Ringo Starr Turns 70
By Marvin Marks on Jul 7, 2010 in Music Trivia
Ringo Starr turns 70 today. He was born as Richard Starkey on July 7, 1940. Ringo was the oldest Beatle. John Lennon would be turning 70 on October 9 of this year and Paul McCartney just turned 68 (June 18th.) George Harrison was the youngest Beatle as he would have turned 67 this year (on February 25th.)
Ringo wrote two songs with The Beatles: “Don’t Pass Me By” and “Octopus’s Garden.” He also sang lead vocals on the following Lennon/McCartney originals:
“What Goes On” - Rubber Soul (Ringo has cowriting credit.)
“Yellow Submarine” - Revolver
“With A Little Help From My Friends” - Sgt. Pepper’s
“Goodnight” - The White Album
He also sang lead on a number of cover songs including “Act Naturally,” “Honey Don’t,” and “Boys.”
Ringo has released 15 solo studio albums since The Beatles broke up in 1970. The most commercially successful being his self-titled third album from 1973 which reached #2 in the US (certified Platinum) and #7 in the UK (certified Gold.) The album included two US #1 singles: “Photograph” and “You’re Sixteen.” Both of these songs also went to #1 in Canada.
“Photograph” was co-written by Ringo with George Harrison while “You’re Sixteen” was a cover of a song from 1960. Paul McCartney played the kazoo solo on “You’re Sixteen.” I’m not aware of any other #1 single with a kazoo solo.
Ringo, The Beatles
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Beatles overall had several well known #1 hit’s and it is safe to say that Ringo Starr was a huge contributor, not just a mere drummer.
Jonesy | Jul 9, 2010 | Reply
Jonesy - uh… “several” ? they had 20 #1 hits in the US and a lot more songs along with those 20 that are very well known. I’m not sure what your point is… or what you think you are disagreeing with. If you look at the The Beatles tag on the right you’ll see a lot more very in-depth posts on them.
As far as Ringo being a “huge contributor” … I’m not quite sure what you mean by that. I mentioned the songs he sang lead on and the songs he wrote… in what other ways did he contribute? Yes, some of the song titles were inspired by him (”A Hard Day’s Night” and “Eight Days A Week” for example) … but I’m not sure in what way you are talking about… as far as being a “mere drummer” — I don’t get what you mean by that either. Why is being a drummer “mere” ?
Also - the fact is that Paul McCartney often directed Ringo on what exactly they wanted from him… (Paul also played the drums on some Beatles songs such as “Back in the USSR”) …
I just don’t really get any sort of coherent point from your comment. I get the feeling you are just spamming your link. Frustrating! I’d like some comments worth responding to. That’s a challenge!
Marvin Marks | Jul 10, 2010 | Reply