Ringo Starr

He married his first wife, Maureen Tigrett, in 1965. They had three children together; Zak, Jason and Lee. The couple divorced exactly a decade later in 1975.

In 1980, he met actress Barbara Bach on the sets of the movie, ‘Caveman’, fell in love with her and married her on April 27, 1981.

He has an estimated personal wealth of $150 million by the ‘Sunday Times Rich List’ in 2011.

Richard Starkey was born on July 7, 1940 to Elsie and Richard Starkey, in Liverpool, Lancashire, England. By the time he turned four, the family moved to another neighborhood. However, his parents separated and divorced in a year.

Following his parents’ divorce, his mother took up a number of jobs to make ends meet. However, tragedy struck when young Starkey, aged 6, developed appendicitis and fell into a coma for three days. He recovered completely only after a year.

After his discharge from the hospital in 1948, his mother did not allow him to go to school and till the age of 8, the young boy was unschooled. As a result of his gap year, he was alienated at school and fared poorly in academics.

In 1953, disaster once again struck the family, when he contracted tuberculosis and was admitted to an infirmary for nearly two years. In order to stimulate motor activity and enhance quicker recovery, the hospital encouraged patients to join the hospital band and indulge in music. This was when he began to develop interest in drumming.

Meanwhile, in 1953, his mother married an ex-Londoner, Harry Graves, who introduced young Starkey to soundtracks by Sarah Vaughan, Dinah Shore and Billy Daniels. After he was discharged from the hospital, he chose not to return to school and preferred to stay at home instead, listening to music and learning it.

He was briefly employed with the British Rail, but since he was unable to pass the physical examination, he was out of work and was given unemployment benefits.

He then did a number of odd-jobs and sometime around the 1956, he worked as an apprentice machinist with an equipment manufacturer. While he worked there, he became friends with Roy Trafford, who shared an equal passion for music like him.

He began his musical career in a Skiffle band and took the nickname, ‘Ringo’, because of the number of rings he wore. He joined Al Caldwell’s, ‘Texans’ Skiffle group and then finally settled for the band, ‘Rory Storm and the Hurricanes’. By now, he had fully adopted the stage name; ‘Ringo Starr’ and his drum solos were allocated as ‘Starr Time’.

In 1960, he met a Liverpool band, ‘The Beatles’ and joined them two years later, replacing the-then drummer, Pete Best. He was soon on the path of success with his new band members, John Lennon, George Harrison and Paul McCartney.

In 1962, Starr had his first professional recording experience with the Beatles. They recorded their first single, ‘Love Me Do/P.S. I Love You’ and followed this with ‘Please Please Me’ the next year. With their first album, ‘The Beatles’ had already created frenzy, leading to ‘Beatlemania’.

His third solo album ‘Ringo’, released by Apple Records in 1973, was placed at the number 2 position on the Billboard 200. Upon its release, the RIAA certified the album ‘platinum’ and in Canada, the album reached the no.1 position on the RPM National albums chart. The songs from this album would be signature singles that he would use for many of his tours. In the United Kingdom, the album was certified ‘Gold’ by the BPI.