1990s

The first All-Starr excursion led to the release of Ringo Starr and His All-Starr Band (1990), a compilation of live performances from the tour.^[151] In the same year, Starr recorded a version of the song "I Call Your Name" for a television special marking the 10th anniversary of John Lennon's death and the 50th anniversary of Lennon's birth. The track, produced by Lynne, features a supergroup composed of Lynne, Tom Petty, Joe Walsh and Jim Keltner.^[152]

The following year, Starr made a cameo appearance on The Simpsons episode "Brush with Greatness" and contributed an original song, "You Never Know", to the soundtrack of the John Hughes film Curly Sue.^[153] In 1992, Starr released his first studio album in nine years, Time Takes Time, which was produced by Phil Ramone, Don Was, Lynne and Peter Asher and featured guest appearances by various stars including Brian Wilson and Harry Nilsson.^[154] In 1994, Starr began a collaboration with the surviving former Beatles for the Beatles Anthology project. They recorded two new Beatles songs built around solo vocal and piano tapes recorded by Lennon and gave lengthy interviews about the Beatles' career.^[155] Released in December 1995, "Free as a Bird" was the first new Beatles single since 1970.^[156] In March 1996, they released a second single, "Real Love". Harrison refused to participate in the completion of a third song.^[157]

Starr guested on two songs from McCartney's 1997 album, Flaming Pie. McCartney had written a song about Starr's ex-wife Maureen, who died in 1994, called "Little Willow" and asked Starr if he would play on another song, "Beautiful Night".^[158] The day after the "Beautiful Night" session, the two recorded a jam session, which developed into another song, "Really Love You", notable for being the first official release ever credited to McCartney/Starkey.^[159] In 1998, he released two albums on the Mercury label. The studio album Vertical Man marked the beginning of a nine-year partnership with Mark Hudson, who produced the album and, with his band the Roundheads, formed the core of the backing group for the album. In addition, many famous guests joined on various tracks, including Martin, McCartney and, in his final appearance on a Starr album, Harrison. Most of the songs were written by Starr and the band. Joe Walsh and the Roundheads joined Starr for his appearance on VH1 Storytellers, which was released as an album under the same name. During the show, he performed greatest hits and new songs and told anecdotes relating to them.^[160]