"You're the greatest drummer in the world. Really."--Paul McCartney, the day after the band's infamous rooftop concert at Apple Studios (January 3, 1969)"Starr's legacy is clouded by misconception and ignorance. Some say he was the luckiest guy on earth, a competent player who stepped into a million-dollar quartet. Why the bum rap? Was it because he didn't overplay and shunned solos? Or was it his unassuming, Everyman countenance?"-- Dennis Diken, drummer for The Smithereens (2009)
It may have been a simple twist of fate that gave us Ringo Starr, arguably the most influential rock drummer of all time. Or perhaps it was always meant to be. Either way, we almost didn't have Richard Starkey (aka Ringo Starr) with us.
At the age of six, little Ritchie fell into a coma as a result of
complications from appendicitis. A slow recovery kept him in the
hospital for an extended stay. Hoping to help him stave off boredom, his
parents bought him a couple of toys -- a small red bus and a drum.
Enamored with the drum, Starkey gave the toy bus to a sick boy sharing
his hospital room. Still, it would be roughly 11 years before the young
Liverpudlian got his first real set of drums, a gift from his stepfather
in December 1957. And it would be another three years before Richard
Starkey became Ringo Starr, the drummer for the band Rory Storm and the
Hurricanes.
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