"The footnotes for my nineteenth book. This is my standard procedure for doing it. And while I compose it, I'm also reviewing it"-Jeremy Hillary Boob Ph.D
From his days with Rory Storm and the Hurricanes to the early Beatles days Ringo had been playing on a Premier Mahogany Duroplastic Drum Kit. The Drum head started with his name "Ringo Starr" being presented on the front. The drum head would later be seen with the words "The Beatles" as he progressed into the music scene replacing The Beatles drummer, Pete Best, the "B" having antennas for the multi-meaning band name itself.
Ludwig Oyster Black Pearl "Downbeat" Drum Kit:
On Thank Your Lucky Stars
The second drum kit he had is probably the most recognizable out of any band, Ludwig Oyster Black Pearl "Downbeat" drum kit. Moving on from the first recording together as a group where they recorded songs from "Twist and Shout" to the early version of "One After 909" Ringo had received his first Ludwig on 12 May, 1963 from Drum City in London. The drum head had changed it's immature, bug like font to a more cleaner logo and would make it's first debut during The Beatles performance on Thank You Lucky Stars. Ludwig Oyster Black Pearl "Downbeat" Drum Kit:
on the Ed Sullivan Show
His third drum kit was the same as his second, a Ludwig Oyster Black Pearl "Downbeat" which would later be referred to as the "Sullivan Kit" as it can be seen during The Beatles performances on The Ed Sullivan show in 1964, while on the Ed Sullivan Show The Beatles logo was not present on the drum head.
Ludwig Oyster Black Pearl "Super Classic" Drum Kit:
I Am The Walrus video
On 31 May, 1964 Ringo received his first Ludwig Oyster Black Pearl "Super Classic" drum kit, which can be most recognized through its recording and touring and throughout it's 1967 use when The Beatles logo was stripped off the drum head and replaced with a Red and yellow colouring saying "The Beatles" and "Love".
Ludwig Oyster Black Pearl "Super Classic" Drum Kit:
He received his second Ludwig Oyster Black Pearl "Super Classic" kit just before The Beatles toured America on 13 August, 1965. After the US tour he would return to using his first "Super Classic".
during the rooftop concert
Ludwig Maple "Hollywood" Drum Kit:
The maple coloured drum used in the famous Beatles rooftop concert is a Ludwig Maple "Hollywood", or as some may know it as the "Let It Be Kit". The drum had a unique feature to it with it's Chrome Over Brass rim and dark drum head. The drum would later be seen again during another concert, The Concert For Bangladesh and once again with the legendary B.B King Live in London.
For James Bond fan's Barbara Bach's name may ring a bell as she was the Bond girl in the 1977 James Bond film, The Spy Who Loved Me.
On Seventeen magazine
Barbara Goldbach was born on 27 August, 1947 in Rosedale Queens to the Irish Catholic, Majorie and Jewish Howard Goldbach. She would grow up living in Jackson Heights and attendeding Catholic High School in Jamaica Queens up to age sixteen when she left to pursuit a job as a model. The following year she shortened her name from Goldbach to Bach and had become part of the Eileen Ford Agency where she was sent to Rome to model and be featured on the cover of "Seventeen" magazine, becoming known as one the best Top models. While in Rome she had fallen in love with Augusto Gregorini, an Italian businessman who was eleven years older than her, the following year the two were married and would like Rome. While in the relationship with Gregorini she gave birth to Francesca in 1969 and Gianni in 1973. Moving to Italy didn't just provide Bach with a family but it started her career as an actress;
"In Italy I was casually asked on the street if I would do something for television. One of those things they say happens, and it did. Franco Rossi, an Italian director asked me if I would do the Odyssey."-Barbara Bach
She had then began her career filling small positions in Italian films, then Cubby Broccoli, a producer had discovered her, from then on she would become part of films like Il Mio Monsignore, Last Chance and a handful of others.
As Anya Amasova
"I think that I have been looking all my life for a leading lady who looks like Barbara Bach."- Cubby Broccoli
Amongst her appareances in several films Brocolli and director Lewis Gilbert had hired Bach to play the part of Anya Amasova in the 1977 film, The Spy Who Loved Me, becoming one of the legendary Bond Girls. Cubby would go on to say that she "had the look of a tiger..." Her role would lead her to be known as "Queen of the B-Movies"
In 1978 Augusto and Barbara had divorced where she stated that they were more of friends than anything. Despite her divorce, Barbara went on to continue her career as an actress when se played Marizza, a Yugoslavian in a film alongside Harrison Ford, in Force Ten From Navarone. The same year it had become clear to 15,000 models and actresses that the series Charlies Angles were searching for a new angel as Kate Jackson had left. It had come down to two contestants, Barbara Bach and Shelley Hack. On 13 April, 1979 it was announced that Bach had become to the new angel. After making a little mistake the job was taken from Bach and offered to Shelley;
"One of them asked me what I was doing afterwards. I couldn't believe that. Then they asked me what sports I took part in. I told them swimming, skiing, softball, basketball, things as that. They asked me what languages I spoke. I told them fluent Italian and French and Spanish. After I told them I had been in 17 films, they asked what I could bring to Charlie's Angels. That's when I made my big mistake, I said; 'me'. They said I was to sophisticated in attitude and looks. They also wanted to know if I could play American roles. I was brought up in NY, I suppose they were confused because I started acting in Europe and because of those James Bond Films, and in Force 10 from Navarone, I played a European and so I used a European accent."- Barbara Bach
Caveman
Ringo Starr had been working with Carl Gottlie on a comedy called Caveman where Ringo himself would be a lead actor along with his co-starr, Barbara Bach. The two met in Mexico in February 1980 and had a "love at first sight" experience. During the same year in May as the couple were traveling through England the two were part of a near-fatal car accident where Ringo decided that he never wanted to be separated from her and on 27 April, 1981 guest Paul and Linda McCartney and George and Olivia Harrison had gathered in Marylebone Register Office as Barbara Bach became Barbara Starkey wearing a dress designed by David and Elizabeth Emmanuel.
Bach is now retired after making a few after apperances, one being in Paul McCartney's film, Give My Regards to Broad Street, in 1984. She is part of the Rumanian Angel, an organization founded by Olivia Harrison, Yoko Ono, and herself; She is also active in the Live Aid "Fashion Aid. Olivia Harrison and her campaigned for "Paretns for Safe Food" and in 1991 Barbara and George Harrison's first wife, Pattie Boyd, set up a free clinic, SHARP, for addicts. Barbara now resigns in Monte Carlo with Ringo. For more information on Barbara I recommend Barbara-Bach.com The Following Video is "I'm Yours" by Ringo Starr;
"She married Ringo, when she could have had Paul, That's why the lady is a champ."- Frank Sinatra, 1968
Mary Cox was born on 4 August, 1946 to Joseph Cox and Florence Barrett. When she was fourteen years old she changed her name to Maureen (or Mo) and grew up changing her school uniform around, paying her school friends to teach her how to smoke and by age sixteen she was working as a trainee at Ashley du Pre, a beauty salon in Liverpool.
The Cavern Club doors were first opened on 16 January, 1957 at 10 Mathew Street in Liverpool holding jazz musicians that were soon over powered by the rock 'n' roll era. As rock 'n' roll began to sweep the nation The Cavern Club began hiring groups like Rory Storm and the Hurricanes and The Beatles to fill the lunch sessions and soon to play onto the night, with the new kind of music brought a new kind of audience. Swarms of girls, and guys, gathered for hours outside of The Cavern to hear The Beatles, a group who wailed through numbers like "The Hippy Hippy Shake" to "Some Other Guy" performed by John Lennon, Paul McCartney, George Harrison, and new drummer Ringo Starr. At age fifteen Maureen had become one of the girls who cramped into the damp, rotten fruit mixed with sweat stench cellar fighting for a way to the front to see The Beatles.
"I never joined the queue till about two or three hours before the Cavern
opened. It frightened me. There would be fights and rows among the
girls. When the doors opened the first ones would tear in, knocking each
other over. Then when it got near the time for the Beatles to come on,
if there was a gang of four say, they would go off in turns to the
lavatory with their little cases to get changed and made up. So when the
Beatles came on they’d look smashing, as if they’d just arrived."-Maureen Cox, 1967
Amongst the girls beats were being placed on who could get The Beatles attention, Maureen took part in this making a bet that she could kiss Paul McCartney, and she did, followed by her kissing Ringo and getting his autograph where he wrote his car license plate number. It was Ringo who she always had a little crush on but it took Ringo three weeks later, when he asked her to dance, that he began to take notice in her. It seemed from that night on that the two became a couple which may of been great for them but as a Cavern dweller, Maureen struggled with the other girls jealous rages,
"I had to be careful because of the fans. I might easily have been
killed otherwise. Not being married was all part of their image, and
none of them were supposed to have steadies (girlfriends)"- Maureen Cox
While waiting for her boyfriend outside of the Locarno ballroom, Liverpool F.C. on 14 February, 1963 a fan clawed at Maureen's face. Due to constant threats Maureen had to leave her job as a hairdresser, but kept herself busy keeping up with The Beatles Fan Club answering letters from fans of Ringo's. During this time The Beatles had started to become recognized by EMI Studios which lead to the boys moving out of the rough city of Liverpool and to the lavished London area, at only age seventeen Maureen continued to live with her parents in Liverpool but the distance didn't stop the couples relationship.
"How could you go steady in my job? I kept leaving and going on tour. In the early days we didn't have much time off, but any time we did have off I spent with her. We'd have Mondays, because nobody booked gigs for a Monday, so I'd dash up to Liverpool and we'd go to a pub, to the movies or see a show, and then go to a restaurant. Just fill up the whole."- Ringo Starr, Anthology
with Paul and Jane
In 1963 Paul and his girlfriend Jane Asher were accompanied by Ringo and Maureen as they took a vacation in Greece. This wasn't the only vacation they went on, in 1964 the two found themselves in the Caribbean where she had finally reached her way into the newspapers and press. She hadn't told her parents she was going on a vacation but it didn't seem to bother them,
"It really did not surprise my wife or myself when we learned she was half way across the world. In any case it wouldn't have made any difference. I would have given her permission anyway. Maureen is a sensible girl and well able to take care of herself."-Joe Cox
On 3 June, 1964 Ringo had found him self in the University College Hospital after collapsing during a photo-shoot with Saturday Evening right before The Beatles World Tour. Starr suffered tonsillitis and was survived by not only the hospitals doctors but by Maureen, who came to visit him bring gifts and ice cream with her.
"...Maureen stayed with my mother in my London flat. It was then I said, 'Do you want Anthology
to get married?' and she said 'yes'. "- Ringo Starr on his hospital stay,
The following January the two had found out that Maureen was pregnant and once again on the 20 January, 1965 at the Ad-Lib Club Ringo had asked her to marry him. On 11 February, 1965 twenty-four year old Ringo married eighteen year old Maureen at the Caxton-Hall Register Office in London. Everybody but Paul, who was in Tunisia with his girlfriend, Jane Asher, attended the wedding where Beatles manager, Brian Epstein, filled the position as best man. George Harrison got there by bicycle where he made the comment,
"Two down, two more to go."
As John had been married since 1962 to Cynthia Powell and now Ringo- the following year George would marry model, Pattie Boyd and in 1969 Paul had become the last Beatle to marry when he wed Linda Eastman. The following video is clips from the Starkey's wedding;
"We hope that our first will be a boy. Naturally I’d like the baby to be like Richie. But he needn’t necessarily follow in his father’s footsteps" -Maureen Cox
"I don't care if I have a boy or a girl. Being a mother and being happily married is just about as much as any girl can wish for."- Maureen Cox
At Sunny Heights
After the wedding there was very littler time for the couple to have their three-day honeymoon as Ringo was due to be on set for The Beatles second film, Help! As soon as he had time, Ringo would return to their 34 Montague Square estate but the home was only temporarily for the married couple as on 24 July, 1965 the two bought a new home, Sunny Heights where they would have their own bar, The Flying Cow, and a go-cart track; In John by Cynthia Powell, she recalls that John was most relaxed when he was with Ringo and he'd often like to go to the Starr's home for the go-cart track and the relaxing atmosphere. Sunny Heights is also where "Blue Jay Way" from The Beatles film, Magical Mystery Tour, was filmed.
The six-bedroomed home didn't seem so big after 13 September, 1965 when the couple had their first child, Zak Starkey. From then on she had two more children with Ringo, the second being Jason who was born on 19 August, 1967 and a daughter, Lee on 11 November, 1970. A nanny had also occupied a room at the Starkey's Sunny Height.
Despite her like for the press and public, Mo did appear on "The Counting Story of Bungalow Bill" from The Beatles White Album.She also attended The Beatles, along with their wives/girlfriend when they studied mediation in Rishikesh, India. Due to her fear of insects and Ringo's sensitive stomach, the two were soon out and back home to see the kids. That same year (1968), Frank Sinatra recorded at the Beatles Apple Records, in fact it was the first song recorded at Apple, where he recorded a new version of his "The Lady Is A Tramp" for Maureen's birthday; "She married Ringo when she could of had Paul/ That's why the lady is a champ." The following year as The Beatles performed their Rooftop Concert, Paul can be heard saying "Thanks, Mo" after performing "Get Back", as she sat on windy, cold rooftop, along side Yoko Ono. Ringo even filmed Maureen's face for ten-minutes in awe of his wife.
On 10 April, 1970 Paul McCartney had publicly announced that The Beatles had broken up and he was leaving the band. Not knowing what to do without the band, as he said he would of stayed in the band and he was completely lost after the breakup, Ringo coped with alcohol. To make matter's worse it was soon found out that Maureen had an affair with George Harrison, which lead to a break up in both The Starkey and the Harrison's relationships, Lennon calling the affair "virtual incest". The couple didn't divorce right away, it was on 17 July, 1975 the divorce was final after the couple had been each been accused with cheating, Ringo had started seeing American model Nancy Lee Andrews. After the divorce was final, Maureen was left distraught, even running a motorbike into a brick wall in the attempt of suicide. In 1987 Maureen had found herself back in court, this time not for a divorce but in a lawsuit as she was suing the firm that handled her divorce, Withers for what she called an alleged "breach of contract and negligence", feeling that she hadn't got enough money or finances as she should have from the divorce and that Ringo's finances were not thoroughly investigated. During the three-day trial she had called her ex-husband, "a soddy great Andy Capp" and herself as "thick as two short planks". In the end Ringo had doubled her yearly payments, "a generous man", said Mr. Justice Bush.
Mo, Issac, Augusta
About a year after the Starkey's divorced Maureen had got to know one of the founders of the Hard Rock Cafe and the House of Blues, Issac Tigrett. That same year the two began living together and would start a twelve year relationship with their daughter, Augusta King Tigrett who was born on 4 January, 1987, the relationship turned into marriage on 27 May, 1989 in Monaco. Throughout the couples relationship Maureen was known for saying,
"Just give me furs, jewels and property, thank you."
While Isaac, a collector, and said that she is his "Ultimate collectible".
On 30 December, 1994 after being treated at the Fred Hutchinson Cancer Research Center in Seattle, Washington where she received bone marrow and blood platelets from her son Zak, Maureen had passed away from leukemia. At her bed side was Issac, her mother, her four children and Ringo. In 1997 Paul McCartney released his album, Flaming Pie with a track "Little Willow" about Maureen.
Before reading this post it might help if you read Day 1 of 7 Days of Starr about his childhood.
“Music
possessed me and I got out.”-Ringo Starr, The Anthology
Ringo
had outgrown his illness after age sixteen, but a few years before his
sixteenth year he was diagnosed with pleurisy it was in this hospital visit he
had grown a liking to drums. Prior to the hospital he had seen drums in a music
store on Park Road, the store had all instruments like guitars, banjos and what
not but it was the drums that he was drawn too but they were too expensive. He
was given a harmonica by his grandfather when he was seven, a mandolin and
banjo, and a piano was around but he never had much interest in any of them. It
had to be the drums; that was it. When he was in the hospital he started
hitting cabinets next to the bed with cotton bobbins, there was nothing else to
do. A teacher would come in and teach the child patients, one subject would be
music where the kids would be allowed to play percussion instruments like
triangles, tambourines, and the drums; Ringo would only play if he could play
the drums.
He bought his first drum for thirty shillings. His uncle played
banjo or harmonica and his grandparents played mandolin and banjo, and he would
play his drum. When he was fifteen he began singing in choir. His favorite
music at the time was The Four Aces’ ‘Love Is A Many Splendoured Thing’, Eddie
Calvert, and David Whitfield. Hank Williams was another favorite of his, he had
a love for country. When Skiffle was coming out he became a fan of Johnnie Ray
but he found his hero when he was sixteen, Frankie Laine; Bill Haley and Carl
Perkins later became other favorites of his. When he met Roy Trafford, years
later, they would soon share the same love for music and ease on their teddy
boy days to become musicians.
"Ritchie joined the Eddie Clayton Skiffle Group with Ed Miles, the boy who lived next door. Roy Trafford and Johnny Dougherty - they all worked together in the same place. Eddie used to take his guitar to work every day. He was a smashing fellow - if ever a lad should have got somewhere he would have. I believe he's the Hank Walters & His Dusty Road Ramblers."-Elsie Gleave, The Mersey Beat
Eddie Clayton Skiffle Group
At age seventeen the skiffle sound had boomed thanks to Lonnie Donegan and The Vipers.
Roy Trafford, Eddie Miles (a lathe operator where Ringo and Roy worked and would go by the name Eddie Clayton), John Dougherty, Frank Walsh, and Ringo
started their own skiffle group. His first band was called the Eddie Clayton Skiffle
Group. It was around this time that Ringo had received his first drum kit for
Christmas from his family. With his drums he took three lessons from an older man,
after three lessons it became too routine
for Ringo and he never returned. After his lessons and he set up the drums in
his bedroom; he only played their twice due to complaints from the neighbors.
The band started playing at the factory where they worked, then moved onto
doing weddings, which lead to them soon being regulars at Peel Street Labour Club along with appearances at the Cavern Club.
At age eighteen Ringo
began thinking about emigrating to the United States with his friend Johnny and
live with one of his favorite Blues musicians, Lightinin’ Hopkins; Ringo even
got paper work from the Embassy to go. By this time he was beginning to become well
known as a drummer in Liverpool’s best bands like The Darktown Skiffle Group
then with Rory Storm and the Hurricanes leaving his band with Eddie and Roy who
had become wrapped up in their own personal lives of starting families and
focusing more on their careers.
“I thought Rory Storm and the Hurricanes were
great. They were the first ones in Liverpool who really wanted to get into
rock’n’roll.” -Ringo Starr, Anthology
Rory Storm and the Hurricanes
Ringo auditioned for Rory; a blonde haired, front man singer,
with guitarist, Johnny ‘Guitar’ Byrne (“…was Liverpool’s Jimi Hendrix.”), in
1958 after Ringo had bought his new drum kit, an Ajax single-headed kit from
Frank Hessy’s music shop. On first impression Ringo looked tough to the
Hurricanes, as he still dressed in his Teddy boy apparel. That was the impression
Ringo got often, even when The Beatles met him, they were a bit frightened by
him because of his appearance. Ringo passed the audition and became known as
one of the greatest drummers in Liverpool during the time, everyone wanted him;
some groups didn’t even want Ringo as a drummer, they wanted him as a bassist
or anything they could get him to play.
Rory Storm and the Hurricanes
The
Hurricanes started playing at various places, one being at The Cavern Club on
Mathew Street, where they were kicked off stage for being a progressive
rock’n’roll group rather than a jazz or skiffle group that the audience wanted
to hear. It was around 1959 when it had been announced that those born after
September 1939 would be safe from being enlisted into war which was fantastic for Ringo,
he stopped working at the factory and
decided he was going to be professional with Rory; the DHSS said ‘He left the
factory to join a dance band.’. The Hurricanes were offered a gig to play for
£16 a week at the rock and Calypso Ballroom in Butlins. His family told him,
“'You’ll come back in three months, and you’ll only be semi-skilled when you
do.'” -Ringo Starr, Anthology
Ringo’s response was,
“I don’t
care. Drums are my life, I want to be a musicians and I’m going away with Rory
to Butlins to fulfill this dream.” - Anthology
They were in Butlins for three months where
they decided to give each other names, John Byrne became Johnny Guitar, and
this is when Ringo, became Ringo because of the amount of rings he wore. He
began calling himself Ringo Starkey, but Starkey didn’t flow well with his new nick
name so he dropped with ending and added an extra ‘r’ making Richard Starkey to
Ringo Starr.
Rory Storm and his Rockette?
The Hurricanes were in
Butlins and the right time, the summer months, where they would perform week
after week doing their performances of songs like Jerry Lee Lewis’s “Whole
Lotta Shakin’ Goin’ On” and Rory’s athletics of jumping over Ringo’s head after
he finished playing the piano that was located behind the drums.From Butlins The Hurricanes were offered gigs
playing at American army bases in France.
“The problem was we need a girl
singer, because the army didn’t want to look at us guys. So we found a blonde
girl in Liverpool (whose name I can’t remember) and we went out there and
played in all those bases in the wilderness.”-Ringo Starr, Anthology
It was during this time that the
French were fighting the Algerians and once the band got to Paris by train they
were forced off, which wasn’t the most welcoming experience but the band
overcame that and stayed in cheap rooms; they survived off of hamburgers and
Hershey bars that they got at solider prices. By autumn 1960 Rory Storm and the
Hurricanes were to play in Hamburg, Germany where everything seemed to fall
into place.
George, Pete, Paul, John at the Cavern
With gigs in Germany and around venues near their home town Rory Storm and the Hurricanes became the greatest rock 'n' roll group in Liverpool, amongst with another favorite band whose name changed from The Quarrymen to Long John and the Silver Beetles to The Beatles. During this time The Beatles were held together by three guitarist, the leader seeming to be John Lennon who shared the leadership with a chubby cheeked Paul McCartney who had recently picked up bass after their bass player, Stu Sutcliffe, fell in love with a German photographer, and the shy lead guitarist, George Harrison. Behind the three standing at the microphones was drummer, Pete Best, whose mother owns the Casbah Club, a coffee club in the Best's basement where The Beatles played regularly when they weren't playing in Germany or The Cavern. The Beatles were well known due to bookings from their manager, Brian Epstein, in fact The Beatles were already looking for a record label after making an album with another English performer, Tony Sheridan, where they were listed as The Beats. The group went to London where they were shot down by Decca records, read about their experience here. From their they went on to EMI Studios were producer George Martin had made the suggestion that the group was strong but needed a new drummer, with that standing in the way The Beatles had their manager fire Pete.
"We were cowards. We got Epstein to do the dirty work for us."- John Lennon, Anthology
Ringo and The Beatles
On 12 August, 1962 Brian broke the news to Pete. Six days later Ringo had joined the band after being offered the job two days earlier. When he joined the band the fans were furious, especially the girls who found Pete the most attractive one out of all of The Beatles. At gigs the crowd would chant,
"Ringo never, Pete Best forever!"
George was even headbutted and received a black eye outside of the Cavern by a Best fan. But that all died down and Ringo became (in John Lennon's words) The greatest drummer. George described the situation in a joke matter saying, "How many Beatles does it take to screw in a light bulb? Four." Ringo being the fourth piece.
To honor the worlds greatest drummer, seven short days in July will be dedicated about the life, wives, and legacy of Ringo Starr, as done with 9 Days of Lennon, 25 Days of Harrison, and 18 Days of McCartney.
Ringo and Elsie
7
July, 1940 Richard Starkey was born at 9 Madryn Street, Liverpool 8 to Elsie
Gleave and Richard;
“There was a light at the end of a tunnel and I had to get
to, and I came out like that, and then I was born. There was lots of cheering.
In fact my mother used to say that because I was born, the Second World War
started. I don’t know what that meant, really; I never understood it, but
that’s what she used to say.I suppose
it was the only way they could celebrate, and it could be true-you never can
tell.”-Ringo Starr, Anthology
His parents worked together at a bakery and were married in 1936; the
couple lived in a six room home in a rough, poor section of the city known as
Dingle where their only child was born. Elsie and Richard both enjoyed singing
and dancing but after their son was born their usual outings came to a halt as
Elsie took the role of a protective mother.At age three his father left them and only reconnected with him about
five times,
“I have no real memories of my dad. I only saw him probably five
times after he left, and I never really got on with him because I’d been
brainwashed by my mother about what a pig he was. I felt angry that he left.” -Ringo Starr, Anthology
He and his mother moved to 10 Admiral Grove, only a street over from where he
was born, soon after his father left.Admiral
Grove had two bedrooms, one for his mother and one for himself. His
grandparents, his father’s parents, lived on Madyrn Street and would have a
close relationship with Ritchie, as he was now called.
"My grandmother was a
big woman, Annie (I never called her Annie, of course), and my granddad was a
little guy. He’d maybe have a drink or whatever and get into things, and she
would roll her sleeves up, clench her fists, take up a boxing pose and say,
‘Come on, Johnny! Don’t talk to me like that – get over here, you little
bastard.’ A big girl, she was, scrubbing steps and all, surviving.”-Ringo Starr, Anthology
His
grandfather was born a Parkin but his mother remarried when he was a kid to a
man with the last name Starkey, the Ringo Starr we know today is actually a
blood Parkin, not a Starkey. John Parkin Starkey was a character, throughout
the whole war he would sit in this one chair. The world could be ending and
he’d sit in his chair which lead to Ritchie being curious about the chair and
would sit in it,
“He’d come in, and he would only point and I’d have to move.
But, of course, because it was his, it was the only thing I wanted.”-Ringo Starr, Anthology
John also
loved horses, watching the horse races and yelling when they had lost. His
grandfather even made him a train once,that would move allowing his grandson to
ride on it. As an only child Ritchie had grown a special bond with his mother
and grandparents.
The
Dingle was one of the roughest areas in Liverpool with madness such as gangs
and fights, robbers, beatings. As kids they were alright, no one would touch
them, same with the elders, “If someone beat up an old lady back then, all the
gangs in the neighborhood would come and find him and beat the fuck out of him.
They would not let that go down.” Growing up he formed his little group with
two of his friends, Brian Briscoe, and Davy Petterson. The three would go
anywhere and everywhere together, playing at the bombie’s as their playground, walking to parks, woods, Speke. When
Richard finally got a bike the three would start biking to Wales. The three use to chase
after buses, knowing the schedules of each on that went by.
St.
Silas’s School was the first school Ritchie attended. The school wasn’t too far
from his home and he’d walk back to Admiral Grove for lunch where he’d announce
“We’ve got a holiday. That’s it for today, mum.” He got away with it for a
little while until his mother had looked out the window to see all of his
classmates walking back towards the school. School didn’t become a habit for
Ritchie, he only spent about five years attending it. As a child he suffered
from a very weak immune system starting at age six and a half when he was at
home his appendix burst, the doctor was called in and he was taken in an
ambulance to the hospital where they put him in for his operation. Before his
appendix was about to be taken out they asked him if there was anything they
could get him. He asked for a cup of tea which they wouldn’t give him, they
told him he could get it after he gets out of the theatre.
“It was ten weeks later they gave me the cup of tea,
because that’s how long it took for me to come round.” - Ringo Starr, Anthology
The doctors then went in
to examine him and found out he had peritonitis; he had another operation where
the doctors claiming that he had died three times. In and out of consciousness
he spent a full year in the hospital where his father came to visit him just
before his birthday. His dad made a list of all the things his son wanted but
never returned to visit him again.
Being
in the hospital for about six months had had been making a very good recovery
but encountered pain once again as his stitches were ripped opened after he fell
out of his cot reaching for his toy bus he had gotten for his birthday. It took
him about six more months in the hospital after his accident and then a few to
recover which lead to him missing two years of school. When he finally went
back to school he was always behind and hated it. Him and his friends use to
walk around the park and write their own excuse notes but would get caught
because they couldn’t spell. Ritchie himself didn’t learn how to read till he
was nine year old when he was taught by his mother’s friend, Annie’s daughter
Marie Maguire. He later attended Dingle Vale Secondary Modern School; he left
at age thirteen due to him being so behind.
Harry, Elsie, and Ringo
When
Richie was about eleven years old, Harry Graves a painter and decorator at
Burtonwood, started dating his mother. Harry would buy little gifts like DC
comics and the Richie and Harry would discuss music, Harry asking “Have you
heard this?” and introduce big band music or Sarah Vaughan. When Richie was
thirteen his mother asked what he thought about Harry, Ringo was angry at first
and felt awful being in the position but said that he liked Harry and Elsie
were married in 1953.
Growing
up his wanted to be a tramp, just roam around from place to place. On a more
practical scale he also wanted to be a sailor, see the world by water and stop
at different ports buying items like camel saddles, records, clothes, and other
items from other countries. He joined Sea Scouts where he was allowed to play
with rifles and run drills with other kids; he was soon kicked out because ran
away with a rifle. When he was thirteen things became clear and he realized
what he wanted was to get out of Admiral Grove and go somewhere new. He loved
parks and wanted to be somewhere greener with sea and space.
His
first job had nothing to do with either of his early ambitions of being a tramp
or sailor; instead he worked at a sweet shop for a man named Len, who was good
friends with Ringo’s new step-father. A little while after he had a job as a
messenger boy, then he worked for a steamer at St Tudno, from there he worked as an apprentice for an engineer
which he liked because the army wouldn’t take apprentices and he was petrified
of being drafted. As he learned to be an engineer he met a lifelong friend, Roy
Trafford. Roy and him would go out together, start dressing the same, and would
start their own gang. They were teddy boys, everyone had to be part of a gang
or group and they were teddy boys, Ringo dressed in black, Roy dressed in blue.
By the age of sixteen he was dressed and acted as a teddy boy and he’d grow up
getting into fights - he wasn’t that good of a fighter but he could run and
that’s what really mattered in some situations.
“I didn’t knife or kill anyone,
but I got beaten up a few times – mainly by the people I was with. It’s that
terrible gang situation where if you’re not fighting an outsider you get crazy
and start fighting among yourselves, like mad dogs. It was vicious. I have seen
people lose their eyes; I have seen people stabbed; I have seen people beaten with
hammers.”- Ringo Starr, Anthology
He had an outfit that his cousin had given him, old clothes like a
long jacket, tight pants, and crepe-soled shoes.
Teddy Boy Ringo
Check back tomorrow for Day 2 of 7 Days of Starr for his early music.
