The Beatles Boxed Set (39 page)
Read The Beatles Boxed Set Online
Authors: Joe Bensam
Tags: #Biography & Autobiography, #Composers & Musicians, #Nonfiction, #Retail, #The Beatles
Ringo married for the second time, this
time to Barbara Bach whom he met on the set of the film Caveman; George and his
second wife, Olivia, and Paul and his wife Linda attended the ceremony
The
year 1980 closed with bad news when Ringo, and his other band mates were informed
that John was murdered in his apartment building. Ringo was in Bermuda with
Bach, but immediately flew to New York to comfort Yoko Ono and son Sean, the
only ex-Beatle who did so.
George
had written
All Those Years Ago
as a tribute to John and for Ringo to
sing on his album
Stop and Smell the Roses
. George had also sung a
rewritten version, with Ringo playing drums.
Stop and Smell the Roses
,
Ringo’s album following the twin commercial disasters of his two previous
albums, was released in late-November 1981. Ringo had originally scheduled to
record some of the songs that John had written, but following the latter’s
death, Ringo didn’t have the heart to record them.
After
mourning, Ringo returned to the studio and completed the album. This album was
considered to be Ringo’s best album since
Goodnight Vienna,
but it was
not enough to make it a hit. It only reached number 98 in the US.
Alcohol
had been Ringo’s companion since the Beatles broke up. He claimed that he was
unable to function sober; he drank because it was the only way he could cope.
Following the breakup, he nearly destroyed his career with drink.
Ringo
said, “I recorded a lot of things drunk – because I was a drunk. I felt I could
deal with life more easily with a few drinks. The problem was a few turned into
many.”
But
Ringo and his wife, Bach, eventually entered a rehab and slowly recovered,
though he found it hard to stay sober. They attended a detox clinic in Tucson,
Arizona, and received treatment that lasted six weeks.
Ringo
was back in a band, a concept developed by producer David Fishof. They would
call it Ringo Star and his All-Starr Band, which made its debut in front of ten
thousand in Dallas, Texas.
As
the name implied, the band consisted of musicians who had been successful in
their own right with popular songs at different times. Ringo claimed that
“everybody on stage is a star in their own right.” He would perform some of his
songs and Beatles songs, and the other artists in the band would also perform
their well-known material. The band had already toured with twelve variations
in over two decades.
Ringo (third from left) and his All-Starr
Band, 2010
The
band debuted with the following lineup: Ringo on drums and vocals; Joe Walsh
(Eagles and James Gang) on guitar, piano and vocals; Nils Lofgren (E Street
Band) in guitar, accordion and vocals; Dr. John on keyboards and vocals; Billy
Preston on keyboards and vocals; Rick Danko (The Band) on bass and vocals;
Levon Helm (The Band) on drums, harmonica, and vocals; Jim Keltner on drums;
and Clarence Clemons (E Street band) on saxophone, tambourine and vocals. Ringo’s
son, Zak, had also performed in the band as a drummer.
Following
the success of the All-Starr Band, the album
Ringo Starr and His All-Starr
Band
was released. It was a compilation of performances from the band’s
tour. Ringo had also recorded his version of the song
I Call Your Name
for a television special for the 10
th
anniversary of John’s death
and the 50
th
anniversary of his birth.
Ringo’s
studio album in nine years, the 1992
Time Takes Time,
was an acclaimed
comeback album. Critics considered this album Ringo’s best album since his 1973
Ringo
. However, the public didn’t share the critics’ opinion, and thus
the album failed to make the chart.
This
was followed by
Vertical Man
, which marked the beginning of a long
“partnership” with Mark Hudson, who had produced the album. Several other
guests also joined on various tracks, including George Martin, Paul and George.
In
2002, Ringo was inducted into the Percussive Arts Society Hall of Fame
alongside other percussive inductees. He was still plagued by George Harrison’s
death the previous year. On the first anniversary of George’s death, Ringo
performed
Photograph
and a cover of
Honey Don’t
at the
Concert
for George
in the Royal Albert Hall, London. The official
Concert for
George
website claimed that “Ringo Starr caught everyone with a tear in
their eye with a rendition of
Photograph
, a composition he wrote with
George, which seemed to sum up how everyone felt.”
Between
2003 and 2007, Ringo busied himself with a variety of projects and only released
an album in January 2008.
Liverpool 8
, which Ringo, Dave Stewart and
Mark Hudson produced, marked Ringo’s return to EMI after leaving the label in
1975.
Liverpool 8
made it to number 91 on the UK Album Chart and number
94 on the
Billbaord
200.
Ringo
reunited with Paul McCartney on April 4, 2009 at the David Lunch “Change Begins
Within” concert at Radio City Music Hall. Paul’s set came last, and he was
joined by Ringo to perform
With a Little Help from My Friends
. All
performers sang
I Saw Her Standing There
and
Cosmically Conscious
.
The
year 2010 saw the release of Ringo’s 15
th
studio album,
Y Not
.
It quickly debuted to number 58 on the
Billboard
To 200 chart with 7,
965 copied sold in its first week. The album’s first single,
Walk With You
,
was a duet with Paul McCartney. Ringo performed the song with his band on
The
Daily Show with Jon Stewart
and closed out the show with a rendition of
With
a Little Help from My Friends
.
Ringo
also appeared on
Late Night with Jimmy Fallon
and
The Jay Leno Show
,
where he performed
The Other Side of Liverpool.
Also on January, Ringo
participated on
Hope for Haiti Now: A Global Benefit for Earthquake Relief
as a celebrity phone operator.
Ringo’s
last album, to date, was
Ringo 2012
. The title was in reference to his
most successful album,
Ringo
, which was released way back in 1973. The
album enjoyed moderate success, as it debuted at number 80 in the US and at
number 181 in the UK.
Ringo
remained the only ex-Beatle to fail to top the UK singles charts as a solo
artist and UK album listings. But despite that, Ringo ptoved that while he was
considered the least likely Beatle to succeed on a solo career, he actually achieved
success with his
Photograph
and
You’re Sixteen,
among others. Still
performing with his band and living with his wife Barbara, Ringo showed his
mettle as a solo artist and an ability to go beyond the shadow of The Beatle’s
fame.
The
Music, The Maharashi and the Mania
Joe Bensam
Platinum Publishing
of Content
Education and Interest in Music
Chapter 2 – From The Quarrymen to
The Beatles
Chapter 3 – The Hamburg Experience
Chapter 4 – Dreams Within Reach
Chapter 5 – The Beatles’ Golden Years
Chapter 10 – From Dark to Light
Chapter 11 – The Legend of George
Harrison Lives On
Son of Liverpool
Born Performer
Even
before George Harrison was born, music was already a part of his life. When his
mother was pregnant with him, it was the height of World War II. Life was
difficult, with sounds of air raid sirens, bomb attacks, and planes racing
overhead drowning out other sounds and instilling fear among people.
With
the war raging, the days were of rationing, and even the people in upper class
were just scraping by. Harold Harrison was a bus driver, and his salary wasn’t
enough to provide the family with some luxuries. And when his wife, Louise, was
carrying their first child, he and his brother-in-law, Johnny, built her a
homemade radio. By then Louise had already given up her job at a local
greengrocer’s, and spent her time listening.
Their
first child was a girl whom they named Louise. The second child was Harold Jr.,
followed by another son, Peter. When Louise was on her fourth and last
pregnancy, she was listening to a weekly broadcast called Radio India. She
would listen to mystical sounds from sitars and tablas every Sunday.
