50 facts about Ringo Starr: drummer for the Beatles

Because of his distinctive voice, Starr rarely performed backing vocals during his time with the Beatles, but they can be heard on songs such as "Maxwell's Silver Hammer" and "Carry That Weight". Learn 50 facts about Ringo Starr.

1. His full name is Richard Starkey, MBE.

2. He is known professionally as Ringo Starr, is an English musician, singer, songwriter and actor.

3. Gained worldwide fame as the drummer for the Beatles.

4. He occasionally sang lead vocals, usually for one song on an album, including "With a Little Help from My Friends", "Yellow Submarine" and their cover of "Act Naturally".

5. He also wrote the Beatles' songs "Don't Pass Me By" and "Octopus's Garden", and is credited as a co-writer of others, including "What Goes On" and "Flying".

6. Starr was twice afflicted by life-threatening illnesses during childhood, and as a result of prolonged hospitalizations fell behind in school.

7. In 1955, he entered the workforce and briefly held a position with British Rail before securing an apprenticeship at a Liverpool equipment manufacturer.

8. Became interested in the UK skiffle craze, developing a fervent admiration for the genre. In 1957, he cofounded his first band, the Eddie Clayton Skiffle Group, which earned several prestigious local bookings before the fad succumbed to American rock and roll by early 1958.

9. When the Beatles formed, Starr was a member of another Liverpool group, Rory Storm and the Hurricanes.

10. Joined the Beatles in August 1962, replacing Pete Best.

11. Starr played key roles in the Beatles' films and appeared in numerous others.

12. After the band's break-up in 1970, he released several successful singles including the US number four hit "It Don't Come Easy", and number ones "Photograph" and "You're Sixteen".

13. In 1972, he released his most successful UK single, "Back Off Boogaloo", which peaked at number two.

14. He achieved commercial and critical success with his 1973 album Ringo, which was a top ten release in both the UK and the US.

15. He has been featured in a number of documentaries and hosted television shows.

16. He also narrated the first two series of the children's television programme Thomas & Friends and portrayed "Mr Conductor" during the first season of the PBS children's television series Shining Time Station.

17. Since 1989, he has toured with twelve variations of Ringo Starr & His All-Starr Band.

18. Starr's creative contribution to music has received praise from drummers such as Phil Collins, who described him as "a great musician", and Steve Smith, who commented: "Before Ringo, drum stars were measured by their soloing ability and virtuosity. Ringo's popularity brought forth a new paradigm ... we started to see the drummer as an equal participant in the compositional aspect ... His parts are so signature to the songs that you can listen to a Ringo drum part without the rest of the music and still identify the song."

19. He was inducted into the Modern Drummer Hall of Fame in 1998.

20. In 2011, Rolling Stone readers named Starr the fifth-greatest drummer of all time.

21. Starr, who was previously inducted into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame as a Beatle in 1988.

22. Was inducted into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame for his solo career in 2015, making him one of 21 performers inducted more than once.

23. Richard Starkey was born on 7 July 1940, at 9 Madryn Street, in Dingle, Liverpool.

24. He is the only child of confectioners Elsie and Richard Starkey.

25. His mother Elsie enjoyed singing and dancing, a hobby that she shared with her husband.

26. His father was an avid fan of swing.

27. Prior to the birth of Ringo, whom they nicknamed "Ritchie", his parents had spent much of their free time on the local ballroom circuit, but soon after his birth their regular outings ended.

28. His mother Elsie adopted an overprotective approach to raising her son that bordered on fixation.

29. In 1944, in an effort to reduce their housing costs, his family moved to another neighbourhood in the Dingle, 10 Admiral Grove; soon afterwards, his parents separated, and they divorced within the year.

30. Starkey later stated that he has "no real memories" of his father, who made little effort to bond with him, visiting as few as three times thereafter.

31. On 17 April 1953, Starkey's mother married Harry Graves, an ex-Londoner who had moved to Liverpool following the failure of his first marriage.

32. Graves, an impassioned fan of big band music and their vocalists, introduced Starkey to recordings by Dinah Shore, Sarah Vaughan and Billy Daniels.

33. Graves stated that he and "Ritchie" never had an unpleasant exchange between them; Starkey later commented: "He was great ... I learned gentleness from Harry."

34. In mid-1956, Graves secured Starkey a position as an apprentice machinist at a Liverpool equipment manufacturer. While working at the facility Starkey befriended Roy Trafford, and the two bonded over their shared interest in music. Trafford introduced Starkey to skiffle, and he quickly became a fervent admirer.

35. Lennon asked Starr to join the Beatles; he accepted.

36. Starr played drums on Lennon's John Lennon/Plastic Ono Band, Ono's Yoko Ono/Plastic Ono Band, and on Harrison's albums All Things Must Pass, Living in the Material World and Dark Horse.

37. In 1971, Starr participated in the Concert for Bangladesh, organised by Harrison, and with him co-wrote the hit single "It Don't Come Easy", which reached number four in both the US and the UK.

38. Having become friends with the English singer Marc Bolan, Starr made his directorial debut with the 1972 T. Rex documentary Born to Boogie.

39. During his youth, Starr had been a devoted fan of skiffle and blues music, but by the time he joined the Texans in 1958, he had developed a preference for rock and roll.

40. He was also influenced by country artists, including Hank Williams, Buck Owens and Hank Snow, and jazz drummers such as Chico Hamilton and Yusef Lateef, whose compositional style inspired Starr's fluid and energetic drum fills and grooves.

41. While reflecting on Buddy Rich, Starr commented: "He does things with one hand that I can't do with nine, but that's technique. Everyone I talk to says 'What about Buddy Rich?' Well, what about him? Because he doesn't turn me on."

42. He stated that he "was never really into drummers", but identified Cozy Cole's 1958 cover of Benny Goodman's "Topsy Part Two" as "the one drum record" he bought.

43. Starr's first musical hero was Gene Autry, about whom he commented: "I remember getting shivers up my back when he sang, 'South of the Border'".

44. By the early 1960s he had become an ardent fan of Lee Dorsey.

45. Starr sang lead vocals for a song on most of the Beatles' studio albums as part of an attempt to establish a vocal personality for each band member. In many cases, Lennon or McCartney wrote the lyrics and melody especially for him, as they did for "Yellow Submarine" from Revolver and "With a Little Help from My Friends" on Sgt. Pepper's Lonely Hearts Club Band.

46. Because of his distinctive voice, Starr rarely performed backing vocals during his time with the Beatles, but they can be heard on songs such as "Maxwell's Silver Hammer" and "Carry That Weight".

47. When Starr married Maureen Cox in 1965, Beatles manager Brian Epstein served as best man, with Starr's stepfather Harry Graves and fellow Beatle George Harrison as witnesses.

48. The couple's matrimony became the subject of a US novelty song, "Treat Him Tender, Maureen", by the Chicklettes.

49. Starr and Maureen had three children together: Zak, Jason and Lee.

50. Following Starr's repeated infidelities, the couple divorced in 1975.