“Ultimately what’s most impressive about Ringo Starr isn’t what he’s been, but rather who he is,” wrote Rolling Stone rock critic David Wild. “The man’s great heart and soul, his wit and wisdom.” Indeed, his music has always emanated from his warmth, humor, and exceptional skill, manifesting in the songs we know and love: With A Little Help From My Friends, Don’t Pass Me By, Octopus’ Garden, Photograph, It Don’t Come Easy, Back Off Boogaloo, You’re Sixteen (You’re Beautiful and You’re Mine), Don’t Go Where the Road Don’t Go, The No No Song, and Never Without You, to name a few. Since beginning his career with The Beatles in the 1960s, Ringo has been one of the world’s brightest musical luminaries. He has enjoyed a successful, dynamic solo career as a singer, songwriter, drummer, collaborator, and actor. Drawing inspiration from classic blues, soul, country, honky-tonk and rock ‘n’ roll, he continues to play an important recording, touring, and unofficial mentoring role in modern music.
Born Richard Starkey on July 7, 1940 “at a very young age” he knew from very early on what he wanted to do. “When I was 13, I only wanted to be a drummer,” remembers Ringo. Four years later, he joined the Eddie Clayton Skiffle Band, and in 1959 hooked up with the Raving Texans, who later became Rory Storm and the Hurricanes. Just three years after that, Ringo was asked to join The Beatles. Worried that he might cost the Hurricanes a summer-long residency if he left, he delayed his departure until they could find a replacement. On August 18, 1962, Ringo Starr officially joined Paul McCartney, John Lennon, and George Harrison in what would become one of the most important popular music acts of all time, or as Ringo says, “the biggest band in the land.”
Ringo’s passion for creating music continued to propel him and those around him forward. In 1970, EMI released Ringo’s first solo album, Sentimental Journey and in 1971 he began his unprecedented run as the first solo Beatle to score seven consecutive Top 10 singles, starting with “It Don’t Come Easy.”
Throughout his career he has received 9 Grammys, has twice been inducted into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame first as a Beatle and then as solo artist. Between 1970 and 2015 Ringo has released 18 solo studio records. He assembled his first All Starr Band in 1989 and found consistent success as a live act with his revolving All Starrs touring the world with 12 different All Starr bands to date.
He has acted in over 15 films, received an Academy Award, and was nominated as an actor for an Emmy.
Ringo has published three books, Postcard From the Boys, Octopus’s Garden and Photograph. In 2014 he had a stint as a male fashion model in John Varvatos Fall Advertising Campaign and that same year went behind the lens for the Foo Fighters PR shots.
For all his many creative successes, Ringo is and always will be first and foremost a musician, a drummer. Ringo’s candor, wit and soul are the lifeblood of his music. As he sang on the autobiographical Liverpool 8, “I always followed my heart and I never missed a beat.” Peace and love are his life’s rhythm and melody, and he propels this universal message in everything he does: his evocative artwork, his enthused live performances, his legendary songs, all imbued with the joy, reflection, and wisdom of the music icon the world knows and loves simply as ‘Ringo.’
