and issued by UM.

On 13 September 2019, Ringo Starr announced the upcoming release of his 20th album, What's My Name, to be released by UM on 25 October 2019.

Ringo Starr recorded the album in his home studio, Roccabella West in Los Angeles.

In celebration of his 80th birthday in July 2020, Starr organised a live-streamed concert featuring appearances by many of his friends and collaborators including McCartney, Walsh, Ben Harper, Dave Grohl, Sheryl Crow, Sheila E and Willie Nelson.

On 16 December 2020, Ringo Starr released the song "Here's to the Nights".

On 16 March 2021, Ringo Starr stated in an interview with Esquire that it was unlikely that he would record another full-length album, preferring to release EPs instead.

On 7 February 2022, Ringo Starr announced his intention to return to touring with his band for the first time since 2019.

Ringo Starr was influenced by country artists, including Hank Williams, Buck Owens and Hank Snow, and jazz artists such as Chico Hamilton and Yusef Lateef, whose compositional style inspired Starr's fluid and energetic drum fills and grooves.

Journalist Robyn Flans wrote for the Percussive Arts Society: "I cannot count the number of drummers who have told me that Ringo Starr inspired their passion for drums".

Ringo Starr's popularity brought forth a new paradigm in how the public saw drummers.

Ringo Starr's parts are so signature to the songs that you can listen to a Ringo drum part without the rest of the music and still identify the song.

Ringo Starr said his favourite drummer is Jim Keltner, with whom he first played at the Concert for Bangladesh in August 1971.

For Ringo's Rotogravure in 1976, Starr credited himself as "Thunder" and Keltner as "Lightnin".

In September 1980, Lennon told Rolling Stone that Ringo Starr was a "damn good drummer" whose talent would have surfaced even without the Beatles.

Ringo Starr influenced various modern drumming techniques, such as the matched grip, tuning the drums lower, and using muffling devices on tonal rings.

In 2021, Ringo Starr announced a ten-part MasterClass course called "Drumming and Creative Collaboration".

Ringo 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.

Ringo Starr is the lead vocalist on his compositions "Don't Pass Me By" and "Octopus's Garden".

Ringo Starr is credited as the sole composer of two Beatles songs: "Don't Pass Me By" and "Octopus's Garden", the latter written with assistance from Harrison.

Ringo Starr met hairdresser Maureen Cox in 1962, the same week that he joined the Beatles.

In 1971, Ringo Starr purchased Lennon's home Tittenhurst Park at Sunninghill in Berkshire and moved his family there.

Ringo 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.

Ringo Starr has eight grandchildren: two from Zak, three from Jason, and three from Lee.

In 2014, Ringo Starr announced that his 200-acre Surrey estate at Rydinghurst was for sale, with its Grade II-listed Jacobean house.

In 2016, Ringo Starr expressed his support for the United Kingdom's withdrawal from the European Union.

In October 2021, Ringo Starr was named in the Pandora Papers which allege a secret financial deal of politicians and celebrities using tax havens in an effort to avoid the payment of owed taxes.

Ringo Starr was nominated for a 1989 Daytime Emmy Award for Outstanding Performer in a Children's Series for his role as Mr Conductor in the television series Shining Time Station.

In 2015,27 years after he was inducted into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame as one of the Beatles, Ringo Starr became the last Beatle to be inducted for a solo career.

Unlike the other three Beatles who were inducted within the "Performers" category, Ringo Starr was inducted within the "Musical Excellence" category.

On 9 November 2008, Ringo Starr accepted a Diamond Award on behalf of the Beatles during the 2008 World Music Awards ceremony in Monaco.

Ringo Starr was appointed a Knight Bachelor in the 2018 New Year Honours for services to music.

Ringo Starr was knighted in an investiture ceremony at Buckingham Palace by Prince William, Duke of Cambridge on 20 March 2018.

In 2022, Ringo 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".

Ringo 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".

Ringo Starr played the Pope in Ken Russell's Lisztomania, and a fictionalised version of himself in McCartney's Give My Regards to Broad Street in 1984.

Since the breakup of the Beatles, Ringo Starr has released 20 solo studio albums:.