Ringo Starr

[IMAGE]



Full Name: Richard Starkey
Birthdate: July 7th, 1940


With A Little Help From My Friends

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Fun Facts

Mention the name Richard Starkey anywhere in the world, and you might get a blank look, if you get any reaction at all. Mention the name Ringo Starr and the reaction you get will be wild enthusiasm. And yet, Richard Starkey and Ringo Starr are one and the same person.

The name change came about this way. When Richard Starkey began playing drums professionaly with Rory Storm and the Hurricanes, he changed his name to Richard Starr because it was easier to remember and sounded more glamorous. Then, becuase of his passion for rings, friends nicknamed him Ringo...and the name Ringo Starr was born.

Ringo was brought up in Dingle, one of the toughest areas in Liverpool. Ringo loves the area, however. "The streets are cobbled and the buildings ancent," he says, "And we live right in the middle of it in a terraced house. I love it round there. It's home. My neighbors have been great to me always, and since I've found fame and fortune, they've kept an eye on Mum and Dad when I've been away."

When Ringo was 5 years old, he entered St. Silas School, Dingle. At 6 and a hlaf, he was fo rced to leave school because of appendicitis. He was taken to Liverpool Children's HOspital where he remained an entire year, and three times the doctors informed his parents the he was going to die.

In recalling the illness, Ringo says, "I've got a dim recollection of awful pain, and sweat pouring down my face, and Mum crying. I'd developed peritonitis. I remember lying on the stretcher, with the sky twirling above me, and red blankets being wrapped around me, and the ambulance doors banging shut. Then I remember the smell of ether, and quiet oblivion."

With his characteristic sense of humor, Ringo says, "I didn't die though. Somewhere in my subconcious I must have known I was destined to be a Beatle. Well, how could I go and leave the other three idiots to roam the world looking for the perfect drummer?"

On the day that Ringo was to be discharged from the hospital, disaster struck again. He fell white getting out of bed and was seriously injured. This meant another 3 years in the hospital.

When he returned to school it was to Dingle Vale Secondary Modern. Just before Ringo's 14th birthday, he went for a holiday to London. It was raining when he left home and he refused to wear a coat. By the time he reached London he was soaked, and was sneezing with a case of hay fever. That developed into pleurisy, which led to another year's stay in a hospital.

When Ringo left the hospital, his school days were over. He started in engineering, but his heart just wasn't in it. His parents had bought him his first set of drums and drumming was all he could think of.

Finally he gave up engineering, and joined a group called the Darktown Skiffle, and then did 3 years with Rory Storm. It wasn't until 1962 that Ringo met the other Beatles. "I have never been happier than since I met them. When I first met them, they thought as so many other people still think, that I looked moody and sad. I wasn't then and I'm not now. I have moments when I don't want to laugh and times when I can't do anything else, but that's not being moody. If I'm talking seriously about something and somebody wants to interrupt with sweet talk, I can't be bothered to keep up my end of the conversation. But that isn't being moody, either."


Links



Mercury Records Ringo Starr Page

Live in Moscow

Ringo Tour

Starkey's Beatles Bash

The Ringo Starr Homepage

The Ringo Starr Page


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