Michael Seth Starr - Ringo: With a Little Help

Copyright 2015 by Michael Seth Starr

All rights reserved. No part of this book may be reproduced in any form, without written permission, except by a newspaper or magazine reviewer who wishes to quote brief passages in connection with a review.

Published in 2015 by Backbeat Books
An Imprint of Hal Leonard Corporation
7777 West Bluemound Road
Milwaukee, WI 53213

Trade Book Division Editorial Offices
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Every reasonable effort has been made to contact copyright holders and secure permissions. Omissions can be remedied in future editions.

Printed in the United States of America

Book design by Michael Kellner.

Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data is available upon request.

ISBN 978-1-61713-120-2

www.backbeatbooks.com

Contents

Lets get it out of the way so we can move on.

No, were not related. I was born with that last name. He wasnt. Its just a happy coincidence.

Why not ? Hes The Worlds Most Famous Drummer.

Its not a book about Them. So dont expect a year-by-year, blow-by-blow account of the bands internal life and/or minutiae regarding their recording sessions, etc. Its all been documented exhaustively elsewhere.

They do, of course, loom large in his legend, to steal a line from George Harrison referring to his bands drummer in A Hard Days Night . This book would likely be non-existent had not John Lennon, Paul McCartney, and Harrison fired Pete Best in August 1962 and invited Ringo Starr to join them in The Beatles.

No one knows how Ringo Starrs life would have turned out if he had said No thanks to Messrs. Lennon, McCartney, and Harrison and stayed loyal to Rory Storm and the Hurricanes, with whom hed spent the previous four years thwacking away on his drums.

Ringo likely would have taken the spotlight with Rory and the Hurricanes for his mid-set Starr Time turn, singing Boys in his flat, nasal baritone and basking in the adulation of the hometown fans. Maybe hed get his photo, and perhaps even a mention or two, in the Liverpool Echo or Mersey Beat magazine.

And then, like so many other Liverpool musical favorites from that era relegated to yellowed scrapbook clippings, he would likely have been swept into the dustbin of history watching in awe and envy as The Beatles (and a drummer not named Pete Best) changed the world within a year.

But he didnt say No thanks. And thats why this book exists.

Im here because it happened, Ringo once said, several years after The Beatles were, well, The Beatles . But I didnt do anything to make it happen apart from saying Yes.

Classic, understated Ringo. He was already considered the best drummer in Liverpoolindeed, in the entire northern part of Englandwhen John, Paul, and George offered him the job. He almost didnt take itthere was another local band who wanted his servicesbut The Beatles were offering more money. It was a no-brainer.

So Ringo Starr said yes, and The Beatles have defined his life, for better or worse, for the past fifty-three years. He was the oldest Beatle in age but was the last to join the group, and the ride lasted just eight short years, although it seems like a lifetime in historys rear-view mirror.

But The Beatles made Ringo Starr wealthy beyond his wildest dreams and vaulted him into the firmament of one-named icons alongside Marilyn, Cher, Madonna, Frank, Elvis, et al.

So, yes, John, Paul, and George, along with other Beatle insiders (Neil Aspinall, Mal Evans, George Martin, Brian Epstein, et al.), figure prominently into Ringo Starrs life story from 1962 to 1970, when it all began with so much giddiness and hopeand ended with such acrimony and finger-pointing.

But my goal in writing Ringo: With a Little Help is to walk the reader through the entire narrative arc of Ringo Starrs life, from his birth as Richard Starkey in Liverpool through the present-dayand all the important and remarkable milestones in-between.

John, Paul, and George did not, as you will see, disappear from Ringo Starrs life after The Beatles broke up. Like him, they all pursued solo careers with varying degrees of success and got on with their lives. Each of them traveled very different roads. But they continued to flit in and out of Ringos orbit, and he theirs.

Paul McCartney continues to guest-star in Ringos life; John and George, if they were still alive, probably would, too. After all, good old Ring was always the amiable peacemaker. His brothers never stopped loving him, or he them. So youll read about John, Paul, and George every now and then in the narrative following Ringos life after 1970.

But you will also read about much more, starting with Richy Starkeys sickly childhood growing up in the Dingle, one of Liverpools toughest areas, where he was raised by a single mother who worked several jobs to keep a roof over her beloved sons head and food on the table. (And, yes, he spelled Richy without the e.)

You will also read about young Richys emergence as a locally renowned drummer, while he was working as an apprentice joiner, and the influence of fellow Liverpudlian Rory Storm on his early career. You will also read about the years following the breakup of The Beatles, when Ringo started strongly out of the gate as a top-selling solo recording artistwhich eventually gave way to the dissolution of his marriage to hometown girl Maureen Cox, the mother of his three children.

Once he was in the wildernessa celebrity lost at sea, searching for some meaning in his lifeRingo had a tough time finding his way out. There were two booze-soaked, jet-setting decades carousing with Harry Nilsson, Keith Moon, et al., a music and acting career on life support, and, ultimately, his inevitable spiral into alcoholism.

You will also read about Ringo Starrs eventual triumphs, spurred by his marriage to Barbara Bach, the couples lifesaving stint in rehab and Ringos rebirth as a clean-living childrens television star and elder statesman of rockdelighting a generation of kids as Mr. Conductor on Shining Time Station , touring with his family-friendly All-Starr Band, raising money for charities, writing books, and selling various products.

And, yes, still (grudgingly) answering endless questions about The Beatles.

What you wont find in Ringo: With a Little Help , are any overt judgments, from this author, on Ringo Starrs technical skills as a drummer vis--vis The Beatles. Thats one of those endless arguments among Beatles fans best waged in barrooms and on the Internet. It could be a book in itself, and maybe one day will be. Im not a musicianI played the drums, badly, for a spell in my teen yearsbut, for the record, I think Ringos steady backbeat and unflashy style was perfectly suited to The Beatles and their sound.

And, lets face it: you cant change history. Thats Ringo Starrs drumming you hear on all of the groups immortal hits, from their first number-one single (Please Please Me) to their last number-one hit (The Long and Winding Road) and nearly everything in-between. It speaks for itself. Get over it.

I have, in the following pages, noted some instances where Ringos drumming was criticizedand even some instances where Ringo himself mentioned the criticism. So it cant be completely glossed over. Its there. But I have also included sections in the books narrative where his skills as a drummer were praisedin one instance by D. J. Fontana, Elvis Presleys drummer who worked with Ringo in Memphis in the mid-80s, on the ill-fated Chips Moman sessions. He had the greatest conception of tempo Ive ever heard in my life, Fontana said.