How Ringo Starr felt the first time he met The Beatles members

By 1962 when Ringo Starr met The Beatles face to face for the first time, the drummer was a member of Rory Storm and the Hurricanes, which was a famous Liverpool band too. Both groups were working in Germany and as Starr recalled in an interview with Dan Rather on AXS TV (Transcribed by Rock and Roll Garage) back in 2018, he felt really connected when he first met John, George and Ringo.

So he really wasn’t afraid of leaving Rory Storm at the time after he was invited by The Beatles to join them.

How Ringo Starr felt the first time he met The Beatles members

“They were (The Hurricanes were bigger at the moment). I met (The Beatles) in Germany. I was playing with Rory and The Hurricanes and The Beatles were playing (there in) different clubs. The guy who own both of them put us in the same club and I loved John, Paul and George. I just loved that front line. I’d be there for the last gig, just sitting there watching the front line, requesting songs.”

“So then they asked (me to join). I had no hesitation but people did say ‘You gonna leave Rory?’ And I said ‘Yeah, yeah, I’m going to leave’. You know, just make a step up. (I liked The Beatles and their music) they were great players. Rory was a showman and we were players. We had a guitarist called Johnny Guitar who was great but that was about it, really. But we were big in Liverpool and I just loved them,” Ringo Starr said.

He prefers to be member of a group and it was actually Pepsi who pushed him to for the “All Starr Band”

During the same interview, the musician recalled that it was actually Pepsi that indirectly made him form the “All Starr Band” in the late 90s. The soda company got in touch with his lawyer at the time and said they would like to promote a Ringo tour and that’s when the musician decided to form a band composed by famous Rock stars. He also talked about how he prefers to be a band member rather than a solo act.

“I love to be in a band, I’m a band guy. Because of The Beatles and all that, I’m the guy. It’s Ringo and the All Starrs. But I play with all these other guys and they play for me and it sort of worked out since 1989. Some crazy promoter, Pepsi had got to him and said: ‘You know, we’d like Ringo to do a tour, we will support him’. (He reached) my lawyer who called out of the blue. I thought ‘Yeah, ok’.”

He continued:

“I (opened the phone book) and called all these (people). Dr. John, Joe Walsh, Billy Preston, Clarence (I thought that’d be good) and Nils. I was so insecure though I said yes, there were three drummers. I was in the middle, Jim Keltner my hero was on this side and Levon Helm was (on the other side). We were all just boogieing away. (It was) very good. (I was insecure because) I never put a band together, I’ve always been in bands, joined bands.”

“The only time I had put a band together was like in 1958. I heard about this trumpet player and I said ‘Hey man, come down. We’ll have a rehearsal”. The trumpet player did play trumpet but the only thing he could play was ‘When the Saints Go Marching In’ (laughs). So that band fell apart really quick,” Ringo Starr said.

Since the late 80s, Ringo Starr and his All Starr Band continues to tour around the world and many incredible artists were members of the group.