Maureen Cox was born on August 4, 1946. She was a fan of the Beatles in their early days, and was a regular at the Cavern where they played. Ringo Starr had just joined the group at this point. Maureen's first encounter with him was when she and a friend spotted him on the street, at which time they chased after him. Ringo gave her his autograph as well as his telephone number.
After this encounter, she and her friend made a silly bet that Maureen wouldn't be able to kiss Paul McCartney. An outgoing girl, she readily accepted the challenge and managed to fight her way into their dressing room and accomplish the task. Her friend was so shocked and jealous that she cried. Since her favorite Beatle was Ringo and she was already backstage, she went over and gave Ringo a kiss as well. After this incident, he spotted her at the Cavern one night and asked her to dance. A few weeks later, 16-year-old Maureen received a surprise telephone call from Ringo asking her on a date. She was completely shocked, excited, and nervous. They began regularly seeing each other.
The Beatles had hopelessly devoted and obsessive fans at Cavern, and it wasn't long before they figured out that Maureen was seeing Ringo. As a result, Maureen was regularly kicked, hit, and sneered at by fans at the Cavern. As the Beatles' popularity grew, so did Maureen's, as she became know to the world as "Ringo's girl." They took a holiday in the Virgin Islands with Paul McCartney and his girlfriend Jane Asher.
Maureen soon got pregnant, and Ringo, as John before him, did the proper thing of the times and proposed. At the tender age of 18, Mo and Ringo wed on February 11, 1965 at Caxton Hall, Westminster. John, Cynthia, and George attended the ceremony, and Brian Epstein was the best man. Although Ringo wanted to settle down with Maureen and spend time with his newborn son, Zak, touring and recording kept him away from home much of the time. They later had two more children together, Jason and Lee.
Side notes: Maureen can be heard singing on the Beatles song "The Continuing Story of Bungalow Bill" off of The White Album, along with Pattie Boyd and Yoko Ono. Also, on the album Let It Be at the very end of "Get Back" when Paul says "thanks, Mo", he is referring to Maureen, who can be heard cheering the loudest.
Throughout their marriage, Ringo cheated on Mo constantly. This of course upset her, but it was Ringo who ended up filing for divorce. One night George and Pattie Harrison went to the Starr's home, and a drunk George confessed that he was in had a crush on Maureen and suggested to Ringo that they swap wives for the evening. Soon after this, Maureen and George would have a short fling. The Starr's marriage officially ended on the grounds of Ringo's affair with American actress Nancy Andrews. They divorced on July 17, 1975.
Soon after their divorce, Maureen married Isaac Tigrett, one of the original owners of the Hard Rock Cafe. He currently owns the House of Blues, one of the most popular clubs in Los Angeles. In 1987 they had a daughter, named Augusta. Zak soon had a child, making her and Ringo proud grandparents. Maureen, Isaac and Augusta lived happily in Los Angeles, and often spent time in their Boston home.
At an opening of the House Of Blues, Maureen suddenly passed out. She was rushed to the hospital where she was initially diagnosed as an anemic. More testing showed that she had a deadly form of leukemia called mylodysplasia. She was quickly moved to the Fred Hutchinson Cancer Research Center in Seattle in October of 1995.
Her loving family did everything they possibly could, but Maureen's illness was a losing battle. Zak was the donor for a bone-marrow transplant, but it was no use. Maureen had developed an incurable fungal infection. On December 30, 1994, at the age of 47, Maureen slowly passed away with her husband Isaac, her children (Zak, Jason and Lee), her mother, and Ringo at her side. Paul McCartney wrote his song "Little Willow" off of his album Flaming Pie in memory of "Mo."
Cynthia Powell |
Pattie Boyd |
Jane Asher |
Linda Eastman
