(Credits: Far Out / Alamy)
Thu 4 September 2025 3:00, UK
You remember that scene in A Hard Days Night, where The Beatles get their fan mail? John, Paul and George get a small stack between them. Ringo Starr asks if any of them are for him, then gets handed a stack that Santa Claus himself would be jealous of. Capped off with John’s acidic quip, “Must’ve cost you a fortune in stamps, Ringo?”
Yeah, absolutely nothing about that scene was fictional. Lennon, McCartney and Harrison were absolutely the most respected members of The Beatles. The most loved, though? Ringo. Always has been.
Which kind of makes sense. John, Paul and George were pop stars in the truest sense of the word. Young, beautiful, talented artistes who would most likely be famous and successful at any point in history. Which is all well and good, but it does give an air of separation between them and basically anyone in the world. They were there to be worshipped, as much as that fact would probably cause Lennon in particular to break out in a rash. Ringo, on the other hand, was a lot more accessible.
He may not have been the oil painting his bandmates were, or the generational songwriter for that matter, but he was easily the funniest and most charming. He was also secretly a musician on par with them, but that’s another conversation for another time. This overwhelming support for the man continued long after The Beatles split up, but from a different source than Beatlemaniacs writing letters. While Ringo went into a solo career just like his fellow ex-Fabs, his was a slightly different prospect to the others.
Fittingly, Ringo got by with a little help from his friends. Ringo had become not only an icon thanks to The Beatles, but also he became surrounded by other musicians who all wanted to work with an ex-Beatle. If you want proof of the man’s pulling power, look no further than the quite frankly absurd list of rock ‘n’ roll legends who’ve played with Ringo in his All-Starr Band. The solo project that Starr put together in 1989 continues to this very day.
Who has played with Ringo Starr in his All-Starr Band?
Now, the big names who’ve joined them onstage for a song or two are mind-blowing enough. Bruce Springsteen turned up on the first tour to play guitar for the encore of a show in his native New Jersey. Steven Tyler played the drums on a show in Boston in 1995. Andy Summers, Bonnie Raitt, Stevie Nicks, Jeff Lynne, John Candy (seriously), some no-hoper called Paul McCartney, and more have turned up for a surprise appearance to raise the roof at Ringo’s solo shows. That’s one hell of a guestlist, I’m sure you’ll agree.
However. It’s one thing to ask Slash and Pete Townshend to turn up for a night to strum through ‘With A Little Help From My Friends.’ It’s quite another to actually ask them to join the band full-time. For them to actually go through a whole tour together with rehearsals, tour buses and non-Beatles Ringo Starr songs. It may not have the sheer star power that the one-off appearances have but to those in the know, it’s even more impressive.
For proof, look no further than the absurdly stacked first incarnation of the All-Starr Band, arguably the only incarnation of the band that truly deserves that name. Starr lined up with Dr. John on piano, Joe Walsh and Nils Lofgren on guitars, Billy Preston on keyboards, along with Rick Danko and Levon Helm of The Band on bass and drums, topped off with the actual Clarence Clemons on saxophone.
This may read like the most fantastical of fantasy backing bands you’ve dreamed of, but that’s just the pulling power of Ringo Starr. So much so that it’s arguably the most accomplished band of musicians that he ever played in. Yes. Including That One.
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