Richard Starkey adopted the stage name Ringo Starr because of the rings he wore and also because it implied a country and western influence.

Ringo was born on July 7, 1940, at 9 Madryn Street, in Dingle, Liverpool.

Ringo wrote the Beatles' songs "Don't Pass Me By" and "Octopus's Garden", and is credited as a co-writer of several others, including "What Goes On" and "Flying".

On Christmas Day 1957, Ringo's stepfather, Harry Graves, gave him a second-hand drum kit consisting of a snare drum, bass drum and a makeshift cymbal fashioned from an old rubbish bin lid.

When Starr married Maureen Cox in 1965, Beatles manager Brian Epstein served as best man.

After achieving moderate success with Rory Storm and the Hurricanes in the UK and Hamburg, Ringo quit the Hurricanes and joined the Beatles in August 1962, replacing Pete Best.

Ringo first met John, Paul, and George in October 1960, while performing at Bruno Koschmider's Kaiserkeller music club in Hamburg, Germany.

The Hollywood Vampires was a celebrity drinking club formed by Alice Cooper in the 1970s. The hazing to get into the club was to outdrink all the members. Cooper listed himself, Keith Moon, Ringo Starr, Micky Dolenz and Harry Nilsson as the club's principal members. Ringo would later attribute the downward spiral of his career to this club, saying: "We weren't musicians dabbling in drugs and alcohol; now we were junkies dabbling in music."

In 1980, while on the set of the film Caveman, Ringo met actress Barbara Bach. They were married on April 27, 1981.

Zak Starkey was born on 13 September 1965, at Queen Charlotte's Maternity Hospital, the same day as the single "Yesterday" was released. Ringo would later say that his son was "a little smasher" but insisted that he wouldn't let Zak be a drummer. Apparently, Zak didn't listen, as he went on to play with several English rock bands, including The Who and Oasis.