Ringo Starr

Richard Starkey was born July 7th, 1940, in Liverpool, England. His dad left when he was three and he lived alone with his mother until she remarried when he was 13. When he was six, his appendix burst and he almost died. He was in the hospital for a year, recovering. Having missed so much school, he was far behind the others and didn’t learn to read until he was nine. When he was 13, he was back in the hospital for another year, this time with tuberculosis. He learned to play the drums in the hospital. He never returned to school and began to work at 14. He was very into American rock and roll and was a Teddy boy as well. He bought his first drum kit in 1958 and was soon playing weddings with friends. He adopted his stage name, Ringo Starr, because of his fascination with cowboys. He auditioned for Rory Storm and the Hurricanes and began touring throughout England, making a decent living. After playing with John, Paul and George in Hamburg, he joined the Beatles officially in 1962. In 1965, he married his long-time girlfriend, Maureen Cox and they had three children together, Jason, Zak and Lee. After the Beatles broke up, Ringo enjoyed a number one hit with “Photograph” in 1973. he released several albums with moderate success. He also pursued an acting career and made several movies. In 1975, after a string of musical flops, he a Maureen divorced. He turned to partying with John Lennon. In 1979, after another hospital stay where several feet of intestines were removed, his Los Angeles mansion burned down. In 1980, he met his future wife, actress Barbara Bach on the Set of “Caveman.” After surviving a near-fatal car crash with minor injuries, they were married. In 1989, he formed “The All-Starr Band” and began touring and releasing records again.