(Credits: Ringo Starr)
Fri 24 April 2026 17:58, UK
Ringo Starr has admitted that he’s still unsure why The Beatles wanted him to join more than 60 years ago.
Before joining The Beatles, Starr was already a reputable face in the Liverpudlian music scene, performing in a number of groups, most prominently Rory Storm and the Hurricanes.
Both Rory Storm and the Hurricanes and The Beatles were booked for a residency in Hamburg, which is where Starr grew close to the Fab Four, making him the ideal choice, in their mind, to be their drummer when the vacancy arose.
Eight months on from Hamburg, Starr’s phone rang as The Beatles desperately scurried to find a drummer for a gig at The Cavern. He duly answered, left the Hurricanes to become a full-time member, and the rest is history.
However, for Starr, it still remains somewhat of a mystery. Reflecting on his memories of the Fab Four in a new interview with USA Today, he admitted. “I love that band. I love the front line. That’s why I left Rory (Storm and the Hurricanes, his pre-Beatles band). But what made them make the phone call, I don’t know.”
When asked if he’s still surprised by the offer to replace Pete Best as their drummer, Starr candidly responded, “I am. Yeah, yeah. You’ll have to ask Paul, only Paul, I’m afraid, now.”
A lifetime on from his first performance with The Beatles, Starr and Paul McCartney are still keeping their collaborative partnership alive on the new track, ‘Home to Us’. Their first-ever duet is set to arrive on McCartney’s forthcoming album, The Boys of Dungeon Lane, on May 29th.
Reflecting on the song in a recent interview on Jimmy Kimmel Live, Starr promised, “It’s really great, and it’s amusing, it’s very real because that’s where it comes from.”
McCartney isn’t the only Beatle with a new record in 2026; Starr’s latest country offering, Long, Long Road, arrived on April 24th.
In a positive three-and-a-half-star review, Far Out wrote of Ringo’s new album, “Contrary to popular belief, Ringo isn’t exclusively a human peace-sign meme at this stage of his life. It has indeed been a ‘long, long road,’ and the thing worth celebrating is that an 85-year-old man with all the money in the world still enjoys that old-timey Americana music enough to make more of it.”
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