Ringo Starr

He was the drummer with The Beatles (1962-1970).

He is the leader of "Ringo Starrs All Starr Band".

He had three children with Maureen Starkey : Sons Zak Starkey (a featured drummer with The Who ) and Jason (born August 19, 1967) and daughter Lee (born November 17, 1970).

He was inducted into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame as a member of The Beatles on January 20, 1988.

The Beatles had several drummers before Starr joined. Pete Best had been with them for two years, when he was fired after failing the bands audition for George Martin at EMI.

He is three months older than John Lennon , who founded The Beatles , and the last to join the group, technically making him both the oldest and youngest Beatle.

He is naturally left-handed but his grandmother corrected him and now writes right-handed. However, he plays left-handed with a right-handed drum set and makes unusual accents and stops.

He and the other members of The Beatles were awarded MBE (Member of the Order of the British Empire) in the 1965 Queens Birthday Honours List for their services to music. John Lennon returned his MBE in protest in 1969 over the Vietnam War. Paul McCartney was awarded Knight Bachelor of the Order of the British Empire in the 1997 Queens New Years Honours List for his services to music.

Though Paul McCartney is the most successful former member of The Beatles , Ringo actually had more solo U.S. Top Ten hits (McCartney performed most of his Top Ten hits with Wings ).

He was born and grew up in the Dingles section of Liverpool, England. He attended St. Silas School and Dingles Secondary Modern School.

Before becoming an official member of The Beatles in 1962, he played many gigs with them, guesting when Pete Best was not available. Also made one recording with them, backing a singer named Wally, before he joined.

A single of his, "The No-No Song", was a song against drug abuse. But in a darkly ironic note, the song was banned from several radio stations because of the drug references.

He wrote the song "Octopuss Garden" while on vacation. He claims to have got the idea for the song after conversing with a chef about octopi.

In the mid-1970s, he was involved with British singer-songwriter Lynsey de Paul and appeared on a single she wrote for Dame Vera Lynn.

He got the last name "Starr" from his birth name, Starkey. He got "Ringo" because he liked to wear rings on all his fingers.

"Ringo Starr" was a natural stage name for a young man who had grown up loving Western movies (he particularly admired Gene Autry , the "singing cowboy"). He considered moving to Texas before joining The Beatles.

He bought Tittenhurst Park estate from John Lennon (Lennons last English home), when John and Yoko Ono decided to move to America; the deal came complete with Ascot Sound Studios, located on the grounds, and home of several albums ("Plastic Ono Band", "Imagine" and "Fly"). He renamed the facility Startling Studios. Judas Priest planned to record their album "British Steel" there, but preferred the acoustics of the house itself (which they had leased).

He got his first set of drums as a present from his stepfather, who brought them back from London. He was able to turn professional with a 25 loan from his grandfather Starkey to make a deposit on a better drum set.

He missed several years of school, because of illness growing up. He learned to read and write with the help of a neighbor girl, who became his babysitter.

He was the only member of The Beatles to willingly accept Yoko Ono in Johns life (and consequently theirs); he offered them the use of his London apartment, while John and Cynthia Lennon settled their divorce. Yoko tried to return Ringos kindness over the years, and years later, when John was murdered, Ringo and future wife Barbara Bach flew to New York, to keep Yoko company.

He is a strict vegetarian, as is former bandmate Paul McCartney.

According to George Harrison , Starr unintentionally inspired a number of songs by his witty off-the-cuff remarks. For example, after a long session on The Beatles first film, he was heard to say, "Its been a hard days night." That was approved by the studio as the title of the film and subsequently the song, "A Hard Days Night". John Lennon affirmed this in his 1980 Playboy interview, mentioning that "Ringo-isms" had supplied the titles of "A Hard Days Night" and "Tomorrow Never Knows".

Like George Harrison , he is a longtime fan of the comedy troupe "Monty Pythons Flying Circus" . Starr even appeared in an episode of the series.

In 1985, he accepted the role of Locke Walls on "The Guiding Light" (1952) but pulled out at the last minute. The role was recast with Jeremy Slate.

He was the first member of The Beatles to "drop out" of their visit to India in the spring of 1968, to study with Maharishi Mahesh Yogi. Despite packing some home comforts (like cans of baked beans), he could not handle the spicy cooking the camp offered, and was missing his family.

He played drums on several songs by Paul McCartney on the album "Pipes of Peace".

On November 11, 2004, he was inducted as part of The Beatles into the UK Music Hall of Fame for their outstanding contribution to British music and integral part of British music culture.

The first song he sang with The Beatles , as far as actual album cuts go, was a cover of The Shirelles classic "Boys".

The first song he had a hand in writing for an album by The Beatles was "What Goes On", from the album "Rubber Soul" (which he co-wrote with John Lennon and Paul McCartney ). He began his own first song "Dont Pass Me By" years earlier, but it did not appear until the "White Album".

Two of his biggest solo hits, "It Dont Come Easy" and "Photograph", featured ex-bandmate George Harrison on guitar and backing vocals.

"Stop and Smell the Roses" was engineered and mixed by Bruce Robb in association with Bruce Robb Productions.

He and The Beatles were awarded a Star on the Hollywood Walk of Fame for Recording at 7080 Hollywood Boulevard.

In April 1963, Ringo purchased a slightly used drum kit at Drum City, a local outlet. In exchange for payment, their manager Brian Epstein agreed to paste the distributors "dropped T" logo as well as the manufacturers name, "Ludwig", on the drum. The logo, the "large T" in Beatles, was adopted into their trademark in 1969.

While recording "Stop and Smell the Roses" at Cherokee Studios, he was joined by two former members of The Beatles and their wives. John Lennon and Yoko Ono , as well as Paul McCartney and Linda McCartney , came into Cherokee to collaborate with Ringo on the solo album. Ronnie Wood from The Rolling Stones also collaborated, adding guitar, bass, saxophone, keyboards and back-up vocals.

He was the first of The Beatles to become a grandfather upon the birth of son Zak Starkey s daughter, Tatia Jayne Starkey, in 1985.

The 2009 Sunday Times List estimated his net worth at $196 million.

He was originally hired as a member of The Beatles for a salary of 25 a week, with the promise of a full partnership in the band in time. The promise was kept, and after the band began to have hit records, Starrs mother discovered the top of his dresser covered with money (wondering at first if it was all come by honestly), and opened a savings account for him. Nonetheless, Starrs initial 25 salary was never discontinued, and he would pick it up every week from NEMS (Brian Epstein s management company). He used it for pocket money.

He was inducted into the Percussive Arts Society Hall of Fame in 2002.

He was awarded a Star on the Hollywood Walk of Fame for Recording at 1975 North Vine Street in Hollywood, California on February 8, 2010.

In his time as a member of The Beatles , Starr single-handedly consolidated "Ludwig" as the drum set of choice among popular bands of his era.

Starr mystified many of his contemporaries with his practice of draping light towels over his snare drum in order to deaden the characteristic timbre of his instrument. He famously removed the front skin of his bass drum and stuffed the cavity with cushions to deepen the punch of the bass sound.

Starr cites drummers Jim Keltner and Cozy Cole as major influences on his career as The Beatles drummer. Starr and Keltner performed as a team at The Concert for Bangladesh , and Keltner played drums on Starrs "Rotogravure" album.

He was a close friend of Keith Moon , the legendary drummer of The Who. The two shared a house in California in the mid-1970s with John Lennon and Harry Nilsson , while they worked on each others records.

Phil Collins always stated Starr as his biggest influence as a drummer and songs such as "Thats All" (by Genesis ), "Thru These Walls" and "We Said Hello Goodbye" deliberately copied Starrs style of drumming. Collins said he particularly admired Starrs "great rolls" and "unbelievably individualistic fills" in "Ticket to Ride", his "complicated" fills in "A Day in the Life" and "the drags and his way of phrasing just slightly after the beat on the toms" in "Strawberry Fields Forever".

His brother-in-law is Eagles guitarist Joe Walsh.

While he owns property in several countries, he is officially a British citizen residing in Monaco.

"Yellow Submarine" was The Beatles only #1 single with Starr as lead vocalist.

Sixteen years before they met and married, his wife Barbara Bach was in the audience at The Beatles 1965 Shea Stadium concert.

Author Neil Gaiman is a huge fan of Starr.

He was profiled in the book "The Big Beat--Conversations with Rocks Great Drummers" , edited by Max Weinberg.

In a curious coincidence, Ringo is the actual Japanese word for apple. "Apple" was also The Beatles record label founded in 1968.

Let it Be was the twelfth and final album written by The Beatles.

He revealed in an interview on "Newsnight" that he supports Brexit (Britains exit from the European Union).

Lives in London and Los Angeles.

Is the only member of The Beatles to have never had a solo UK number one although he had two in the US with "Photograph" and "Youre Sixteen".

[2011] When I started, there was rock, there was pop, there was country.

But a lot of the days it is really great.

I love the modern technology now. I was a little opposed to it - "Oh, in,my day, we used to have a donkey turning the wheel, and two guys,chewing tape to make it soft. ".

We got lucky.

Everything the government touches turns to crap.

I love the modern technology now.

Everything government touches turns to crap. .