RINGO

In the past,a drummer was the least being noticed in a group or a band,its either he/she is at the back or at the side hardly attracting any attention.Just slouching and concentrating on the timing and tempo.A percussionist is somewhat important on adding that flavor to the music,without the snare,the cymbals and the bass kick drum,music will sound flat and dull.A few early drummers like Gene Krupa and his collaboration with Armand Zildjian contributed on how they developed the cymbals and tom toms that rock drummers were all crazy pounding today.

The Beatles were the first rock band ever to have the drummer noticed by the public.Instead of putting him aside or at the lower back,they put the drummer on an elevated flatform so all the audience could also see him play.We all know that the Beatles were four different persons with different personalities,its like"hey we're not leaving our drummer behind,he's part of it too." And thus started a different approach and different meaning on how the public would react on rock drumming.

One such character is Richard Starkey aka Ringo Starr,who was born on July 7,1940.An only child and the eldest among the Beatles,he was born out of poverty and was a true rock n' roll rebel at a very young age.He claimed having started smoking at the age of eight,in which he contracted pleurisy and TB as a child.And it was in the children's hospital[where he was reportedly coming in and out] where he first got interested on playing drums."A lady would bring some toy instruments and we would play on them" said Ringo,as he narrates on how he got interested on playing the drums.

As a teenager,he became a drummer for various skiffle groups like John,Paul and George,whom he would later meet and join.He became a regular drummer with Rory Storm and the Hurricanes and was so popular throughout Liverpool that other bands were so eager to have him.He first met the Beatles in Hamburg,Germany and was already friends with the other three even though Pete Best was still in the group.

When Pete Best was sacked by Brian Epstein upon the suggestion of the three other Beatles and George Martin,Liverpool's most famous and most sought after drummer filled in for the Beatles-who would later and forever be as John Paul George and Ringo.The story goes that John Lennon and Paul McCartney went to the trailer where Rory Storm and his band were staying at the time while they played in a club somewhere in Wales.Rory Storm's guitarist Johnny Byrne knew right away that the two Beatles wanted Ringo when they came during the early hours of the morning.Rory Storm was at first angry upon finding out that John and Paul were pressuring Ringo to go back with them to Liverpool,but the Beatles were waving a recording contract and finally he let Ringo free,upon a condition that he would finish off the week with two more gigs.He mentioned not feeling sorry for Best,for he felt that he is a better drummer than him.

THE BEATLES

 With the Beatles,Ringo was the center of attention as he sang and played drums during a solo break wherein his other three bandmates would step aside and let him sing one or two songs at each of their performances."Boys" originally by the Shirelles is one of Ringo's signature songs with the band[ he also did the song with Rory Storm back then],on the band's debut album Please Please Me.With every Beatles album John Lennon and Paul McCartney would compose one song for Ringo to sing and on the other hand,Ringo also wrote several songs with one in collaboration with Lennon and McCartney..

Here are some songs Ringo sang lead vocals/wrote for the Beatles

1.BOYS written by Luther Dixon and Wells Farrell from the album Please Please Me(1963)

2.I WANNA BE YOUR MAN written by John Lennon and Paul McCartney from the album With The Beatles(1963)

3.HONEY DON'T  written by Carl Perkins from the album Beatles For Sale(1964)

4.MATCHBOX  written by Carl Perkins Single later to be compiled on the Beatles Past Masters Singles Compilation

5.ACT NATURALLY  written by Johnny Russell and Voni Morrison,from the album Help!(1965)
6.WHAT GOES ON written by John Lennon Paul McCartney and Richard Starkey,from the album Rubber Soul(1965)
7.YELLOW SUBMARINE written by John Lennon and Paul McCartney from the album Revolver(1966)
8.A LITTLE HELP FROM MY FRIENDS written by John Lennon and Paul McCartney,from the album Sgt Pepper's Lonely Heart's Club Band(1967)

9.DON'T PASS ME BY written by Richard Starkey,from the album The Beatles aka The White Album(1968)


10. GOOD NIGHT written by John Lennon and Paul McCartney,from the album The Beatles aka The White Album(1968)


11.OCTOPUS'S GARDEN written by Richard Starkey,from the album Abbey Road(1969)*


*-the last song ever to be sung and written by Ringo while he was with the Beatles.


Ringo married Maureen Cox and had three children whom one of them would follow his footsteps,Zac Starkey,who became the unofficial drummer for the band Oasis.On the Beatles films such as A Hard Day's Night,Help! and Yellow Submarine it was Ringo who was the center of attention coz he seemed a little chuffed on being always lost and separated from the rest of his bandmates.
He later married Bond girl Barbara Bach after divorcing Maureen Starr.

POST-BEATLES

When the Beatles disbanded in 1970,Ringo like his other bandmates,released solo albums and had several hits and album chart success.The closest Beatles reunion so far,was at 1973's Ringo's solo album wittily titled RINGO,where all four Beatles contributed songs and played instruments in the studio with him.

Ringo had two number one hits in the US namely "Photograph" which he co-wrote with George Harrison and his own rendition of "You're Sixteen" ,both from his most succesfull album of the same name.He also acted on several films and was the voice of Thomas the tank Engine.

Ringo continues to rock around the world with his All Starr Band,with a number of guests and various artists playing with him onstage.

NOTES

Ringo Starr is the most influential drummer in rock music history,one may not agree in one way or another but a lot of rock drummers view Ringo as an influence.The Beatles were the very first rock group to employ and set the standard for a modern day rock band,on how the guitars will be arranged and the drummer's position which continues to be used today.They are also the first band to set the trend on backmasking,feedback,distortion and other recording effects which rock groups continues to use up to this day.

One cool praise about Ringo comes from former Genesis drummer and singer Phil Collins

" Ringo Starr is vastly underrated.The drum fills on "A Day In The Life"  are very complex things.You could take a great drummer today and say "I want it like that" . He wouldn't know what to do".-- quote taken from Mojo magazine.

Other rock drummers who regard Ringo as a big influence:

Steve Gorman(The Black Crowes)

Dave Grohl(Nirvana)

Eric Carr(Kiss)

Nicko McBrain(Iron Maiden)

Phil Rudd(AC/DC)

Thank you Ringo for coming to our lives! Thank you for shaping rock music drumming and taking it to a new level.God bless you Ringo!

(c) Keith Vernon Adagio