Richard Starkey, MBE (born 7 July 1940), known as Ringo Starr, is an English musician and actor who gained worldwide fame as the drummer for the Beatles. When the band formed in 1960, Starr was a member of another Liverpool group, Rory Storm and the Hurricanes. He joined the Beatles in August 1962, replacing Pete Best. He sang lead vocals on several Beatles songs, such as “With a Little Help from My Friends“, “Yellow Submarine” and the Beatles’ version of “Act Naturally“. Credited as a co-writer of “What Goes On“, “Flying” and “Dig It“, he is also the sole author of “Don’t Pass Me By” and “Octopus’s Garden“.
Starr’s creative contribution to the Beatles’ music has received high praise from notable drummers, such as Steve Smith, who said that Starr “brought forth a new paradigm” where “we started to see the drummer as an equal participant in the compositional aspect … [he] composed unique, stylistic drum parts for the Beatles’ songs”.[1] In 2011 Rolling Stone readers named him the fifth-greatest drummer of all-time.
A critically acclaimed actor, Starr played key roles in the Beatles’ films and appeared in numerous others. After their break-up in 1970, he released several successful singles and albums and recorded with each of the former Beatles. He has been featured in a number of documentaries, hosted television shows, narrated the first two seasons of the children’s television series Thomas the Tank Engine & Friends and portrayed “Mr Conductor” during the first season of the PBS children’s television series Shining Time Station. Since 1989, Starr has toured with twelve variations of Ringo Starr & His All-Starr Band.
Liverpool City 