Drumming News :
At 86 years old, Ringo Starr is still creating music, spreading his message of peace and love, and proving why he’s one of the most influential drummers in rock history. But during a recent interview surrounding his new Americana album Long Long Road, the legendary Beatle shared a surprising “what if” from his youth.
Long before joining The Beatles, Starr seriously considered moving to Texas at just 18 years old. Had he gone, music history might have taken a dramatically different turn.
“You never know, do you?” Starr joked. “I’d probably be queuing up to see Ringo playing.”
While he laughed about the alternate timeline, one thing never changed in his mind—he would always be a drummer.
“I’d be doing rock/pop,” Starr explained, recalling his early days learning skiffle music before graduating from brushes to a simple snare drum. His determination was evident even in the band’s earliest Liverpool performances.
One unforgettable story came from The Cavern Club, where the band’s equipment arrived for a show—except for Starr’s drum kit.
“Everything turned up, all the instruments and the amps—but no drums, just the cymbals! And we went on anyway,” he recalled. “We were a lot looser in those days.”
That willingness to improvise became part of The Beatles’ identity as they climbed from local clubs to global superstardom.
Ironically, the drummer who never wanted to perform solos eventually recorded one of the most celebrated drum breaks in rock history. Starr famously disliked lengthy drum solos, a sentiment shared by the rest of The Beatles. Paul McCartney once recalled that the band loved hearing Ringo say he hated solos because it meant their live shows would never stop for extended displays of drumming.
Yet during the recording of Abbey Road, McCartney and the others persuaded Starr to perform a brief solo on “The End.” After considerable convincing, he delivered a performance that fans continue to rank among the greatest drum solos ever recorded. Recording engineer Geoff Emerick later remembered how much persuasion it took, but said Starr ultimately turned in “a bloody marvelous performance.”
The solo perfectly captured what made Starr unique. He wasn’t the flashiest drummer, but his feel, timing, and musical instincts helped define classics like “Come Together,” “Rain,” “A Day in the Life,” “Ticket to Ride,” and “Tomorrow Never Knows.” His left-handed approach on a right-handed drum kit even contributed to the distinctive fills that generations of drummers have tried to emulate.
This year’s Peace & Love Birthday Celebration, held in Beverly Hills, featured musicians from Starr’s Long Long Road sessions, with producer T Bone Burnett affectionately introducing the backing musicians as “The Texans”—a fitting nod to the state that almost became Starr’s home nearly seven decades ago.
Thankfully for Beatles fans, that move to Texas never happened. Instead, a chance phone call from manager Brian Epstein in 1962 changed music forever. The rest, as they say, is history.
Today, more than 60 years after joining The Beatles, Ringo Starr remains proof that sometimes the smallest moments—a missed move, a missing drum kit, or even a drum solo you never wanted to play—can become the stories that shape rock and roll forever.
Sources : Boston25 News, Yahoo News, MensJournal, Lyndsanity
