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MUSIC
Ringo Starr

What if Ringo had wound up in Texas?

Bill Keveney
USA TODAY
Ringo Starr's "great life'' includes 18 studio solo albums and a double-induction into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame.

WEST HOLLYWOOD, Calif. — Ringo Starr didn't have to end up with The Beatles. He could have been a Texas factory worker moonlighting as a country blues player. He might have been a world-class knitter.

Thankfully, fate had other plans for the now-74-year-old drummer, who celebrates spring with his just-released album Postcards From Paradiseand an induction April 18 into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame as a solo act.

The Liverpool, England, native was 13 and hospitalized for tuberculosis when he first played the drums. "This woman would come in with maracas and tambourines and little drums. I played the drum the first time, and every time she came back, I wouldn't be in the bedridden band unless I got a drum," he says. During the long stay, "I learned to knit."

Postcards acknowledges his past in the title track, which features many Beatles song titles. Rory and the Hurricanes details Starr's membership in another band before he joined John Lennon, Paul McCartney and George Harrison in 1962.

"Publishing houses have asked me to do my autobiography. I've always said no, because I started doing it in song," he says. Rory is about "an actual trip with Rory (Storm) and the Hurricanes. We rented a van, and we went down to London. … We did all live together in one room (and) lived on bread and jam. We did go to this dance, and no London girl would dance with us, because of our accent, coming from the north (of England). That was three days out of our life."

Many more days in his life were spent with The Beatles, including some during an inaugural trip to America in 1964 that went beyond the group's "wildest dreams' and included an appearance on The Ed Sullivan Show. During last year's 50th-anniversary celebration of that event, Starr and McCartney, the two living members, played together.

"I love performing with him. It's always exciting. He is a dear friend (and) a great musician," Starr says, acknowledging it brings back memories of earlier days. "Well, it has to do that. But two of us are missing."

Starr, who had No. 1 hits in the USA with Photograph and You're Sixteen when he launched his solo career after The Beatles broke up, had been looking to cross the pond ever since he was a teen.

"I tried to emigrate to Houston to live next to (country blues musician) Lightnin' Hopkins," he says, explaining that Liverpool was England's country music capital. "I was looking at factory jobs then," but the application process at the American consulate was too detailed. "As a teenager, you don't have the patience, and I didn't emigrate."

Ringo Starr will hit the road again with his All-
Starr band, including U.S. dates in October.

These days, Starr spends most of his time in Los Angeles, where he lives with his wife, actress Barbara Bach. They have five children between them and eight grandchildren. He enjoys playing with his All-Starr Band, a collaborative feast of talented musicians, and has October tour dates scheduled in the USA.

"From the first band in 1989, with Dr. John, (now brother-in-law) Joe Walsh and Billy Preston, there were three drummers. I had Levon Helm (of The Band) on my right; Jim Keltner, my hero drummer from L.A., on my left; and I was in the middle," he says. "I was sort of insecure, so I called all these people, and they all said yes. So it was like a mini-orchestra" on stage.

He knows there's an inevitable Beatles question coming, and he savors an early moment.

"When we were driving to the gigs in England all in one car, we knew (Love Me Do) was going to come on the BBC. So it's 9:32, it would be on, and we'd pull over. It was a thrill!" he says. "I'm still proud of the records. John and Paul wrote some incredible songs, and we played the best we could."

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