With the Beatles: 1962–1970
Main article: The Beatles
Starr quit Rory Storm and the Hurricanes in January 1962 and briefly joined Sheridan in Hamburg before returning to the Hurricanes for a third season at Butlins.[49][nb 4] On 14 August, Lennon asked Starr to join the Beatles; he accepted.[51] On 16 August, Beatles manager Brian Epstein fired their drummer, Pete Best, who recalled: "He said 'I've got some bad news for you. The boys want you out and Ringo in ... He said [Beatles producer] George Martin wasn't too pleased with my playing [and] the boys thought I didn't fit in."[52] Starr first performed as a member of the band on 18 August 1962, at a Horticultural Society dance at Port Sunlight.[53] After his appearance at the Cavern Club the following day, Best fans, upset by his firing, held vigils outside his house and at the club shouting "Pete forever! Ringo never!"[50] Harrison received a black eye from one of the upset fans and Epstein, whose car tyres they had flattened in anger, temporarily hired a bodyguard to ensure his safety.[54]
Starr's first recording session as a member of the Beatles took place on 4 September 1962.[51] He stated that Martin had thought that he "was crazy and couldn't play ... because I was trying to play the percussion and the drums at the same time, we were just a four piece band".[55] For their second recording session with Starr, which took place on 11 September 1962, Martin replaced him with session drummer Andy White while recording takes for what would be the two sides of the Beatles' first single, "Love Me Do" backed with "P.S. I Love You".[56] Starr played tambourine on "Love Me Do" and maracas on "P.S. I Love You".[51] Concerned about his status in the Beatles, he thought: "That's the end, they're doing a Pete Best on me."[57] Martin later clarified: "I simply didn't know what Ringo was like and I wasn't prepared to take any risks."[58][nb 5]
By November 1962 Starr had been accepted by Beatles fans, who were now calling for him to sing songs.[59] Soon afterwards, he began receiving an amount of fanmail equal to that of the others, which helped to secure his position within the band.[60] Starr considered himself fortunate to be on the same "wavelength" as the other Beatles: "I had to be, or I wouldn't have lasted. I had to join them as people [sic] as well as a drummer."[61] He was given a small percentage of Lennon and McCartney's publishing company,Northern Songs, but he derived his primary income during this period from a one-quarter share of Beatles Ltd, a corporation financed by the band's net concert earnings.[60] He commented on the nature of his lifestyle after having achieved success with the Beatles: "I lived in nightclubs for three years. It used to be a non-stop party."[62] Like his father Starr became well known for his late-night dancing and he received considerable praise for his skills.[62]
During 1963, the Beatles enjoyed increasing popularity in England. In January, their second single, "Please Please Me" followed "Love Me Do" into the UK charts and a successful television appearance on Thank Your Lucky Stars earned them favourable reviews, leading to a boost in sales and radio play.[63] By the end of the year, the phenomenon known as Beatlemania had spread throughout the country, and by February 1964 the Beatles had become an international success, performing on The Ed Sullivan Show to a record 73 million viewers.[64] Starr commented: "In the states I know I went over well. It knocked me out to see and hear the kids waving for me. I'd made it as a personality ... Our appeal ... is that we're ordinary lads."[65] He was a source of inspiration for several songs written at the time, including Penny Valentine's "I Want to Kiss Ringo Goodbye" and Rolf Harris's "Ringo for President".[66] In 1964, "I love Ringo" lapel pins outsold all other Beatles merchandising.[66] During live performances, the Beatles continued the Starr Time routine that had been popular among his fans: Lennon would place a microphone in front of Starr's kit in preparation for his spotlight moment and audiences would erupt in screams.[67] When the Beatles made their film debut in A Hard Day's Night, Starr garnered much praise from critics, who considered both his delivery of deadpan one-liners and his non-speaking scenes highlights of the movie.[68] The extended non-speaking sequences had to be arranged by director Richard Lester due to Starr's lack of sleep the previous night, Starr commented: "Because I'd been drinking all night I was incapable of saying a line."[69] Epstein attributed Starr's acclaim to "the little man's quaintness".[70] After the release of the Beatles' second feature film,Help! (1965), Starr won a Melody Maker poll against his fellow Beatles for his performance as the central character in the film.[71]
During an interview with Playboy magazine in 1964, Lennon explained that Starr had filled-in with the Beatles when Best was ill; Starr replied: "[Best] took little pills to make him ill".[72] Soon after Starr made the comment, a provoked Best filed a libel suit against him that lasted for four years before the court reached an undisclosed settlement in Best's favour.[73] In June, the Beatles were scheduled to tour Denmark, the Netherlands, Asia, Australia and New Zealand, but Starr became ill the day before the start of the tour.[74] Stricken with a high-grade fever, pharyngitis and tonsillitis, he was admitted to a local hospital where he briefly stayed followed by several days of recuperation at home.[75] During this time, Starr was temporarily replaced for five concert dates by 24-year-old session drummer Jimmie Nicol.[76] Starr was discharged from the hospital, and he rejoined the band in Melbourne on 15 June.[77][nb 6] He later admitted that he feared he would be permanently replaced during his illness.[80] In August, when the Beatles were introduced to Bob Dylan, Starr was the first to try a cannabis cigarette offered to the band by Dylan, whereas Lennon, McCartney and Harrison were hesitant.[81]
On 11 February 1965, Starr married Maureen Cox, whom he had first met in 1962.[82] By this time the negative aspects of Beatlemania had reached a peak for him, who after having received a telephoned death threat before a show in Montreal resorted to positioning his cymbals vertically in an attempt to provide protection from would-be assassins. The constant pressure of the Beatles' fame impacted their live performances; Starr commented: "We were turning into such bad musicians ... there was no groove to it."[83] He was also feeling increasingly isolated from the musical activities of his bandmates, who were moving past the traditional boundaries of rock music into territory that often did not require his accompaniment; during recording sessions he spent countless hours playing cards with their road manager Neil Aspinall and roadie Mal Evans while the other Beatles perfected tracks without him.[84] In a letter published in Melody Maker, a fan asked the Beatles to let Starr sing more; he replied: "[I am] quite happy with my one little track on each album".[84]
In August 1966, the Beatles released Revolver, their seventh UK LP.[85] The album included the song "Yellow Submarine", which was the only British number one single with Starr as the lead singer.[86] Later that month and owing to the increasing pressures of touring, the Beatles gave their final concert, a 30-minute performance at San Francisco's Candlestick Park.[87] Starr commented: "We gave up touring at the right time. Four years of Beatlemania were enough for anyone."[88] By December, he had moved into an upscale estate on three acres in Saint George's Hill called Sunny Heights.[89] Although he had adorned the house with many of the finest luxuries available at the time, including numerous televisions, light machines, film projectors and stereo equipment, a billiard table, go-kart track and a bar named the Flying Cow, he did not include a drum kit, he explained: "When we don't record, I don't play".[90]
For the Beatles' seminal 1967 album, Sgt. Pepper's Lonely Hearts Club Band, Starr sang lead vocals on the Lennon–McCartney composition "With a Little Help from My Friends".[91] Although the Beatles had enjoyed widespread commercial and critical success with Sgt. Pepper, the long hours they spent recording the LP contributed to Starr's increased feeling of alienation within the band, he commented: "[It] wasn't our best album. That was the peak for everyone else, but for me it was a bit like being a session musician ... They more or less direct me in the style I can play."[92][nb 7] His inability to compose new material led to his input being minimised during recording sessions; he often found himself relegated to adding minor percussion effects to songs by McCartney, Lennon and Harrison.[94] During his down-time Starr worked on his guitar playing; he commented: "I jump into chords that no one seems to get into. Most of the stuff I write is twelve-bar".[95]
Epstein's death in August 1967 left the Beatles without management; Starr remarked: "[It was] a strange time for us, when it's someone who've relied on in the business, where we never got involved."[96] Soon afterwards, the band began an ill-fated film project, Magical Mystery Tour. Starr's growing interest in photography at the time lead to his billing as the movie's Director of Photography, and his participation in the film's editing was matched only by McCartney.[97]
In February 1968, Starr became the first Beatle to sing during another artist's show without the other three present. He sang the Buck Owens hit "Act Naturally", and performed a duet with Cilla Black, "Do you Like Me Just a Little Bit?" on her BBC One television programme, Cilla.[98] Later that year Apple Records released The Beatles, commonly known as the White Album.[99] Creative inspiration for the double-LP came in part from the band's recent interactions with the Maharishi Mahesh Yogi.[100] While attending an intermediate course at his ashram in Rishikesh, India, they enjoyed one of their most prolific writing periods, composing most of the album's songs there.[101]Despite leaving after ten days, Starr completed his first recorded Beatles song, "Don't Pass Me By", while in India.[102][nb 8] During the recording of the White Album, relations within the band became openly divisive.[105] As the sessions progressed, their collective group dynamic began to decay; at times only one or two Beatles were involved in the recording for a track.[106] Starr had grown weary of McCartney's increasingly overbearing approach and Lennon's passive-aggressive behaviour, which was exacerbated by Starr's resentment of Yoko Ono's near constant presence.[106] After one particularly difficult session during which McCartney had harshly criticised his drumming, he quit the band for two weeks, taking a holiday with his family in Sardinia on a boat loaned by Peter Sellers.[107] During a lunch break the chef served octopus, which Starr refused to eat. A subsequent conversation with the ship's captain regarding the behaviours of the animal served as the inspiration for his Abbey Road composition, "Octopus's Garden", which Starr wrote on guitar during the trip.[108] When he returned to the studio two weeks later, he discovered that his drum kit had been covered in flowers.[109]
Despite a temporary return to congenial relations during the completion of the White Album, production of the Beatles' fourth feature film, Let It Be, and its accompanying LP, strained an already tenuous cohesion within the band.[110] On 20 August 1969, the Beatles gathered for the final time at Abbey Road Studios for a mixing session for "I Want You (She's So Heavy)".[111] Following a business meeting on 20 September 1969, Lennon told the others that he had quit the Beatles.[112]
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