Ringo Starr
Richard Starkey
BORN: July 7, 1940, Liverpool, England
Ringo Starr, born Richard Starkey, was the drummer in the Beatles from 1962
to 1970 and thus one of the most famous musicians of the '60s. Though the
least prominent member of the quartet, he distinguished himself as an occasional
singer of good-natured material and as an actor. Upon the group's split, Starr
went solo with two novelty projects: the first, an album called Sentimental
Journey, found him covering pre-rock standards, and the second, Beacoups of
Blues, was a country music collection.
Starr then scored Top Ten hits with two non-album singles, "It Don't Come
Easy" in 1971 and "Back off Boogaloo" in 1972. In 1973 he paired with producer
Richard Perry and, with assistance from the three other ex-Beatles, made Ringo,
which featured two number one hits, "Photograph" and "You're Sixteen." "Oh
My My," a Top Ten hit, was also included. Almost as successful was the 1974
follow-up, Goodnight Vienna, which featured the hits "Only You" and "No No
Song."
Starr continued to release albums through 1981, though with diminishing
success. His 1983 album Old Wave did not find a U.S. distributor. Starr was
also suffering from the excesses of his lifestyle, but by the late '80s he
had cleaned up, and in 1989 he toured with his "All-Starr Band." In 1992,
he signed to Private Music and released a new studio album, Time Takes Time.
Vertical Man, his first album for Mercury, followed in 1998, as did a disc
culled from his performance on the VH1 Storytellers series. Starr's first
seasonal effort, I Wanna Be Santa Claus, appeared a year later. ~ William
Ruhlmann, All Music Guide
Fresh from a nondescript Liverpudlian musical group known as Rory Storme
and the Hurricanes, Ringo Starr made the quantum leap to superstardom in 1962
when he replaced Pete Best as drummer for the burgeoning Beatles. Starr was
regarded by many music aficionados as the least creative of the foursome,
though he may well have enjoyed the largest fan following -- especially among
young ladies who felt the urge to "mother" the diminutive Mr. Starr (though
he appeared to be the baby of the group, Ringo was in fact the oldest of the
Fab Four). In the Beatles' first two films, A Hard Day's Night (1964) and
Help! (1965), most of the comedy material went to Ringo, whose Chaplinesque
demeanor and droll, deadpan dialogue delivery paid off in big laughs. Upon
the group's breakup in 1970, it was Ringo who fared best as a solo screen
actor. He had already brightened up the dull proceedings of Candy (1968) and
The Magic Christian (1970); after the Beatles' split, he was seen to good
advantage as the Pope in Ken Russell's Lisztomania (1975), as one of Mae
West's bewildered amours in Sextette (1978) and as a bumbling Cro-Magnon in
Caveman (1979), in which he co-starred with his second wife, Barbara Bach.
In 1973, Ringo produced the bizarre horror movie spoof Son of Dracula, appearing
onscreen with fellow rock icon Harry Nilsson. A big draw all over again in
the 1980s thanks to his All-Star Band tours, Ringo Starr remains a most welcome,
if infrequent TV guest star; he has also shown up in several entertaining
commercials, including a 1995 Pizza Hut spot in which he co-starred with ex-Monkees
Davy Jones, Micky Dolenz, and Peter Tork. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide