Popular drummer, Ringo Starr was born Richard Starkey in Liverpool, Merseyside, England, on July 7, 1940. His parents were divorced when he was 3 and her mother and Richard moved to another home of the same city. While attending Silas Infants' Schools, he was suffering the many diseases which ruined his education. Growing up, he was suffering from severe abdominal pains. He was also diagnosed with a ruptured appendix that led to an inflamed peritoneum, that also led to one of his first surgeries. He was in a coma for a couple of months during which more operations were available, and he was known to be accident prone. When he came out of the coma, his tried his best to offer a toy bus to another boy, who was also in bed, but fell and concussed himself. When he finally made a comeback with school, he learned that he was far behind in his studies. By age 13, he caught a cold that turned into chronic pleurisy necessitating another stay at another hospital in Liverpool. A few lung complications followed which resulted in a stay in another children's hospital until 1955. At the same time, Richard's mother, Elise had married Harry Graves, the one that her son referred to as a "step ladder". His first job was as a delivery boy for British Rail. His second job was a barman on a ferry to New Brighton, before becoming a trainee joiner at Henry Hunt and Sons. His stepfather purchased him a new drum kit and Starkey promised to be the best musician, ever. Richard travelled from band to band, but he eventually landed a spot with "Rory Storm & The Hurricanes". Rory's name was popular and he encouraged Richard to enhance his own, by legally changing it to Ringo Starr. The Hurricanes became popular in England and they topped the bill at one of Liverpool's clubs, where The Beatles were also featured.
Original Beatles' drummer, Pete Best, was not the greatest drummer and the other Beatles were keen to recruit Ringo as a replacement. Ringo's group were now playing second-fiddle, to The Beatles and Gerry & The Pacemakers. He wanted to leave The Hurricanes in order for him to join another group called "The Seniors". After considering Johnny Hutchinson of "The Big Three," The Beatles new A & R manager, George Martin asked Ringo to see if he would be interested in filling in the position. He agreed but when he played with The Beatles at The Cavern Club, a lot of longtime fans were still disappointed about Pete's firing, starting shouting out, "Pete forever, Ringo never!" All the while, Ringo was the perfect choice for The Beatles and, early on, was the most popular member of the group with US fans. He also wanted to be more of a real actor himself, than anybody else. He also received best reviews from his performance on A Hard Day's Night (1964), as well. He also did well in another Beatles film, Help! (1965). He had married his old girlfriend, Maureen Cox, on February 11, 1965 and they had 3 children. The couple broke up in July 1975 and he married actress Barbara Bach. Ringo had the same problem as George did, which was getting his songs noticed. At times, John and Paul would write a song or two for him to sing on one album. Such songs included "Boys", "I Wanna Be Your Man", "Honey Don't", "Act Naturally" and "Yellow Submarine". During his stay with The Beatles, Ringo wrote two songs, however, "Don't Pass Me By" and "Octopus's Garden".
After the breakup of The Beatles, he also maintained an immensely popular solo career that consisted of eight albums and 13 songs. Starr also appeared in various TV shows, including his own special, Ringo (1978), and a TV mini- series, Princess Daisy (1983), with his wife Barbara. After years of being outside of the limelight, during which he also did narration for the children's series, Thomas The Tank Engine (1984), and experienced drinking problems, which resulted himself and his wife attending a clinic; he came back to the scene sober to do the All-Starr Band tour of American and Japan. His tour was so popular that he formed another All-Starr Band in 1992, which began an American and European tour in June of that same year. While he continues to do the All-Starr Band, along with Harrison & McCartney he did a Beatles' Anthology to celebrate the 25th Anniversary of the breakup of the band. They sang two new songs, plus added themselves to a couple of John Lennon demos. Long after the Anthology, his old friend, George Harrison passed away on November 29, 2001, after a long battle against cancer and the following year, on the anniversary of his death, Starr, McCartney, Clapton appeared in a Concert For George, to raise money for the exploration of alternative life views and philosophies. It also supported established charitable organizations with consideration to those who have special needs.
