Ringo Drunk after Fab Break Up

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'Mad' Ringo Starr Says He Was Drunk For Decades After Beatles' Breakup




The Huffington Post | By Ron Dicker
04/12/2015 12:02 pm EDT

www.huffingtonpost.com/2015/04/12/ringo-drunk_n_7049282.html?ncid=txtlnkusaolp00000592

"Were you upset by the breakup of the Beatles back in the day? So was Ringo Starr.

The Fab Four drummer told the Times of London that he often spent the 1970s and '80s in a boozy haze.

“I was drunk,” he said. "Some of those years are absolutely gone.”

Starr, 74, explained to the paper that the group's split affected him for a long time. “I was mad,” he said.
“For 20 years. I had breaks in between of not being.”

This isn't the first time the famous mop-topped performer has opened up about his alcoholism in the wake of the breakup.
After entering rehab with wife Barbara Bach in 1988, he later told People magazine that the band's dissolution
left him "absolutely lost." Drinking helped keep him that way.

"It got progressively worse, and the blackouts got worse, and I didn't know where I'd been, what I'd done," he told
the magazine. "I knew I had the problem for years. But it plays tricks with your head. Very cunning and baffling is alcohol."

Starr recently released a solo album called "Postcards from Paradise," and on April 18 will become the last
of the Beatles to receive entry into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame as an individual artist.
And yes, he'll get by with a little help from his friend. Fellow Beatle Paul McCartney will do the induction honors.

Next summer will mark the 50th anniversary of the Beatles' final concert, Aug. 29, 1966, at Candlestick Park in San Francisco.

For baby boomers, it's a sure indicator that time flies.

H/T New York Daily News"

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Rock hall opening doors to Ringo Starr
Associated Press ‎April‎ ‎13‎, ‎2015
DAVID BAUDER

www.yahoo.com/music/s/rock-hall-opening-doors-ringo-starr-144106533.html


In this Monday, March 30, 2015 photo, Ringo Starr poses for a portrait at The London Hotel, in West Hollywood, Calif. Already a member of the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame as a Beatle, Starr will be inducted in April 2015, as an individual, joining John, Paul and George with that distinction. (Photo by John Shearer/Invision/AP)


NEW YORK (AP) — The first few years after the Beatles split, Ringo Starr had bragging rights on his mates.

He was all over the radio with "It Don't Come Easy," ''Back Off Boogaloo," ''Photograph" and other singles at a time
that John Lennon, Paul McCartney and George Harrison went through some uneven stretches.

"I had all these hits and everybody was surprised," Starr recalled. "I don't know why they were, but they were."

Everyone's favorite genial drummer still has his pride. Already a member of the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame as a Beatle,
Starr will be inducted this weekend as an individual, joining John, Paul and George with that distinction.
He keeps busy at age 74, touring regularly and promoting a just-released new disc, "Postcards From Paradise."

Besides Starr, new inductees to the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame on Saturday will be Green Day, Bill Withers,
Lou Reed, Stevie Ray Vaughan, Joan Jett, the Paul Butterfield Blues Band and the "5'' Royales.

Starr wasn't expecting the honor and, in fact, it has raised questions about whether there is a special Beatle entrance.

McCartney told Rolling Stone magazine recently that, when reminded Starr wasn't in the hall on his own,
he vowed to see what he could do. "I talked to Bruce Springsteen and I talked to Dave Grohl, and they both
thought he should be in. And I said I'd do the induction. That took care of it," he said.

Rather than being nominated and voted upon by the full panel of musicians, journalists and others who choose
most members, Starr was selected under a "musical excellence" category. That category has been used four times,
none before 2011.

Joel Peresman, president and CEO of the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame Foundation, said these honorees are chosen
by committee. Although lobbying calls are taken, induction is a group decision. He said that any calls that come in
during the process — including, presumably, McCartney's — "are purely coincidental."

"I only knew about it when Paul McCartney called me and said, 'they want to honor you at the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame.
I'll be doing the speech for you. Will you accept?'" Starr said. "I said sure, how great is that?"

Only an occasional singer and lyricist with the Beatles, Starr has maintained an active recording career,
particularly since getting sober in the late 1980s. Since 1992, he's put out as many discs of original material
as McCartney, his fellow Beatle survivor, even more if you didn't count McCartney's classical excursions.

His "Ringo 2012" disc sold fewer than 20,000 copies, according to Nielsen Soundscan.
Numbers like that are why many artists of his generation stop making new music.
Starr may joke onstage about how few people buy his new music, but he said making it is important to him.

"That's where I come from — you made records, you put them out," he said. "Also, for me, it's a great excuse
to hang out with a lot of friends and a lot of great musicians. It's part of my life. This is what I do."


He expresses no interest in writing a book, but has written on recent discs songs that he considers mini-autobiographies
looking back on slices of his life. In "Liverpool 8," he sang of leaving his hometown, "but I never let you down."
The song "The Other Side of Liverpool" name-checks old friends and talks about growing up poor. On the new album,
"Rory and the Hurricanes" is about the band he drummed for before accepting an offer to join the Beatles, who then
had less of a following than the Hurricanes. Starr had sat in for ex-Beatles drummer Pete Best a couple of times in Germany.

Could that be the best decision in rock history?

"I was as surprised as anyone when the phone call came — 'do you want to join?' — and I said sure, because I loved
the band," Starr said. "It was not a difficult decision because I just loved to play with those three, not knowing where
it was going to go, of course."

Starr's "All Starr Band" of rotating musicians, an ingenious device to keep an active live career, is already more than
a quarter-century old. The current incarnation features Todd Rundgren, Steve Lukather of Toto, Richard Page of Mr. Mister
and Gregg Rollie of Santana. Being a featured player on at least one hit single is a job requirement, so band members
can rotate in the spotlight with Ringo.

He keeps adding dates, and is already booked 22 nights in October, from Boise, Idaho and Vancouver, Canada to Boston
and Brooklyn. Starr dismisses any talk of retirement, citing 89-year-old blues guitarist B.B. King —
who was performing last year until being sidelined by health issues — as an inspiration.

"He's sitting down, but he's still out there," Starr said. "Hey, I'm already sitting down."

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Ringo tour dates

www.ringostarr.com/tourdates/

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Ringo Starr Jokes 'It's About Time' For His Hall of Fame Induction
By MATT FRIEDLANDER
Good Morning America\

gma.yahoo.com/ringo-starr-jokes-time-hall-fame-induction-152757143--abc-news-celebrities.html

"On Saturday at Cleveland's Public Hall, Ringo Starr will be inducted into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame
as a solo artist, thereby becoming the last of The Beatles' four members to be honored individually by the institution.

Starr initially was inducted into the Rock Hall as a member of the Fab Four in 1988, then saw his band mates
John Lennon, Paul McCartney and George Harrison recognized for their solo careers in 1994, 1999 and 2004, respectively.
So how does the famed drummer feel about finally being acknowledged by the hallowed Hall?

"Well, it's about time," Starr told ABC News with a laugh. "I think it's beautiful. I do.
I really think it's beautiful, and it's something for me to look forward to."

Starr revealed that it was McCartney who informed him that he was getting the honor.

"He called, and he said, 'They want to induct you into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame and I'll induct you.
And will you accept?'" Starr recalled. "So I said, 'Sure. Sure. We can have a night out.'"

Unbeknownst to Starr, his Rock Hall induction came about thanks to a little help from his old friend.

"I've found out…that [McCartney] was out to dinner sitting 'round with a couple of other musicians,
and no one could believe I wasn't in it," he said. "So they worked on it to get me in."

McCartney himself has admitted in recent interviews that when he told Rock Hall organizers that he would do
the honors and induct Starr, that helped seal the deal for the drummer. In conjunction with his induction,
Starr will be honored with the Award for Musical Excellence. The Rock and Roll Hall of Fame's other 2015 inductees
are the late Lou Reed, Joan Jett and the Blackhearts, the late Stevie Ray Vaughn and his band Double Trouble,
Green Day, The Paul Butterfield Blues Band, Bill Withers and The "5" Royales.
No word yet on whether Starr will be performing at the ceremony." Of course he will!