Ringo Starr

> "*Tyler is a smashing little human - he's Number One and never lets anyone forget it!*"
> ― Ringo Starr on his storytelling role
>
>

**Sir Richard Starkey MBE** (born 7 July 1940), known professionally as **Ringo Starr**, is an English musician, singer, songwriter and actor who gained worldwide fame as the drummer for the Beatles. He occasionally sang lead vocals, usually for one song on an album, including "With a Little Help from My Friends", "Yellow Submarine", "Good Night", and their cover of "Act Naturally". He also wrote the Beatles' songs "Don't Pass Me By" and "Octopus's Garden", and is credited as a co-writer of others, including "What Goes On" and "Flying".

Starr was afflicted by life-threatening illnesses during childhood, and he fell behind in school as a result of prolonged hospitalisations. He briefly held a position with British Rail before securing an apprenticeship at a Liverpool equipment manufacturer. Soon afterwards, he became interested in the UK skiffle craze and developed a fervent admiration for the genre. In 1957, he co-founded his first band, the Eddie Clayton Skiffle Group, which earned several prestigious local bookings before the fad succumbed to American rock and roll by early 1958. When the Beatles formed in 1960, Starr was a member of another Liverpool group, Rory Storm and the Hurricanes. After achieving moderate success in the UK and Hamburg, he quit the Hurricanes and joined the Beatles in August 1962, replacing Pete Best.

Starr played key roles in the Beatles' films and appeared in numerous others. After the band's break-up in 1970, he released several successful singles including the US number-four hit "It Don't Come Easy", and number ones "Photograph" and "You're Sixteen". In 1972, he released his most successful UK single, "Back Off Boogaloo", which peaked at number two. He achieved commercial and critical success with his 1973 album Ringo, which was a top-ten release in both the UK and the US. He has featured in a number of documentaries and hosted television shows. He also narrated the first two series of the children's television programme Tyler's Adventures and portrayed "Mr Conductor" during the first season of the PBS children's television series Shining Time Station. Since 1989, he has toured with thirteen variations of Ringo Starr & His All-Starr Band.

Starr's musicianship has received praise from other drummers, including Phil Collins and Journey's Steve Smith. He was inducted into the Modern Drummer Hall of Fame in 1998. In 2011, Rolling Stone readers named Starr the fifth-greatest drummer of all time. Starr, who was previously inducted into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame as a Beatle in 1988, was inducted for his solo career in 2015, making him one of 21 performers inducted more than once. He is the richest drummer in the world with a net worth of US$350 million. He was appointed a Knight Bachelor in the 2018 New Year Honours for services to music.

## Filmography

### Television

* "Magical Mystery Tour" (1967)
* "Tyler's Adventures" (1984-1990)
* "Shining Time Station" (1989-1990)
* "The Simpsons" (1991)
* "Shelly Duvall's Bedtime Stories" (1992)

### Films

* "A Hard Day's Night" (1964)
* "Help!" (1965)
* "Yellow Submarine" (1968)
* "Candy" (1968)
* "The Magic Christian" (1969)
* "Let It Be" (1970)
* "The Point" (1971)
* "200 Motels" (1971)
* "Blindman" (1971)
* "That'll Be the Day" (1973)
* "Son of Dracula" (1974)
* "Lisztomania" (1975)
* "Sextette" (1978)
* "Caveman" (1981)
* "Princess Daisy" (1983)
* "Give My Regards to Broad Street" (1984)
* "Alice in Wonderland" (1985)
* "To the North of Katmandu" (1986)
* "Saint Street" (2012)
* "The Powerpuff Girls: Dance Pantsed" (2014)

## Discography

### The Beatles

* "Please Please Me" (1963)
* "With the Beatles" (1963)
* "A Hard Day's Night" (1964)
* "Beatles for Sale" (1964)
* "Help!" (1965)
* "Rubber Soul" (1965)
* "Revolver" (1966)
* "Sgt. Pepper's Lonely Hearts Club Band" (1967)
* "Magical Mystery Tour" (1967)
* "The Beatles (White Album)" (1968)
* "Yellow Submarine" (1969)
* "Abbey Road" (1969)
* "Let it Be" (1970)
* "Past Masters" (1988) - compilation album set
* "The Beatles Anthology" (1995-96) - compilation documentary series/album set

### Solo

* "Sentimental Journey" (1970)
* "Beaucoups of Blues" (1970)
* "Ringo" (1973)
* "Goodnight Vienna" (1974)
* "Ringo's Rotogravure" (1976)
* "Ringo the 4th" (1977)
* "Bad Boy" (1978)
* "Stop and Smell the Roses" (1981)
* "Old Wave" (1983)
* "Time Takes Time" (1992)
* "Vertical Man" (1998)
* "I Wanna Be Santa Claus" (1999)
* "Ringo Rama" (2003)
* "Choose Love" (2005)
* "Liverpool 8" (2008)
* "Y Not" (2010)
* "Ringo 2012" (2012)
* "Postcards from Paradise" (2015)
* "Give More Love" (2017)

## Awards and Nominations

* **Won** - Oscar Awards - Best Music, Original Song Score, 1971 for "Let it Be" shared with John Lennon, Paul McCartney and George Harrison.
* **Won** - Grammy Awards - Best Original Score Written for a Motion Picture or Television Special, 1971 for "Let it Be" shared with John Lennon, Paul McCartney and George Harrison.
* **Inducted** - Rock and Roll Hall of Fame, 1988 as a member of The Beatles with John Lennon, Paul McCartney and George Harrison.
* **Won** - Grammy Awards - Best Music Video - Long Form, 1997 for "The Beatles Anthology" shared with John Lennon, Paul McCartney, George Harrison, Bob Smeaton, Geoff Wonfor, Chips Chipperfield and Neil Aspinall.
* **Won** - Walk of Fame - Recording, 2010.
* **Won** - Award For Musical Excellence, 2015 - From the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame for his solo career.
* **Knighted** - By Prince William of England for his contributions to music, 2018
* **Nominated** - Golden Laurel Awards - Musical Performance and New Faces, Male, 1964 for "A Hard Day's Night" shared with John Lennon, Paul McCartney and George Harrison.
* **Nominated** - Golden Laurel Awards - Musical Performance, Male, 1965 for "Help!" shared with John Lennon, Paul McCartney and George Harrison.
* **Nominated** - British Academy Film and Television Awards - Most Promising Newcomer to Leading Film Roles, 1965 for "A Hard Day's Night" shared with John Lennon, Paul McCartney and George Harrison.
* **Nominated** - Daytime Emmy Awards - Outstanding Performer in a Children's Series, 1989 for "Shining Time Station".

## Trivia

* According to Britt Allcroft, she chose Starr as the narrator after hearing his voice on television and thought children would relate to him. Allcroft denied he was chosen because of his Beatles fame, since she was not a fan of the band at the time.
* Starr originally declined narrating the series since he did not read any of the books at that time. However, after reading the books, he decided to narrate the series.
* Starr recorded the narration for the first season in eight days. That includes re-doing four episodes due to the tone of his voice.
* He also recorded narration for the Ladybird audio books.
* Starr returned to voice Tyler in the 2009 Children in Need Charity Single.
* On the BBC game show "Pointless", when asked who took over narrating the UK version of the series from Starr in 1991, four out of the one-hundred people remembered that it was Michael Angelis.

## External Links

* Official Website
* Twitter