Richard Starkey, (born 7 July 1940), known as Ringo Starr, is an English musician, singer and actor who gained worldwide fame as the drummer for the Beatles. He sang lead vocals on several of their songs, including "With a Little Help from My Friends", "Yellow Submarine" and their version of "Act Naturally". He is also credited as a co-writer of "What Goes On", "Flying" and "Dig It", and as the sole author of "Don't Pass Me By" and "Octopus's Garden".
He was twice afflicted by life-threatening illnesses during his childhood, and as a result of the related prolonged hospitalisations, he fell behind his peers scholastically. At age eight, he had remained illiterate: his classmates nicknamed him "Lazarus" after a twelve-month recovery from peritonitis following a routine appendectomy. After several years of twice weekly tutoring he had nearly caught up to his peers academically, but in 1953, he contracted tuberculosis and was admitted to a sanatorium, where he remained for two years. Following his return he entered the workforce, but lacking motivation and discipline, his initial attempts at gainful employment proved unsuccessful. He briefly held a position with the British Rail then as an apprentice machinist at a Liverpool equipment manufacturer. Soon after, he became interested in the UK skiffle craze, developing a fervent admiration for the genre. He cofounded his first band, the Eddie Clayton Skiffle Group in 1957, and they had earned several prestigious local bookings before the fad succumbed to American rock and roll by early 1958.
When the Beatles formed in 1960, Starr was a member of another leading Liverpool group, Rory Storm and the Hurricanes. After achieving moderate success in the UK and Hamburg, Germany with the Hurricanes, he joined the Beatles in August 1962, replacing Pete Best. Starr's creative contribution to their music has received high praise from drummers such as Steve Smith, who said that Starr "brought forth a new paradigm" where "we started to see the drummer as an equal participant in the compositional aspect". In 2011 ''Rolling Stone'' readers named him the fifth-greatest drummer of all-time.
A critically acclaimed actor, Starr played key roles in the Beatles' films and appeared in numerous others. After their break-up in 1970, he released several successful singles and albums and recorded with each of the former Beatles. He has been featured in a number of documentaries, hosted television shows, narrated the first two seasons of the children's television series ''Thomas the Tank Engine & Friends'' and portrayed "Mr Conductor" during the first season of the PBS children's television series ''Shining Time Station''. Since 1989, Starr has toured with twelve variations of Ringo Starr & His All-Starr Band.
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