The crowd was middle age. There was a lot of gray hair and bald spots. About 24 hundred of us were gathered at the Borgata Event Center to hear and see the man who will forever remind us of our youth and the turbulent times when we came of age. As with many iconic figures, his first name is all that’s needed. And, in his case, it’s a nickname, Ringo. He was the last Beatle. John, Paul, George, and Ringo. John was the rebel, Paul was the cute one, George was the quiet one, and Ringo was the funny one. He was the last one to join the band, when the other three kicked out their first drummer, Pete Best, to complete the group. Ringo was playing in another band in Hamburg, Germany that was performing in the same club as the Beatles in 1962. They would change and influence music, fashion, and culture in the decade that would rock the world.
Ringo Starr was born Richard Starkey in Liverpool, England, like the other Beatles, on July 7, 1940. Yes. Ringo is about to turn 78 years old. He barely knew his father who left him and his mother when he was very young. He grew up in a poor, crime ridden neighborhood. He survived two life threatening illnesses as a child. He contracted peritonitis after an appendectomy and spent days is a coma, and twelve months in a children’s hospital. He later suffered from tuberculosis and spent two years in a sanatorium. He missed so much school, he was illiterate at eight years old.
Despite the Beatles’ success, Ringo often felt marginalized in the later years as Lennon and McCartney pushed the boundaries of their music. Ringo was usually given one song to sing on each album. He said he felt like a session musician during the making of “Sgt. Pepper’s Lonely Hearts Club Band”. His inability to compose songs left him out of the creative process. When the band broke up, Ringo launched a solo career. He went through alcohol rehab with his wife actress Barbara Bach in 1988. He then formed Ringo Starr and His All Star Band in 1989. He used a rotating group of great musicians who had performed with other bands. He has been going strong ever since.
He bounded on stage the other night like an excited elf waving his hands over his head in the V peace sign as he did all those years ago. He was probably older than everyone in the audience, but had the energy of a teenager. He sang his hits like “Photograph”, “You’re Sixteen”, “Act, Naturally”, and his hits with the Beatles, “Boys”, “Don’t Pass Me By”, and “Yellow Submarine.” But after his first couple of songs, he retreated to the place we all remember, behind his drums. He than let the other musicians in the band play their music including songs from Men At Work, Santana, and Ten CC. He had the confidence and the genorocity to play that supporting role we all first saw on that night over 50 years ago on the Ed Sullivan Show. Ringo was still there providing the back beat of our lives.
When he did come back to center stage to perform, there was a childlike innocence to his performance, We were not used to seeing him in front of the band. But, he jumped and swayed as if to say, “What a life I’ve had, and I’m still doing what I love.” He was the eternal boy. Of course, he closed the show with the song and the idea that tells us all we need to know about Ringo. “With A Little Help From My Friends” by Lennon and McCartney is an ode to the importance of friendship and how we hope we can always depend on each other. And, finally the band played Lennon’s “Give Peace A Chance.” Ringo always seemed like he was a friend we could count on to keep the steady beat of the music we loved. And his preaching of peace and love may be from an era gone by. But for those two hours of music, Ringo and his friends helped us remember what is important.
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