He joined the hospital band with home-made percussion instruments and the die was cast he knew what he wanted to do – he wanted to be a drummer. Bad luck struck again though and he caught Tuberculosis which necessitated him being in a sanatorium for another couple of years. Eventually he was helped in his studies by a next-door neighbour and managed to catch up with the rest of his peer group. This seems to have played havoc with his schooling and because of this once he returned to formal education he began to play truant. This left him in a coma for six days and resulted in him spending a year in hospital. Eventually he borrowed some money from his family for a more realistic kit but it wasn’t until 1959 that he joined a proper group, however I’m getting way ahead of myself.Īt six years old he contracted appendicitis which unfortunately after an appendectomy led to peritonitis.
Ringo starr long hair professional#
It was he who bought him his first drum kit as a Christmas present in 1957 although it could hardly be described as a professional outfit since it consisted of a bass drum, a snare and a cymbal which really was a dustbin lid. Ritchie’s parents split up in 1944 when he was just four years old and it was his stepfather who introduced him to the swing music he and his mother spent their time dancing to. I’m not sure anybody thought they were impoverished at the time and it was seen to be just the way things were, and people were grateful to have survived the war. He grew-up in the area and like his illustrious band mates (and the greater majority of his musical contemporaries in austere, post-war Britain) came from relatively humble beginnings. He was born Richard Starkey on 7 th July, 1940 at number 9, Madryn Street, Dingle which was a tough part of the city of Liverpool. l was having a fitting for a hand-made pair of Chelsea boots (those were the days!), and the soon to be ‘Fab Four’ Beatles were trying on ready-made Cuban-heeled footwear which at the time were called Ski-boots and which, as soon as they bought them, irrevocably became known (and subsequently marketed) as ‘Beatle boots’.īut I digress. I had actually met him first in mid-1962 at a bespoke theatrical shoe-maker’s in London’s Theatre-District called ‘Anello and Davide’. His world-famous father came to my Drumstore and insisted on a discount!
I even sold him a Yamaha drum kit for his son, a very young Zak Starkey. Russ wrote the songs, Ritchie sang them and I played drums. I made an album in 1978 with himself, Chas Hodges (of Chas & Dave fame), various musical reprobates and the aforementioned Mr Ballard at a studio called ‘Sweet Silence’ in Copenhagen. Ringo was a contemporary of mine and as it happens I do know him enough to call him Ritchie. But, having researched him and re-educated myself on some facts I’d forgotten, I think it’s safe to assume we all have something to learn about Ringo Starr, aka Richard Starkey. When I started this piece I thought it might be complicated to write because I made the assumption that since everybody around the globe knew his name the chances were they would therefore know a great deal about the man too. I admitted I hadn’t got round to him yet and decided to rectify the situation asap. This episode of Groovers & Shakers came about because while I was touring with Russ Ballard in March I was putting the finishing touches to Levon Helm’s piece on the bus and Russell saw what I was doing and asked what I’d had to say about our pal Ringo. As a further measure of his fame, in the middle of Beatle Mania a record was released called “Ringo for President”.
Unless you happen to actually be a dyed-in-the-wool drummer, all those other famous Christian names – Baby, Gene, Chico, Buddy, Cozy, Charlie, Keith – don’t have the same immediate cachet and could refer to anybody. Even the most virulent rock music hater has to agree he is still the pre-eminent drummer. I make no excuses for introducing him like this without his surname because the measure of his fame is such that it renders any family name completely unnecessary. Well we’ve finally got around to the guy who, whether we like it or not (and I certainly do) is hands down the most famous drummer ever! Ringo.
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