Name: Richard [Ringo] Starkey [Starr]
Birthdate: July 7th, 1940
Birthplace: Liverpool
Height: 5 feet 8 inches
Weight: 9 stones 8 pounds
Colour of Eyes: Blue
Colour of Hair: Dark Brown
Brothers: none
Sisters: none
Instruments Played: Drums, Guitar
Educated: Liverpool Secondary Modern, Riversdale Technical College
Age Entered Show Business: 18 Former Occupation: Engineer
Hobbies: Westerns, Sleeping, Night Driving
Favourite Singers: Brook Bentan, Sam "Lightning" Hopkins
Favourite Actors: Paul Newman, Jack Palance
Favourite Actresses: Brigitte Bardot
Favourite Foods: Steak
Favourite Drinks: Whisky
Favourite Clothes: Suits
Favourite Band: Arthur Lyman
Favourite Instrumentalist: none special
Favourite Composers: Bert Bacharach, McCartney and Lennon
Likes: Fast Cars
Dislikes: Onions and Donald Duck
Tastes in Music: C-and-W, R-and-B
Personal Ambitions: to be Happy
Professional Ambitions: to Get to the Top
Richard Starkey Jr. was born on July 7, 1940. His parents were Elise and Richard
Starkey Sr. Elise and Richard would soon divorce in 1943 and she and her son moved to
10 Admiral Grove. Richard attended St. Silas Infants' School where he began to suffer
the first of many illnesses which seriously affected his education.
At the age of six he was taken to the Royal Children's Infirmary suffering from acute
abdominal pains. A ruptured appendix was diagnosed and this led to an inflamed
peritoneum and the first of several operations for the young Richard. He went into a
coma for two months during which several more operations were made. Richard was
known to be accident prone.
When he finally returned to school, he found himself far behind in his school work
which gave him an undeserved reputation of being stupid. In 1953, at the age of
thirteen, Richard caught a cold which turned into chronic pleurisy necessitating
another stay at Myrtle Street Hospital. The illness caused some lung complications
which resulted in the youth being sent to Heswall Children's Hospital where he
remained until 1955.
By this time Elise had married Harry Graves, whom Richard referred to as his "step
ladder". Richard's stepfather, Harry, bought him a secondhand drum kit and Richard
showed promise of becoming a great musician.
Richard bounced around from band to band but he finally found a home with "Rory
Storm & the Hurricanes". Rory Storm was a showman and he insisted that Richard add
some flare to his act by renaming him Ringo Starr. Hurricanes became one of the most
popular groups in Liverpool and they topped the bill at Hamburg's Kaiserkeller club,
above The Beatles. Pete Best was not always the most reliable drummer so Ringo would
occasionally fill in for Pete if he didn't show up.
The Hurricanes were by now being out shown by The Beatles and Gerry & the
Pacemakers. Ringo had thought about leaving The Hurricanes and joining another
group called "The Seniors". After a brief lull period, Ringo decided to fill the spot of
drummer for The Hurricanes once again. Ringo, feeling like he was going nowhere
thought about taking up his apprenticeship at Hunt's again, when fate stepped in.
The Beatles were now the top band in Liverpool and throughout most of England. The
Beatles had just signed with Parlophone and George Martin didn't like Pete as their
drummer describing him bluntly as "not good". The new task was to find a replacement
drummer. Many considered Johnny Hutchinson of "The Big Three" to be the best
drummer in Liverpool but then the idea was put around to ask Ringo if he would like to
fill the position.
When Ringo went to record with The Beatles for the first time George Martin had
already hired a session drummer, Andy White. Ringo was devastated and the fact that at
first the fans didn't take kindly to him didn't help matters either. When Ringo first
appeared with The Beatles at The Cavern Club, the fans still upset over Pete getting
fired, started shouting "Pete forever, Ringo never!"
As it turned out, Ringo was perfect for The Beatles and at one time was the most
popular member of the group with American fans. He also proved to be more of a
natural actor than any other members of the group and received favorable reviews for
his performance in "A Hard Day's Night". Because of this, Ringo was placed in the
center of the spotlight in The Beatles second film "HELP!".
Ringo married his long-time girlfriend Maureen Cox on February 11, 1965 and the
couple were to have three children: Zak, Jason, and Lee. The couple would eventually
divorce in July 1975 and Ringo was to marry Barbara Bach. Ringo at first had the
same problem as George did which was getting his songs noticed. Mainly John and
Paul would write a song or two for him to sing on a particular album. Such songs were:
"Boys" on Please Please Me, "I Wanna Be Your Man" on With The Beatles, "Honey
Don't" on Beatles For Sale, "Act Naturally" on HELP!, "What Goes On" which was
co-written by Starr on Rubber Soul, "Yellow Submarine" on Revolver and Yellow
Submarine, and "A Little Help From My Friends" on Sgt. Pepper's.
While with The Beatles, Ringo had two songs that were "original Starr compositions".
They were "Don't Pass Me By" on The White Album and probably his most famous one
"Octopus's Garden" on Abbey Road. Following The Beatles break up, Ringo had a very
successful solo career which consisted of eight albums and thirteen singles. Ringo
also appeared in various TV shows, including his own special, "Ringo", and a TV
mini-series "Princess Daisy", with his wife Barbara.
Ringo formed the All-Starr Band in 1992, which began an American and European tour
in June 1992. Members comprised his son Zak, guitarists Dave Edmunds, Nils
Lofgren, Todd Rundgren and Joe Walsh, saxophonist Tim Cappello, bassist Timothy B.
Schmit and keyboards player Burton Cummings.