Ringo Starr Talks New Beatles Track and Turning 83 at Peace-Loving Birthday Celebration
Ringo Starr, as always, is all about the P&L statements, and that doesn’t mean profit-and-loss. Friday, as is his custom, he took the occasion of his birthday — this year, his 83rd — to lead local friends in a chant of “peace and love” at the stroke of noon PT in a Beverly Hills park, while a worldwide audience of streaming Beatles fans looked on, admiring his youthful looks and demeanor and wondering if there’s any way to have what he’s having.
Brother-in-law Joe Walsh joined him for the event, as did their respective wives, sisters Barbara and Marjorie Bach. By coincidence, both Starr and Walsh have been a part of headline news stories in recent days — the former because of a forthcoming Beatles single, the latter because of the announcement of an Eagles farewell tour. The two stars talked with press about those headlines, among other things, before the late-morning party got underway in earnest.
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As Paul McCartney recently did, Starr took time out to say that a final Beatles single that is due to come out this year — based on a John Lennon demo that McCartney, Starr and George Harrison considered making into a Beatles track in the ’90s — is not an AI-driven project, despite the advanced technology now being used to make the Fabs fully four again.
“It’s not down to AI,” Starr said. “It’s not like we’re pretending anything. That is actually John’s voice, Paul’s voice and bass playing, George on rhythm guitar and me on drums. And the two things that are new are Paul’s bass and me on drums. … I really worked at it just months ago here. And it works. It’s a beautiful song. You know, for all the madness going on around it, it’s still a beautiful track. And our last track.”
The “new” song was a third one that the three surviving Beatles had attempted in the ’90s based on Lennon song scraps, as they were doing “Free as a Bird” and “Real Love” with producer Jeff Lynne for the “Anthology” project. Why revive it now? “I don’t know. Paul must’ve had a slow day,” Starr quipped. “He says, ‘You know that track we did? Do you want to work on that?'” Starr did, so McCartney sent him the files, “I drummed on it and I sang on it,” and then Giles Martin flew to L.A. with McCartney to put strings on it. “It is moving, because the four of us are there, and there won’t be ever again.”
Starr is on a pause from his 2023 tour with his All Starr Band before it picks up again Sept. 15 in Stateline, Nev. (Two members of the current band, Edgar Winter and drummer/bandleader Gregg Bissonette, were on hand for the birthday party.) The tour will swing through SoCal again with a Sept. 17 show in Ontario, but he admitted nothing, in his mind will top the show, will top their June show at the Greek. “I love the Greek,” he said. “I always play the Greek in L.A. I feel at home there and I always have a good time, and the sound is great.”
Starr has been doing these annual peace-and-love moments on his birthday since 2008. Now, 15 years later, he’s probably the celebrity whose birthday is most publicized each and every year, which means that people are thinking about just how many years old he is each year.
“I can’t hide it,” he said. “You know what I mean? So I have to say: 83 today.” Is he proud of his age, we asked? That was a bridge too far for Starr. “Well, I’m here,” he answered. “It’s not like a proud thing. It’s just, this is where I’m at.”
Talking with another reporter down the line, asked how long he thought he could keep up the pace of a touring rocker, Starr answered, “I think I’ve got another hundred years in me.”
Walsh talked with press before the ceremony as well, and addressed the news about the Eagles’ farewell tour that came out just this week.
“We’re in our seventies, and we recognize that we can’t do this forever,” Walsh said. But, apart from that admission, the singer-guitarist was not sounding like the retiring type at all… and indeed, the Eagles’ own group statement indicated that the band would keep going until all the markets that wanted to see them were sated.
“I think people like BB King set an example, which is, there’s no reason to stop unless you can’t do it,” Walsh continued. “And so we’re just announcing that we’re gonna just focus on playing quality shows and slow it down a little bit. And we’re gonna play till we can’t, or play till nobody comes, whichever comes first. But they’re still coming, so why stop? That’s the only thing we know how to do.”
Walsh was a part of the first few All Starr Band tours, in 1989-92, and waxed nostalgic about it. “That was probably the finest group of musicians I’ve ever played with,” he said — making no exception for the James Gang or Eagles. “And we had a chemistry that was magic, the first one” (which included Dr. John, Nils Lofgren, Billy Preston, Levon Helm, Rick Danko and Clarence Clemons). “And, yeah, I think back to it a lot. A lot of those guys are gone now. I think of them often, but I’m so grateful to have been in that band and had a chance to play with them all. I think it’s available to watch — some of it is, anyway. And those were the days.”
Prior to Starr and Walsh making a few remarks and the guest of honor cutting a cake, there were a few performances of Starr’s classic songs. An ensemble that included King Tuff, guitarist Blake Mills and (for one number) drummer Jim Keltner played “Don’t Pass Me By,” “Photograph” (which had Starr briefly jumping on stage) and an instrumental “Good Night.” Then Silversun Pickups stepped into the midday sun to perform “It Don’t Come Easy” and “Back Off Boogaloo,” as Starr and Bach watched from the front row.
Other guests included Diane Warren (with whom Starr recently recorded an EP), Lyle Lovett, Benmont Tench, Ed Begley Jr., Richard Marx and Leland Sklar and the emcee.
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