- Title: Former Beatles drummer Ringo Starr turns 80
- Date: 6th July 2020
- Summary: WEST HOLLYWOOD, CALIFORNIA, UNITED STATES (FILE - MARCH 30, 2015) (REUTERS) VARIOUS OF ARTIST AND FORMER BEATLE RINGO STARR POSING FOR PHOTOGRAPHS
- Embargoed: 20th July 2020 13:55
- Keywords: Beatle Paul McCartney Beatlemania Peace and Love The Quarrymen Yoko Ono drummer Ringo Starr former Beatle popular music in the Sixties singer-songwriter
- Location: VARIOUS
- City: VARIOUS
- Country: Various
- Topics: Celebrities,Arts / Culture / Entertainment
- Reuters ID: LVA003CLOYFRH
- Aspect Ratio: 16:9
- Story Text: EDITORS PLEASE NOTE: PART AUDIO AS INCOMING
EDITORS PLEASE NOTE: AUDIBLE PROFANITY IN SHOT 35
Former Beatles drummer Ringo Starr celebrates turning 80 on Tuesday (July 7).
Speaking on a Zoom video news conference on June 30, Starr told a small group of journalists: "This is what 80 is. I know this is it but how should I feel? Everyone asks how do you feel? And I think we live from when we were kids, 80 was like what? That's crazy but now it seems to be there are a lot of people who are 100 out there, so I'm just aiming for 100."
Born Richard Starkey Jr. in 1940 in Liverpool, England, UK, Starr once said when he was 13 years old: "I only wanted to be a drummer."
While performing in Hamburg, Germany, Starr met the Beatles, and went on to drum with them three times, before officially joining the group in August 1962, replacing Pete Best.
Along with fellow 'Fab Four' band members, Paul McCartney, John Lennon and George Harrison, he played in clubs in northern England and made several tours of West Germany.
In 1962 the Beatles recorded "Love Me Do", the first of a string of best-sellers by Lennon and McCartney which included "I Wanna Hold Your Hand", "Help!", "Yesterday", "Hey Jude", "Get Back" and "Let It Be".
"Beatlemania" swept Britain, the United States and the rest of the world in the sixties, and the Beatles became the biggest selling musical group of all time. Thirty years after they broke up, a compilation of their Number Ones topped charts worldwide.
Following the Fab Four breakup in 1970, Starr went on to pursue a solo career producing studio albums. He's also performed on other artists' albums, toured dozens of times with Ringo Starr & His All-Starr Band, as well as acted in a variety of films - he was even the narrator for the children's television series, "Thomas the Tank Engine & Friends."
The Beatles' drummer was honoured with his very own star on the Hollywood Walk of Fame in February 2010.
In past few years, despite a less than favorable relationship with streaming music, Starr was still insistent on making new songs because "it's what I do".
The former Beatle released his 18th solo album, "Postcards from Paradise", which featured 11 original songs in March 2015 - "a masterful summary of Ringo-ness: his cheer, his cheek, his wisdom," wrote Rolling Stone magazine.
Starr was again honoured in April 2015 when he was inducted into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame - the last member of the Beatles to make it in as a solo artist.
The musician even entered the modelling business in 2014, teaming up with John Varvatos for the American designer's Fall ad campaign.
Usually for his birthday celebrations, Starr hosts a free "Peace and Love" concert for his friends and fans outside the Capitol Records building in Los Angeles.
But this year, the coronavirus has forced a change in plans. Instead, he is teaming up with McCartney, Joe Walsh, Sheryl Crow and Gary Clark Jr. for a charity broadcast being aired on YouTube.
Starr's "Peace and Love" tradition began back in 2005, after he was asked what he would like for his birthday in an interview. He continued the tradition each year by hosting a salute to "Peace and Love," and asking his fans to use the hashtag #PeaceandLove at noon, local time, on his birthday.
Starr and McCartney reunited for a walk down memory lane in September 2016 at the world premiere of a documentary by Oscar winner Ron Howard about the Fab Four as they toured the world in the 1960s, called "The Beatles: Eight Days a Week - The Touring Years".
It traces the band's years on the road as Starr, McCartney and the late Lennon and Harrison won legions of adoring fans across continents. It features footage of early performances at the Cavern Club in their native Liverpool, packed shows around the globe, as well as their final concert in 1966 in San Francisco.
Starr was knighted for "services to music" in Britain's Queen Elizabeth II's New Year's honors list in December 2017, along with Bee Gees singer Barry Gibb. The honour came 20 years after McCartney became a "Sir" in 1997.
In 2019, Starr decided to record a cover of one of the last songs written by Lennon and with McCartney playing bass. Lennon had recorded a demo of "Grow Old with Me" for his 1980 release "Double Fantasy," but the song never made it onto the album.
Producer Jack Douglas inserted strings from "Here Comes the Sun" - one of the few Beatles hits written by Harrison - into Starr's recording of "Grow Old with Me" that features all of the Fab Four reunited once again on the drummer's new album "What's My Name".
Starr also released a book of his photography called "Another Day in the Life" at the same time as the 2019 album, which displays an eclectic mix of subjects from silver spoons to his fellow Beatles.
Proceeds for the octogenarian Beatle's online charity event this Tuesday will go to Musicares, Water Aid and the David Lynch Foundation and Black Lives Matter Global Network will also benefit, after Starr saw the protests on television.
(Production: Lisa Giles-Keddie) - Copyright Holder: FILE REUTERS (CAN SELL)
- Copyright Notice: (c) Copyright Thomson Reuters 2020. Open For Restrictions - http://about.reuters.com/fulllegal.asp
- Usage Terms/Restrictions: None
