Richard Starkey, later known as Ringo Starr, is born in Liverpool in 1940. As a child, he was in poor health, which resulted in inactivity and boredom. After one of his many stays in hospital, he was asked to play a percussion instrument in the school band. That was helpful. Richard’s interest in music was further heightened when he and his friend Roy Trafford listened to skiffle, which was popular at the time. In the early 1960s, both joined the Hurricanes, a group that soon landed a contract to perform in Hamburg. There he met the Beatles, and the rest is history.
Discography
- 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)
- Ringo Rama (2003)
- Choose Love (2005)
- Liverpool 8 (2008)
- Y Not (2010)
- Ringo 2012 (2012)
- Postcards from Paradise (2015)
- Give More Love (2017)
- What’s My Name (2019)
- Look Up (2025)
In addition, between 1990 and the present day, eight albums of live performances by ‘Ringo Stars’ all-star band’ have been released. I will come back to that later.
Sentimental Journey and Beaucoup de Blues (1970)
His first album (1970) is mainly an experiment by the record company. To everyone’s surprise, Ringo was presented as a crooner singing songs by super crooners such as Frank Sinatra. For curiosity’s sake, you can listen to ‘Night and Day’ here:
With Beaucoup de blues (1970), Ringo returns to his ‘habitat’. Here you can hear him sing the title track ‘Beaucoup de blues’, an unpretentious song in country & western style. Critics responded favourably, but commercially the album was a flop. In the years that followed, the tide would briefly turn. From now on, Ringo combines his musical activities with appearances as a film actor.
Concert for Bangladesh (1971)
Ringo accepts George Harrison’s invitation to participate in the ‘Concert for Bangladesh’. For the occasion, Ringo and George write the song ‘It Don’t Come Easy’, which reached number four in the charts in both the US and the UK. It is a catchy pop song. Here you can listen and see a recording from 2016, together with Joe Walsh, filmed during one of the ‘All-stars’ concerts.
Back of Boogaloo (1972)
The single ‘Back to Boogaloo’ is also a co-production with George Harrison. The song was written for a documentary film about Marc Bolan. Unlike previous songs, this is a real ‘rocker’. The song reached number two in the UK and Canada and number nine in the US. Malicious tongues claim that the song is also a dig at the songs Paul McCartney wrote as a solo artist. Both Ringo and George vehemently deny this. The song features a beautiful guitar solo by George Harrison. This song is also recorded during one of Ringo’s All-stars concerts. You can listen to this version here.
Ringo (1973) and Goodnight Vienna (1974)
The album Ringo is also successful. ‘Ringo’ was the first rock album released by Ringo. Two singles achieved high chart positions: ‘Photograph‘ scored as a number one hit in the US and reached eighth place in the UK. This song too, was a co-production with George Harrison. The second song, ‘You’re Sixteen’, was written by the Sherman Brothers and scored also high. You can listen to that song here. It was recorded in 2016.
This successful album was followed by an equally successful sequel, ‘Goodnight Vienna’1974). The title track scored high in the US and moderately in the UK.
Ringo’s Rotogravure (1976) and Ringo the 4th (1977)
Ringo’s Rotogravure (1976), featuring many old Beatles songs, was a commercial disappointment, even though he had put a lot of effort into promoting it. The record company decided to take a new direction. Ringo the 4th was a combination of disco and 1970s pop. This album was also a failure. To get an impression, you can watch and listen to the music video for the song Drowning the Sea of Love here:
Bad Boy (1978), Stop and Smell the Roses (1981) and Old Wave (1982)
These three albums were neither commercially nor artistically successful. Ringo struggles to find a record company for this last album. There was a clear reason for Ringo’s artistic decline after his early years.
In 1979, Ringo suffers from intestinal problems related to peritonitis in his youth. During an operation, he hovered between life and death. That did not prevent him from performing at Eric Clapton’s wedding three weeks later, together with Paul McCartney and George Harrison.
The period of misfortune was not over yet. On 28 November, a fire destroyed his home in Hollywood, also destroying much of the material from his Beatles era.
By then, Ringo and his wife have become heavy drinkers and spent six weeks in a clinic in Arizona. He later said of his long addiction: “Years I’ve lost, absolute years … I’ve no idea what happened. I lived in a blackout.” After leaving the clinic, Ringo became a teetotaler.
Ringo Starr and his All-star band
Ringo changes course and came up with the brilliant idea of touring with a band every year. He has done this 14 times. The name of the band is ‘Ringo Starr and his All-star band’ and its line-up changes every year. The first edition took place in Dallas (1989) in front of an audience of 10,000. The band members, who usually perform as soloists in their own bands, each play several of their songs, while Ringo mainly sings songs from the Beatles’ repertoire. His son Zak Starkey usually performs as the drummer.
Ringo Starr has toured worldwide with his ‘All-stars’ from the very beginning. To name a few examples, the first edition (1989) took him to Canada, Japan, France and Finland. During the second edition (1992), several other European countries were added, such as the UK and Belgium. The third edition (1995) focused mainly on Latin America. The fourth edition (1997–1998) took him back to various European countries and to Russia. The eleventh edition (2010–2011) again visited many European countries, including the Netherlands. During 2025 ten concerts – the fifteenth edition – are planned.
Eight editions have been released on album, none of which have ever reached the charts, except for the album ‘Live at the Greek Theatre’ (2008), which reached number one in Greece. Incidentally, the Greek Theatre is in Los Angeles!
Earlier in this post, I showed some footage of Ringo’s performance with his ‘All-star band’. Here you can watch and listen to the song ‘Up the cripple creek’, which he sings together with Levon Helm during the 1989 edition.
Time Takes Time (1992)
Time Takes Time (1992) was the next studio album, nine years after the former one. Again, it was not a commercial success, apart from a minor hit at number 74, ‘Weight of the World’, which he sings together with a number of members of the ‘All-Star Band’, including Nils Lofgren, Todd Rundgren and Joe Walsh. These artists were also present during the All-Star Band’s performance in Montreux, where they played ‘No Time’, among other songs, and that recording is also on this album. Listen to this heavy rocker here:
Beatle anthology (1996)
Like George Harrison, Ringo contributes to the creation of the Beatles anthology. You can find out more about this in my post about George Harrison.
Vertical Man (1998), Ringo Rama (2003), Choose Love (2005)
These albums were produced by Mark Hudson and his band, the Roundheads, who form the core of the backing group. The albums all reflect the ‘All-stars’ formula, with many guest artists but no audience. Many of the songs are written by Ringo or come from the Beatles repertoire.
Guests on Vertical Man (1998) included Brian Wilson, Alanis Morriset, Tom Petty, George Harrison and Paul McCartney. You can listen to two songs from the album here: Love Me Do and La Da Da. The album was not a commercial success in the US or the UK. Only 2,000 copies were sold in the UK.
Ringo Rama (2003) also features a host of guest artists, including Charlie Haden, David Gilmour and Eric Clapton. The album also included the song co-written by Ringo, which he sang during the ‘Concert for George’ (at the Royal Albert Hall in London in 2002) in memory of George Harrison: ‘Never without you’. Listen to it here:
This recording also comes from one of the All-Star concerts at the Greek Theatre in Los Angeles (1990). The same goes for the next song: Honey Don’t. This album scored moderately, except for the single version of Never Without You.
Choose Love (2005) also followed the ‘All-stars’ approach, and the album again lacked commercial success. The same applies to Liverpool 8 (2008). It tried to piggyback on Liverpool’s election as European Capital of Culture that year. It was the last album on which Hudson participated as co-producer, alongside Ringo himself. The reviews were mixed: The Times wrote in a review, “Just because [the album] was fun to make, it doesn’t follow that you might enjoy listening to it.”
Ringo produced the next album, Y Not (2010), himself. It ended up in the lower regions of Billboard’s top 100 and sold no more than 30,000 copies worldwide. Billboard wrote that Ringo’s friendly voice was interchangeable with his previous albums, full of fond memories of Starr’s days as a Beatle in Liverpool. Once again, a number of other artists joined in: Paul McCartney sings on the ballad ‘Walk with you’ and Starr sings on the last track, ‘Who’s your daddy’, a duet with Joss Stone in a catchy rock song.
Ringo 2012, produced by Ringo himself, was again not a big hit, selling less than 10,000 copies worldwide. It is the third consecutive album in which he looks back melancholically on his years ‘In Liverpool‘.
The next album, Postcards from Paradise (2015), again features a large group of colleagues and friends, and again the album does not make it beyond the lower regions of the charts. The critics were kinder than they had been to the previous albums. The song ‘‘Rory and the Hurricanes’ refers to the first band Ringo ever played in. It is worth mentioning that all the members of the then ‘All-stars band’ co-wrote the song ‘Island in the sun‘. On ‘Give Me More Love’ (2017), the now familiar group of colleagues and friends plays again, as well as Paul McCartney, who sings along in the background and plays bass on ‘We’re on the Road Again‘. Thomas Erlewine of AllMusic finds it an open and friendly album. Other reviews are moderate, and the album’s chart positions are once again in the lower half.
What’s My Name (2019) again was not a big commercial success, but some reviewers were more lenient than on previous occasions. Erlewine from AllMusic notes that the mood is sunny and the songs melodious. Mark Smotroff from Audiophile enjoyed listening to the album, calling it one of Ringo’s best. The song ‘Grow Old with Me’ is one of the last songs John Lennon wrote. In Ringo’s adaptation, which you can hear here, Paul McCartney plays the bass part. It is the most highly rated song on this album. You can listen to it here.
In 2025, his last album ‘Look Up’ is released, an album in country & roots style. Most reviewers rated ‘Look Up’ positively, describing it as ‘full of sensitive accents’, ‘contemporary and energetic’ and ‘Ringo’s voice being true to himself’. Here is the music video for the title track ‘Look Up‘. Most of the songs on this album were written by T-Bone Burnett.
What else did Ringo do?
Like other ex-Beatles, Ringo helped fellow artists to release albums through his company Ring O’Records. At the same time, his inspiration for writing his own songs dried up because of his chronic alcohol and drug use. He eventually kicked his addictions and remained teetotal.
Ringo has appeared in numerous films and television programmes. For two years, he was the voice of Thomas, the blue steam locomotive in the series ‘Thomas & friends’.
Looking back
Ringo always did what he wanted to do. He loved drumming, but without much practising and never playss a beat too much. He was able to support the Beatles well in this way, until their music became more complex and Paul McCartney started giving him instructions. That made him nervous. His vocal contributions to the Beatles’ repertoire are limited. He is the singer of ‘Yellow Submarine’ and ‘With a Little Help from My Friends’, written for him by Lennon and McCartney. He wrote and sang ‘Don’t Pass Me By’, ‘Octopus’s Garden’ and a handful of others. s
At the beginning of his solo career, Ringo distinguished himself with several well-received songs, such as ‘Back off Bogaloo’, ‘It doesn’t come easy’, ‘Photograph’ and ‘You’re sixteen’. He received a great deal of support from George Harrison and afterwards many of his songs were co-produced with George. His first albums, Ringo (1973) and Goodnight Vienna (1974), were successful. However, it is fair to say that most of his subsequent albums had little commercial and artistic success, except for a few songs that were released as singles. Ringo had to wait until 2025 for a positive turnaround in critical acclaim and sales, brought about by the album Look Up, inspired by country and roots music.
Ringo has done his own thing all these years, focusing on making enjoyable and accessible pop and rock music without artistic pretensions. His music is usually catchy, optimistic and playful, with a message of peace and love. His career got a boost when he decided in 1989 to go on tour every year with a changing line-up called ‘Ringo Starr and his All-star band’. On these occasions, he sings several songs – including many Beatles songs – and each of the band members sings hits from their own past as soloists or members of a band. This formula has proven successful to date and is enjoyed by the audience, the band members and Ringo himself. At the same time, this is also the reason for Ringo’s limited success in selling his albums. Unlike those of George Harrison and Paul McCartney, his own songs have hardly evolved over the years. Few people eagerly await Ringo’s next album: nice to listen to, but not a ‘must-have’. An evening with ‘Ringo Starr and his All-starr band’, on the other hand, is a warm musical bath, but the albums made during these evenings also score poorly. One thing is certain. For the Beatles, continuing to perform live after 1966 was no longer possible. Ringo has managed to make up for this loss during his solo career.
Music: Listen, Look and Enjoy 