A WA R D FOR

M U S I C A L E X C E L L E N C E

Ringo Starr B y P arke P uterbaugh

He set the standard for rock & roll
drumming with his solid rhythmic underpinning and
tasteful percussive musicaUty.
THE BEATLES JOINED THE ROCK AND ROLL HALL OF
Fame in 1988 as part of its stellar third class (which included Bob
Dylan and the Beach Boys). With Ringo Starr receiving an Award for
Musical Excellence this year, all four Beatles are now in the Rock and
Roll Hall of Fame as individuals as well. This is fitting, as Starr’s mod­
est, affable persona belies a lifetime of musical achievement that pre­
dates, postdates, and, of course, includes his eight years as drummer
with the most popular and influential group in the history of music.
Starr’s main contribution was to devise a fundamental and endur­
ing approach to rock & roll drumming. From the start, Ringo’s style
has combined a solid rhythmic underpinning with tasteful percus­
sive musicality. He is a song-serving drummer. As he told Britain’s
Melody Maker in 1976, “Drumming’s simple. I’ve always believed
the drummer is not there to interrupt the song.” ^ Ringo has long
been noticed by musicians for his steady timekeeping, artful fills,
and uncluttered style. Producer Don Was stated, “He is the lead­
ing and most musical drummer to influence generations of musi­
cians.” His style may seem uncomplicated, but it requires discipline,
restraint, and an aesthetic sense about what to put in and leave out.
Ringo assembled a drum set that, by virtue of the Beatles’ fathomless
popularity, became preferred by rock drummers of the sixties and be­
yond. He chose a kit made by Ludwig. “Because it traveled with the
Beatles,”noted Starr biographer Alan Clayson, “the Ludwig became the
standard group drum set for most of the sixties.” The setup that Ringo
most frequently played with the Beatles was a four-piece Ludwig Oyster
Black Pearl “Super Classic” drum kit, plus Paiste cymbals and hi-hat.
 When tewseftb, 1964

T
To the average Beatles fan, technical talk about h e o l d est beatle by t h r e e m o n t h s ,
Ringo’s stickwork and setup is beside the point. What Richard Starkey was bom in Liverpool,
matters is how seamlessly he wove his drumming into England, on July 7, 1940. He grew up
the band’s songs, energetically propelling the fast ones in a poor working-class suburb near the
(such as “She Loves You” and “Can’t Buy Me Love”) Mersey River known as “The Dingle.” Starkey suf­
and providing decorative fills and rolling thunder on fered a series of debilitating childhood maladies, in­
their more ornate works (such as “Tomorrow Never cluding appendicitis, peritonitis, and pleurisy, which
Knows,” “Lucy in the Sly With Diamonds,” and the required lengthy hospitalizations.
Ringo-sung “Yellow Submarine”). Like many in Liverpool, young Richard Starkey -
Beatles producer George known to family and friends
Martin, whose opinion has as “Ritchie” - became a fan of
to rank as authoritative, ob­
served that “Ringo has a tre­ “He is the American cowboys and coun­
try & western stars, whose
mendous feel for a song, and
he always helped us hit the leading and records arrived in the port
city via British sailors. Gene
right tempo the first time. most musical Autry was an early hero, and
He was rock solid. This made
the recording of all the Beatle drummer Ringo also embraced country
fundamentalists like Buck
songs so much easier.”
As for his bandmates, Paul to influence Owens, Ernest Tubb, Webb
Pierce, and Hank Snow.
McCartney has said that Ringo
remains his favorite drummer. generations of Somewhat ironically, Ringo
would introduce many Ameri­
“Ringo is right down the cen­
ter, never overplays,” he told
M usician magazine. George
musicians.” can teenagers to a form of mu­
sic cultivated on their own soil
by singing the Beatles’ cover of
Harrison attested, “Ringo’s Buck Owens’ “Act Naturally”
got the best backbeat I’ve ever The first song Ringo ever wrote,
heard, and he can play great twenty-four hours a day.” “Don’t Pass Me By” - eventually recorded for the Beatles’
Shortly before his death, John Lennon told Playboy, “White Album” - bears a distinctly countrified feel.
“Ringo’s a damn good drummer . . . I think Ringo’s Ringo’s affinity for country music would recur in
drumming is underrated in the same way that Paul’s 1970, when he ventured to Nashville to record Beau-
bass playing is underrated. Paul and Ringo stand up coups o f Blues. Pedal steel guitar legend Pete Drake
anywhere with any of the rock musicians.” produced the album, which featured a cast of Nash­
In a 1981 interview, Ringo himself told Rolling ville’s finest musicians. Ringo’s embrace of the genre
Stone, “I’m most creative as a drummer,” he said. “I’m marked one of the earliest instances of a rock icon
probably the best rock & roll drummer on earth. I say stepping up to assert that country was cool.
that now because I used to be embarrassed to speak As a teenager, Ringo also embraced fifties rock &
up for myself.” roll and its British variant, skiffle music. He became
FROM T O P LEFT
Ringoasa
teenage teddy
boy in Liverpool,
circa 1959;
playing his
signature style
with the Beatles
in Milan, 1965;
with wife Barbara
Bach,1981;at the
Beatles' Rock and
Roll Hall of Fame
induction, with
George Harrison,
Yoko Ono, and
Julian and Sean
Lennon (from
left), 1988; with
Paul McCartney,
 one of the teddy boys, a British subculture with an
undying allegiance to American rockabilly, particu­
larly rebel rockers like Elvis Presley, Bill Haley, Gene
Vincent, and Eddie Cochran. His stepfather, Harry
Graves, bought Ringo a small used drum set so that
he’d have something besides biscuit tins to bang on.
A baptism in basic rock & roll prepared him for his
first jobs as a drummer, with the Eddie Clayton Skiffle
Group and Rory Storm and the Hurricanes.
It was with the Hurricanes, which he joined in I960,
that Starkey got serious. Rory Storm (real name: Alan
Caldwell) was the dynamic frontman for a group that
became a fixture in their hometown of Liverpool,
■ at the clubs along Hamburg’s dicey Reeperbahn,
i and at a popular “holiday camp” known as Butlin’s.
, The charismatic Storm bestowed the stage name
Ringo Starr upon his drummer. Rory Storm and
the Hurricanes’ dues-paying, skill-sharpening
club residencies paralleled that of the early Beat­
les, who then had Pete Best on drums. The two
, outfits got to know each other, paving the way
i for the Beatles’ recruitment of Ringo as Best’s
\ replacement. It can be fairly argued that Starr
(with the Hurricanes) and Best (with the Beat­
les) crafted the rhythmic blueprint for British
beat music during their early-sixties stints
with those groups. Starr debuted onstage with
the Beatles on August 18, 1962. Personally
and musically, it turned out to be a perfect fit.
Ringo’s personality was as unaffected as his drum­
ming. A down-to-earth lad, all he had to do to charm the
world was act naturally. Beyond their collective chemis­
Flasshiii'g h,®.trademark peace-sigo gesture m lâ§9 try, the Beatles possessed distinctive personalities: Len­
non was edgy and erudite; McCartney appeared extro­
verted and driven; Harrison projected wariness and quiet
strength; and Ringo exuded the unflappable demeanor
of a modest everyman, who bore the surreal whirlwind of
Beatlemania with endearing wit and wisdom.
At the Beatles’ first American press conference, they
were asked, “What do you think of Beethoven?” “GreEEt,”
quipped Ringo. “Especially his poems.” Starr was some-'
times witty without intending to be. At the end of a
long recording session, he sighed, “It’s been a hard day’s
night,” thereby inspiring a name for the Beatles’ first
movie and third album. Another of Ringo’s malaprop-
isms provided the title for “Tomorrow Never Knows.”
Ringo grounded the Beatles’ music during their
run of unrivaled creativity. He was the last to join
and, interestingly, the last to contribute to a Beatles
session. It was on April 1, 1970, that Ringo Starr,
alone among the Beatles, played on a final Phil Spec-
tor-produced session for the long-delayed Let It Be.
Ringo’s drumming accompanied orchestral overdubs
of three songs: “I Me Mine,” “Across the Universe,”
and, appropriately, “The Long and Winding Road.”

R
in g o ’s f ir s t solo a l b u m , s e n t im e n t a l
Journey (1970), consisted of orchestrated
pop standards from the pre-rock era. Like
his subsequent foray into country music,
Beaucoups o f Blues, Ringo was ahead of the curve.
Numerous artists from Willie Nelson to Rod Stew­
art and Paul McCartney have delved into the Great
American Songbook, but Ringo got there first.
After his detours into pop standards and Nash­
ville country, Ringo recorded what many consider
his first proper solo album in 1973. Simply titled
Ringo, it featured contributions from all three of
his erstwhile bandmates and other musical lumi­
naries. The album spawned two chart-topping hits:
“Photograph” and “You’re Sixteen.” Ringo hit Num­
ber Two and remained on Billboard’s album chart
 ’Slllehiridthe drum fjiv
for 37 weeks. Ringo was now a solo star.
In the first half of the seventies, Ringo actually
outpaced his fellow Beatles. He racked up seven Top SELECTED DISCOGRAPHY
Ten hits between 1971 and 1975, a streak bookended
by “It Don’t Come Easy” (Number Four) and “No No
Song” (Number Three). Ringo was highly visible in the
seventies and eighties, casting himself into a celebrity
whirl that included musicians, actors, and scenemak-
ers. His solo albums became star-studded affairs, and
Ringo guested on numerous others’ records. The list of
those with whom he played is a virtual Rock and Roll
Hall of Fame, ranging from Eric Clapton and Stephen
Stills to B. B. King and Howlin’ Wolf. BEA UCO UPS OF RINGO
Meanwhile, Ringo built a respectable dossier as BLUES Apple 1973
an actor. Beginning with rave notices for A Hard . Apple 1970
Day’s Night back in 1964, Ringo evinced a flair for
the screen. His filmography includes roles in Candy,
The Magic Christian, That’ll Be the Day, and Cave­
man (where he met his wife, Barbara Bach). Ringo
also directed the T. Rex documentary Bom to Boogie.
He later endeared himself to the younger set as Mr.
Conductor on Shining Time Station.
Ringo put the partying life behind him in the late
eighties, subsequently reengaging with music in fruit­
ful and exciting ways. He began piloting his All-Starr GO O DNIGH T V IEN NA
Apple Î074
RING O STARR AND
Band, a touring supergroup with a changeable lineup. H IS ALL-STARR BAND
EMI 1990
Ringo, who turns 75 this year, is presently perform­
ing with his thirteenth edition of the All-Starr Band.
Some of his best solo albums, reflecting a return to
Liverpudlian whimsy and Beatlish musicality, have
come dining a renaissance that began with the 1992
release, Time Takes Time.
Despite his extensive resume, the core of Ringo
Starr’s legacy comes back to the beat that he’s kept for
the Beatles and myriad others for over half a century.
“First and foremost, I am a drummer,” Starr told Max
Weinberg in The Big Beat. “My soul is that of a drum­
mer. I didn’t do it to become rich and famous. I did it
VERTICAL MAN
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RING O RAMA

because it was the love of my life.”

-E H