<\/p>\n
\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0Ever since I heard Rare Earth\u2019s extended version of <\/span>Get Ready<\/span><\/i>, I have been a big fan of drummer\/vocalist Peter Rivera (nee:\u00a0 Peter Hoorelbeke).\u00a0 Performing the drumming and lead singer duties in my band, The Twig, it was always my quest to find material performed by other singing drummers.\u00a0 Dave Clark (of the Dave Clark Five), Dennis Wilson (of the Beach Boys), Micky Dolenz (from The Monkees), Don Brewer (Grand Funk Railroad), and Rivera were all high on my list of artists to emulate.\u00a0 Twenty years ago, we were fortunate to see Rivera perform at the Calumet Theater with a super group of former chart topping musicians.\u00a0 The Classic Rock Allstars included Mike Pinera on guitar (Iron Butterfly, Blues Image), Dennis Noda (Cannibal and the Headhunters), and Jerry Corbetta (Sugarloaf).\u00a0 All contributed lead and harmony vocals as they ran through the hits from their former bands, but it was Rivera who stole the show for me.\u00a0 Even as he neared 70 years of age, his voice and drumming were as good as ever.<\/span><\/p>\n \u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0How much did I admire Rivera\u2019s work with Rare Earth?\u00a0 When my first college band, Knockdown, began playing <\/span>Get Ready,<\/span><\/i> I insisted it was the drummer\u2019s song to sing.\u00a0 Did Pete do a drum solo in their version (it was the only track on side two of their eponymous album)?\u00a0 Sure he did, so we had to include a drum solo and extended solo sections by each band member, just like Rare Earth did.\u00a0 I found out much later that the crowd noises were added to their album version later to make it sound like it had been recorded live.\u00a0 In truth, the band had returned to Detroit from a show in East Lansing, set up in the early morning hours at the Motown Studio and recorded <\/span>Get Ready<\/span><\/i> in one take.\u00a0 The one thing I always took pride in was being able to sing pretty spot on versions that mimicked my idols.\u00a0 I am not bragging here (maybe just a little), but more than one band member I played with made note that my phrasing and tone sounded a lot like the originals.<\/span><\/p>\n \u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0Okay, but doesn\u2019t the title of this FTV include the name Ringo?\u00a0 How did this whole deal get hijacked by other drummers?\u00a0 It is pretty simple – while I loved The Beatles (and still do), we never did any of the songs he sang.\u00a0 The take on Ringo back in the day was, \u201cGreat drummer, funny guy, but not lead vocalist material.\u201d\u00a0 After The Beatles fell apart, each of the \u2018musical\u2019 members achieved more than a little success with their solo efforts.\u00a0 John Lennon and his wife Yoko Ono were diverted into more political landscapes.\u00a0 John was just getting back into making some serious music (commercial, that is) at the time he was brutally murdered.\u00a0 George Harrison had a hard time getting his tunes recorded by the Fab Four so when he was set free, his massive three disk set <\/span>All Things Must Pass<\/span><\/i> was populated with years and years worth of tunes he had stockpiled.\u00a0 Paul McCartney made some good solo albums but when he and his wife Linda formed the band Wings, he experienced another massive wave of success.\u00a0 Some of Paul\u2019s more recent albums have been so-so, but his rather large catalog of Beatles and Wings songs has kept him on the major touring circuit well into the silver hair tinged age of 80.<\/span><\/p>\n \u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0And then, there was Ringo.\u00a0 What becomes of a good drummer with a so-so voice when he finds himself without a band?\u00a0 The Beatles handlers tried to give each band member a \u2018voice\u2019 to go with their personalities so during the Beatles\u2019 heyday, Ringo usually sang one song on each of their early albums.\u00a0 Starr was happy with his lot in The Beatles and responded to a fan request in <\/span>Melody Maker<\/span><\/i> for him to sing more, saying. \u201cI am quite happy with my one little track on each album.\u201d\u00a0 He reportedly spent many hours in the studio playing cards with their road managers Neil Aspinall and Mal Evans while the other three Beatles worked on perfecting tracks prior to recording.\u00a0 As a left handed drummer playing a right handed kit, Ringo wasn\u2019t flashy in the Buddy Rich mode of drumming, but he added drum parts that were unique to each song.\u00a0 As a vocalist, songs like <\/span>Yellow Submarine, With a Little Help From My Friends, <\/span><\/i>and <\/span>Octopus\u2019s Garden <\/span><\/i>just would not have sounded the same if it weren\u2019t for Ringo\u2019s interpretation.\u00a0\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n \u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0With the Fab Four in the rear view mirror,\u00a0 Starr did make some guest appearances here and there on various albums by Lennon, McCartney, Harrison and his good friend Harry Nillson.\u00a0 What was his first solo release after the breakup in 1970?\u00a0 He had two in rather rapid succession:\u00a0 His take on old rock and roll standards, <\/span>Sentimental Journey <\/span><\/i>and the country flavored <\/span>Beaucoups of Blues, <\/span><\/i>both released within five months of each other in 1970.\u00a0 While he has released a remarkable 20 solo albums over the years (2019\u2019s <\/span>What\u2019s My Name<\/span><\/i> being the most recent one), Ringo has had a rather yo-yo like career arc in regards to the record charts.\u00a0\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n \u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0It is not to say that Ringo did not have his own solo flirtations with the record charts.\u00a0 Two songs he co-wrote with George Harrison, <\/span>It Don\u2019t Come Easy <\/span><\/i>and <\/span>Back Off Boogaloo<\/span><\/i> both cracked the US and UK singles top ten in 1971.\u00a0 <\/span>Photograph <\/span><\/i>(1973) and a remake of The Sherman Brother\u2019s tune <\/span>Your Sixteen <\/span><\/i>(1974) appeared on his first solo rock album (<\/span>Ringo<\/span><\/i>) and also climbed into the singles top ten.\u00a0 More importantly, the singles made the album his first critical and commercial success.\u00a0 The <\/span>Ringo<\/span><\/i> album more or less set the template for the rest of Starr\u2019s musical path which author Peter Doggett explained, \u201c[As a musician first rather than a songwriter] Ringo would rely on his friends and his charm, and if both were on tap, then the results were usually appealing.\u201d\u00a0\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n \u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0Ringo kept busy during the rest of the 1970s founding a record label (Ring O\u2019 Records), exploring a career in film, and the busy activities one finds open to them as a \u2018celebrity presence\u2019.\u00a0 As a result, his own musical career diminished during this period as his \u2018party hearty\u2019 persona thrived.\u00a0 Looking back in 2001, Starr said the downward trend in his musical career was caused by him, \u201c[not] taking enough interest in music.\u201d\u00a0 As a founding member of the drinking club known as \u2018The Hollywood Vampires\u2019 with his friends Harry Nilsson, Keith Moon, and Micky Dolenz, he was too distracted to sustain his own musical interests.\u00a0 The \u2018Hollywood Vampires\u2019 name was recently revived as a musical entity by ex-member (and now sober) Alice Cooper as a tribute to musicians who have not survived the curse of living the rock star life. \u00a0 Starr recalled the era, \u201cWe weren\u2019t musicians dabbling in drugs and alcohol.\u00a0 Now we were junkies dabbling in music.\u201d<\/span><\/p>\n \u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0In October and November of 1988, Ringo and his new wife, actor Barbara Bach (whom he had met while making the movie <\/span>Cave Man <\/span><\/i>in ) entered a detox clinic in Tucson, Arizona for a six-week treatment for alcoholism.\u00a0 He later explained the decision to rid himself of his longtime addiction:\u00a0 \u201cYears I\u2019ve lost, absolute years\u2026I\u2019ve no idea what happened.\u00a0 I lived in a blackout.\u201d\u00a0 Interestingly, Eagle\u2019s guitarist Joe Walsh has been sober about the same length of time as Ringo.\u00a0 Walsh is married to Bach\u2019s sister and the two brother-in-laws now campaign together on behalf of the National Council on Alcoholism and Drug Dependence (NCADD).<\/span><\/p>\n \u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0As his former Vampire buddy, Micky Dolenz describes the period, \u201cI am told I had a very good time.\u201d\u00a0 Ringo apparently decided he was no longer \u2018having a very good time\u2019 and after embracing sobriety, he decided it was time to refocus on his musical career and return to touring.<\/span><\/p>\n Returning to Doggett\u2019s \u2018rely on his friends and his charm, and if both were on tap, then the results were usually appealing\u2019 template, Ringo formed the first iteration of his All-Starr Band.\u00a0 They gave their first performance in Dallas on July 23, 1989 to an audience of ten thousand.\u00a0 The concept echo\u2019s Doggett\u2019s description of Ringo\u2019s recording career.\u00a0 As Wiki describes it, \u201cThe band consisted of Starr and an assortment of musicians who had been successful in their own right at different times.\u00a0 The concert(s) interchanged Starr\u2019s singing, including selections of his Beatles and solo songs, with performances of each of the other artists\u2019 well-known material, the latter incorporating either Starr or another musician as drummer.\u201d<\/span><\/p>\n \u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0The first All-Starr outing resulted in the release of an album in 1990 called <\/span>Ringo Starr and His All-Starr Band<\/span><\/i> that compiled live performances from their first tour in 1989.\u00a0 Starr recorded the track <\/span>I Call Your Name<\/span><\/i> with a supergroup lineup of Tom Petty, Jeff Lynne, Joe Walsh, and\u00a0 Jim Keltner (one of Ringo\u2019s favorite drummers) for a 1990 TV special marking the 10th anniversary of John Lennon\u2019s death and the 50th anniversary of Lennon\u2019s birth.\u00a0 A cameo appearance on an episode of <\/span>The Simpsons <\/span><\/i>(<\/span>Brush with Greatness<\/span><\/i>) would follow the next year.<\/span><\/p>\n Ringo\u2019s re-emergence in music followed the All-Starr Band template when he collaborated on his first album release in nine years (<\/span>Time Takes Time<\/span><\/i>) with help from producers Phil Ramone, Don Was, Jeff Lynne, and Peter Asher.\u00a0 Guest musicians included Brian Willson and Harry Nillson but even with this illustrious cast of characters, the album failed to achieve commercial success.\u00a0 The chart success mattered less than something many musicians find as their careers extend beyond their early successes:\u00a0 Ringo was making music that made him (and his fans) happy.\u00a0 Playing music and spreading his \u2018Peace and Love\u2019 mantra were (and still are) enough for him.<\/span><\/p>\n \u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0The concept for the All-Starr band came from producer David Fishof but Ringo has the say about who is in the rotating cast.\u00a0 The \u2018All-Starr\u2019 band is so named because Ringo says, \u201cAll of the musicians on stage are stars in their own right,\u201d and of course the \u2018Starr\u2019 is a play on his stage name.\u00a0 Glancing at the list of musicians who have performed with the All-Starr band is like a trip through a modern version of <\/span>Your Hit Parade.\u00a0 <\/span><\/i>Some tagged along for one or two tours while others made multiple tours with Ringo.\u00a0 The list of those who have been All-Starrs and have now departed this mortal coil is in itself a \u2018who\u2019s who\u2019 of class rock.\u00a0 Dearly departed (as opposed to those who just \u2018departed\u2019) include:\u00a0 Dr. John (keyboards, died in 2019), Billy Preston (keyboards, 2006), Rick Danko (bass, 1999), Levon Helm (drums, 2012), Clarence Clemons (saxophone, 2011), John Entwistle (bass, 2002), Gary Booker (keyboards, 2022), Jack Bruce (bass, 2014), Greg Lake (bass, 2016).<\/span><\/p>\n \u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0Some signed on but for various reasons pulled out before actually touring with Ringo including Peter Cetera (from Chicago, opening the door for Eagle\u2019s bassist Timothy B. Schmit), Dave Masson (Fleetwood Mac and Traffic), Ray Davies (The Kinks), and Ringo\u2019s longtime collaborator Mark Hudson (who split after ten years due to some unexplained rift with Starr).\u00a0 A long line of guest artists have appeared with the All-Starr band from Bruce Springsteen to Paul Shaffer to Jeff Healey and many, many more as they were in the right place at the right time to perform with Ringo.\u00a0 Artists still active in the music biz who sign on when their schedules allow include the likes of Burton Cummings and Randy Bachman (The Guess Who), Mark Farner (Grand Funk Railroad), Felix Cavaliere (The Rascals), Peter Frampton, Simon Kirke (Bad Company), Eric Carmen (The Raspberries), Rodger Hodgson (Supertramp), Richard Page (bass, Mister Mister), and solo artists like Richard Marx, Howard Jones, and Todd Rundgren..<\/span><\/p>\n \u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0Although they have taken breaks in their touring schedule, the COVID-19 pandemic put the longest hold on the festivities.\u00a0 The All-Starrs got back on the road in 2022 but they ended up canceling a few shows when various members came down with COVID.\u00a0 They are out on the road again in 2023 featuring pretty much the same members Ringo has taken on the road for the past decade or so.\u00a0 One of the longest tenures belongs to Todd Rundgren but for some unexplained reason, he is not touring this time around.\u00a0 Toto guitarist Steve Lukather has returned along with Edgar Winter (keys), Colin Hay (guitar, Men at Work), Hamish Stuart (bass, Average White Band), Warren Ham (sax), and Gregg Bissonette (drums,<\/span><\/p>\n David Lee Roth Band, Joe Satriani).<\/span><\/p>\n \u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0We have a couple of Ringo\u2019s All-Starr Band albums to share with our listeners.\u00a0 The one released after the 1989 tour of the first line up and a triple disk set with highlights of many different All-Starr Band touring combinations.\u00a0 I am kind of excited about this year\u2019s tour because come June 2, 2023, they will be performing at the Cuthbert Amphitheater in Eugene, Oregon.\u00a0 Todd and Elizabeth have already lined up our tickets so with the West Coast Bureau acting as my hosts, I fully expect to supply readers with a blow by blow review of the show.<\/span><\/p>\n \u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0Keep your ear on WOAS-FM 88.5 for the next week or so and we will drop enough tunes from Ringo (and perhaps The Beatles for some variety) to make your head spin!<\/span><\/p>\n <\/p>\n Top Piece Video:\u00a0 Ringo in 2010 with Jim Keltner joining the band – not a solo Ringo song but certainly one of his most beloved from the days of the Fab Four!<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":" \u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0Ever since I heard Rare Earth\u2019s extended version of Get Ready, I have been a big fan of drummer\/vocalist Peter Rivera (nee:\u00a0 Peter Hoorelbeke).\u00a0 Performing the drumming and lead singer duties in my band, The Twig, it was always my quest to find material performed by other singing drummers.\u00a0 Dave Clark (of the Dave […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[3,8,6,9],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-2822","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-bands-musicians","category-from-the-vaults","category-new-music","category-woas"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.woas-fm.org\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2822","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.woas-fm.org\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.woas-fm.org\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.woas-fm.org\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.woas-fm.org\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=2822"}],"version-history":[{"count":4,"href":"https:\/\/www.woas-fm.org\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2822\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":2831,"href":"https:\/\/www.woas-fm.org\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2822\/revisions\/2831"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.woas-fm.org\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=2822"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.woas-fm.org\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=2822"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.woas-fm.org\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=2822"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}