IMAGINE - Music and Arts Festival

After the announcement of the breakup of The Beatles on 10 April 1970, Starr released two albums before the end of that year. Sentimental Journey featured Starr's renditions of many pre-rock standards and included the production talents of Quincy Jones, Maurice Gibb, George Martin and McCartney, among others.

His next album, Beaucoups of Blues, put Starr in a country context, and included renowned Nashville session musician Pete Drake. He scored hit singles with "It Don't Come Easy" (1971) and "Back Off Boogaloo" (1972), the latter of which was his biggest UK hit, peaking at #2. He achieved two #1 hits in the US, with "Photograph" (co-written with Harrison) and "You're Sixteen" (written by the Sherman Brothers of Mary Poppins fame).

He participated in The Concert for Bangladesh organized by Harrison in 1971, as well as drumming on Harrison's All Things Must Pass and Living in the Material World, Lennon's John Lennon/Plastic Ono Band, and Yoko Ono's early solo work. Indeed, his song "Early 1970" (the B-side of "It Don't Come Easy") voiced a hope that he could remain friendly and play music with all three of his former Beatles band mates. Starr then made his debut as a film director with the T. Rex documentary Born to Boogie. Starr became firm friends with T. Rex frontman Marc Bolan and during the period of filming the documentary, Starr released the single "Back Off Boogaloo".

Starr remains the only Beatle to have failed to top the UK singles charts as a solo artist, although he did chart two number one singles in the US. He is also the only Beatle to have failed to top the UK album listings, his highest position being #7, achieved in the UK with both Sentimental Journey and Ringo; the latter reached #2 in the US charts, giving Starr his highest album position there.

In 1971, he started a furniture company with designer Robin Cruikshank. Starr's own avant-garde designs included a flower-shaped table with adjustable petal seats and a donut-shaped fireplace.

The 1973 album Ringo remains his biggest-selling record. Produced by Richard Perry with participation by the other three former Beatles on different tracks, Starr became the most commercially successful ex-Beatle at that time.

The album Goodnight Vienna followed the next year and was also successful. Hits and notable tracks from these two albums included "Photograph" and "You're Sixteen" both reaching number one on the US charts, and "I'm The Greatest" (written by Lennon) from Ringo, and "Only You (And You Alone)" and "No No Song" from Goodnight Vienna. In late 1975 these singles and others were collected for Starr's first Greatest Hits compilation, Blast from Your Past, which was the last album to be released on Apple Records. During this period, he became romantically involved with Lynsey de Paul and inspired her prophetic song "If I Don't Get You, the Next One Will". He played tambourine on a song that De Paul wrote and produced for Vera Lynn, called "Don't You Remember When".

Starr's recording career subsequently diminished in commercial impact, although he continued to record and remained a familiar celebrity presence. Starr signed with Atlantic Records in the mid 1970s, and in 1976 the album Ringo's Rotogravure was released. While it did feature a minor hit single, the album sold only fairly well. In fact, Rotogravure turned out to be Starr's last top 40 album in the US to date peaking at #28 on Billboard and the Single turned out to be the last top 40 single in the US in the 70"s "A Dose of Rock And Roll". This caused the label to revamp Starr's formula; the results were a curious blend of disco and '70s pop. The album Ringo the 4th (1977) was a commercial disaster, and Starr soon signed with Portrait Records. His stint with Portrait began on a promising note: 1978 saw the release of Bad Boy, as well as a network TV special. Neither were very popular, and Starr did not release another album with Portrait.

In 1975, Starr founded his own record label called Ring O'Records, and four albums were released on the label between 1975 and 1978 (Startling Music by David Hentschel, Graham Bonnet by Graham Bonnet, Restless by Rab Noakes and a re-release of an Apple Records album, The Whale by John Tavener) as well as 16 singles by artists such as: Bobby Keys, Carl Grossman, Colonel Doug Bogie, David Hentschel, Graham Bonnet, Suzanne, Johnny Warman, Stormer, Rab Noakes and Dirk & Stig (the last being names of characters from The Beatles pastiche band "the Rutles", created by Eric Idle and Neil Innes).

In 1980, Harrison wrote "All Those Years Ago" for Starr to sing on his album Can't Fight Lightning which was later released as Stop and Smell the Roses. Starr did the track but told Harrison that he was uncomfortable with it because of the lyric content and the vocal range. Harrison sang a re-written version himself, including it on his 1981 album Somewhere in England following Lennon's murder. Starr, along with Paul and Linda McCartney, played on Harrison's version. Starr was interviewed by Rolling Stone and Musician around this time. Stop and Smell the Roses was a well regarded album, but again did not sell particularly well. Lennon had offered Starr a pair of songs to use on Roses: "Nobody Told Me" and "Life Begins at 40". However, following the murder, Starr did not feel comfortable recording them; the former was released posthumously under Lennon's name on the album Milk and Honey, while the latter's painfully ironic lyrics kept it unissued until 1998's John Lennon Anthology.

After Lennon was murdered in 1980, Starr and his girlfriend Barbara Bach flew to New York City, to comfort Lennon's widow Yoko Ono.

Although Starr had regularly guested on Lennon's and Harrison's solo efforts, and had had all three of his ex-colleagues guest on various records of his own, it was not until 1982 that he first was asked by McCartney to participate in recording sessions (for the Tug of War album). As was evident with Harrison's "All Those Years Ago", Lennon's death had in fact led to a public showing of reconciliation between the remaining Beatles.

In 1990, 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 his birth. The track, produced by Jeff Lynne, features a supergroup composed of Lynne, Tom Petty, Joe Walsh & Jim Keltner.

Recent years: 1985-present

In 1985, he performed, with his son Zak Starkey, as part of Artists United Against Apartheid on the recording Sun City.

In 1987, Starr drummed on the George Harrison song "When We Was Fab" from his album Cloud Nine. Harrison had written the song with Jeff Lynne with the intent of making a modern song referencing the psychedelic Beatles era, ca. 1967. The song charted in the Top 30 in both the UK and the USA.

Subsequently, Starr served a short but well-publicised stint in a detox clinic for alcoholism. During a 1998 interview on The Howard Stern Show, Starr complained that it was difficult to recover with the "press flying overhead" on a constant basis. Later that year, Starr became a visible presence on the summer touring scene, organising a series of concert tours under the name 'Ringo Starr & His All-Starr Band', teaming with well-known musicians from various rock eras. The format of the concerts had Starr singing selections of his Beatles and solo songs, then each of the other musicians taking a turn to sing one of their songs with Starr behind the drums, then Starr singing a couple more, then another go around, and so on. In this way, Starr is relieved from having to carry the full burden of the show, and the audience gets to hear a variety of music. The ninth such All-Starr Band tour took place in 2006.

The success of the initial All-Starr tour led to Starr releasing his first album in nine years, 1992's Time Takes Time. It received substantial exposure and the track "Weight Of The World" got considerable airplay. Critics considered Time Takes Time Ringo's best recording since 1973's Ringo. The album was produced by four of the top producers in music: Phil Ramone, Don Was, Jeff Lynne and Peter Asher, and featured guest appearances by various stars including Brian Wilson and Harry Nilsson.

In 1997, Starr guested on drums on two songs on the Paul McCartney album Flaming Pie. McCartney had written a song about Starr's ex-wife Maureen Starkey ("Little Willow") and asked Starr if he'd play on another ("Beautiful Night"). On the day subsequent to the "Beautiful Night" session, the two recorded a jam session which developed into another song, "Really Love You", notable for being the first song ever credited to McCartney/Starkey and officially released on an album. (An earlier co-write called "Angel in Disguise" was cut from the album Time Takes Time, and a song on the Let It Be film soundtrack was also credited to the two.)

In 1998, he released two albums on the Mercury label. The studio album Vertical Man was well-received by critics and 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 George Martin, Paul McCartney, and -- in his final appearance on a Ringo Starr album before his death -- George Harrison. Most of the songs were written by Starr and the band. The Roundheads and Joe Walsh joined Starr for his appearance on VH1 Storytellers, which was released as an album under the same name. On the show, he performed greatest hits and new songs, and told anecdotes relating to them.

In 2001 following Harrison's death of throat cancer on 29 November, he told MTV, Good Morning America, The Early Show, and The Today Show, among many others, that "We will miss George for his sense of humour."

In 2002 Starr was inducted into the Percussive Hall of Fame joining the elite group of percussive inductees, which includes Buddy Rich and William F. Ludwig, Sr. and his son.

On 29 November 2002, Starr performed "Photograph" and a cover of Carl Perkins' "Honey Don't" at the Concert for George held in the Royal Albert Hall, London, on the first anniversary of Harrison's death. According to the official website, "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." The song includes the lines, "Every time I see your face / it reminds me of the places we used to go / But all I've got is a photograph / and I realize you're not coming back anymore".

Most recently, Starr featured on the Jerry Lee Lewis 2006 duet album, Last Man Standing; he performed a cover, with Lewis, of Chuck Berry's "Sweet Little Sixteen".

In June 2007 the newest studio album by Ringo Starr was expected, produced by Dave Stewart, Mark Hudson and Starr himself, and titled Liverpool 8. However, the release was pushed back to the beginning of 2008; the album was officially released in Europe in the second week of January, 2008. Mark Hudson was the initial producer of the record but was replaced by Stewart after a falling out with Starr. (The album's production credits read, "Produced by Ringo Starr and Mark Hudson; Re-Produced by Ringo Starr and David Stewart."

All of the songs but one were written with members of the Roundheads, although Stewart also has several co-writing credits.) Starr's attorney Bruce Grakal told journalist Peter Palmiere that the partnership between Hudson and Starr was over and they would never work together again. This happened after Hudson dropped out of the 2006 tour as musical director to do the TV show "The One: Making A Music Star". According to Palmiere, Hudson now claims that the split was over Starr's insistence on using synthesized sounds, for which Stewart is known, whereas Hudson wanted real guitars, pianos, strings etc. However, about the parting with Hudson, Starr said (in response to Palmiere's report), "The separation between Mark Hudson and myself was a question of trust and friendship and had nothing to do with synthesizers."

On 11 January 2008, Ringo Starr played to a crowd of over 25,000 people on top of St George's Hall, Liverpool to start off Liverpool's European Capital of Culture year at 8 minutes past 8 (20:08). He performed a bit of drumming to start with, with some of the guitarists, and then later performed a new song from his album Liverpool 8 with Dave Stewart. The following day, Starr performed at the new Echo Arena at King's Dock, Liverpool, in the show Liverpool - The Musical.

On 25 January 2008, Starr appeared on The Late Late Show with Craig Ferguson. He was the only guest on the show and performed four songs — "Photograph", "Liverpool 8", "Boys", and "With a Little Help From My Friends".

Life as The Beatles