Ringo Starr Facts: Real Name, Beatles Breakup Secrets

After officially becoming a member of The Beatles in 1962, Ringo Starr cemented his status as one of the most famous drummers of all time. Beatlemania swept across the globe and had such a strong hold on the music industry until the band split in 1970. He continued on with his own incredibly successful music career in the decades that followed.

During his time with the esteemed rock band, Ringo struck up a great friendship with bandmate Paul McCartney. Even after the group went their separate ways, the duo collaborated together on several projects including “Average Person” and “Not Such a Bad Boy.” In a 1981 interview with Modern Drummer, he expressed how grateful he was for his time with The Beatles and working with such talented musicians.

“To play with three other people, any other people, when it works is when everyone is hitting it together, no one is racing, no one’s dragging, the song is good or the track is good and the music is good,” he said. “If you’re not a musician, I don’t know if you’ll understand it, when three, four, or ten of you, or a hundred-piece orchestra, hit it together for as much time as you can … There’s a magic in that that is unexplainable. I can’t explain what I get from that. It’s getting high for me. Just a pure musical high.”

After earning the love of Beatles fans, Ringo also found love with his second wife, Barbara Bach. The Grammy winner was married once before to Maureen Cox from 1965 to 1975. He and the hairdresser welcomed three children during their marriage: Zak Starkey, Jason Starkey and Lee Starkey.

He met Barbara in 1980 while working on the film Caveman. They got married one year later. The former Bond Girl is a mom to two kids, Francesca Gregorini and Gianni Gregorini, from her first marriage to Augusto Gregorini. Decades after they first met, Ringo could not be happier with his wife and their blended family.

“I love the woman,” he told The Irish News in January 2021. “I loved her from when I first saw her at LAX in 1980. She was at the airport with a boyfriend, and I was at the airport checking in, and we happened to be going to Mexico to do the same movie.

The hitmaker is still hard at work making music, pursuing his passion for art and providing fans with nostalgic material over on his social media accounts. He often shares videos spreading his famous message of “peace and love.”

Keep scrolling to learn five interesting facts about Ringo.

The Real Story Behind Ringo Starr’s Stage Name

Ringo was born Richard Starkey in 1940. Once he realized he wanted to pursue a music career, he decided to use a stage name. The songwriter came up with the name Ringo after wearing a number of rings during each performance. Starr was derived from his given name, and his drum solos became known as “Starr Time.” The name certainly stuck!

He Has a Unique Drumming Style

Many fans of the bestselling band realized that Ringo’s playing style was not like other drummers of the ‘60s. The Liverpool-born artist is left-handed but plays on a right-handed drum set.

“I am an emotional player. I got lucky that I bought the first drum set and didn’t know any better because I’m left-handed and it was a right-handed kit. And so, my style is a little different,” he said in June 2018, per Beatles Magazine.

Ringo Revealed His Biggest Regret

The Beatles became such a phenomenon that their faces were plastered on posters, cars, bobbleheads, dolls and much more. In a 2003 radio interview with Jody Denberg, Ringo revealed that he wished he had kept more of the iconic Beatles merch.

“No. I don’t collect any memorabilia. I wish I’d have kept everything I had,” he admitted. “But who knew you had to keep it. Just gave it away. And we lost so much, and we didn’t look after a lot of it. I believe Paul’s got everything he ever had, but I lost a lot of mine.”

He Never Loved Doing Drum Solos

Though he is often ranked as one of the greatest rock drummers of all time, drum solos were not always his favorite thing to do.

“I never met a drummer who more hated the drum solos,” Paul shared about his former bandmate in an April 2015 interview with Rolling Stone. “We had to beg him to do it. The point where ‘Carry That Weight’ goes into ‘The End,’ I told him it’s a dramatic change in energy and tempo — we need just a few seconds. And he finally agreed to do it. And Ringo was great.”

Ringo Got Real About What Divided The Beatles

There are so many theories out there about the real reason why The Beatles split. In February 2022, Ringo appeared on Jimmy Kimmel Live! and revealed there was one thing that always caused animosity within the group: passing gas.

“The thing with that was we learned that when we were in a band when we started out, if anybody let a silent one go, they would try and get away with it. It caused terrible trouble,” he recalled.

When it came to naming the gassiest Beatles member, Ringo called out Paul. However, the pair have been friends for six decades and it was all in good fun! When host Jimmy Kimmel jokingly asked what divided the band toward the end, the artist replied, “Just farts.”